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S1 - Rudder Cable Phenolic Pulleys

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JoeB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
449
Hi Guys,
I installed my rudder cables last night (maybe it was this morning, sometime between the hours of 11:00PM-2:30AM), and I found that the cables do contact the pulleys but the pulleys do not always rotate with the movement of the cables.
The pulleys do freely rotating by hand, I think that the reason for this is that the contact surface between the pulley and cable is so small? Could be that the cables are not tensioned since the rudder pedals are not yet installed, but I put as much tension in the cable by hand that I thought was appropriate?
Just want to make sure everything is right before putting the last piece of fabric on the fuselage!
 
That intersection is pretty low friction. I don't have pulleys back there, just standard fairleads like the rest of the stations.

I worked till 4am and was back at it at 9.30 ; ) Tonight and tomorrow will be the same.

Not to sidetrack your thread, but your inclusion of "SI" in the thread title also reveals another reason to figure out how to make the board title appear in the Recent Topics. Still working on that...
 
Schmleff said:
That intersection is pretty low friction. I don't have pulleys back there, just standard fairleads like the rest of the stations.

I worked till 4am and was back at it at 9.30 ; ) Tonight and tomorrow will be the same.

Good to know on the cables, that's what I figured.

Regarding the work hours, with an infant in the house my airplane hours are on her schedule. You have to do what you have to do. It's too bad Aircraft a Spruce East isn't open 24/7 being that it is just a few miles away from me
 
Joe, On Beetlebomb, I noticed that too. I put new cables and pulleys in, noticed that the pulleys don't move when wagging the rudder, but when I sit in it and work the pedals, they rotate….Hmmmm. Trying to restore this as Charlie built it, but I see no good reason to use the pulleys, other than the cables are not out in the slipstream as long. For you, use the pulleys, as you don't want to have to make up new length cables, and weld in two more fairleads at this stage of the game….. Like Jeff, On #77 Blueberry, I used fairleads, and no pulleys….ED
 
I have not seen pulleys in the areas you mention either. The rule of thumb is that if a cable deflects 3 degrees or more at a fairlead then you need a pulley, otherwise the cable wear will be excessive. I suppose excessive might be one or more individual wires worn 50% before usual airframe overhaul. Airframe overhaul might be 1000 hours. Of course if one or more wires break due to the wear then the cable exceeds limits and requires replacement. Bill E
 
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