Over the last two days, my dad and I worked on solving two problems with the control sticks. 1. shortening the control sticks to prevent contact with the panel when full forward, and 2. modifying the passenger-side wiring to avoid interference with the structure around the stick.
When I first installed the sticks I didn’t have the panel installed, and wasn’t sure how much clearance they would have. With the panel installed, the stick grips were hitting the bevel on the bottom edge of the screens, and the flap switch. We took the sticks out, removed the grips, cut away the sleeve, shortened the stick about 1.5 inches, installed a new sleeve, then reinstalled the sticks. Of course we started with just the passenger side, got the dimensions just right, then copied for the pilot side.
On the passenger side wiring, we removed the bulky connector I had fabricated, and just went with d-sub pins isolated with heat-shrink tubing. This is the same approach as the pilot side. There is a risk of the connectors pulling apart over time, but the multiple layers of tubing will help. I’ll also be zip-tying each side of the connectors to the stick to reduce strain.
Removing the stick will still be possible, but not recommended except for maintenance.
I plan to install a switch on the passenger side ground wire so I can deactivate the stick buttons and switches as needed.
