BillinIndiana

Any tips on installing the Gold N Rod pushrods?

sebo

I have secured them with epoxy afterroughing the outside tube (where the epoxy will be applied) with sandpaper.
I have used silicone caulk without the sanding.
I have also used crossed balsa "X" and secured the outer tubing with pipe cleaners. I also used silicone on that to insure it wouldn't move on the pipe cleaners.
Also drilled a hole in a piece of balsa or ply and slipped it over the tubing, then glued the balsa to cross beams "==" upper and lower.
Lots of things you can do; jjust be sure that it is secure....those are my immediate thoughts.

Stick 40

Sebo is right about the casing being secured. You can't let it flex a lot. If it does you will loose control throw or it may change as you fly.

Generally have the inner yellow tub stick out of the casing as little as possible.

I like to lock down the casing close to the servos, once in the middle and once as it comes out of the end of the plane. again as the casing comes out of the tail end leave casing on as close to the horns as possible.

SeamusG

You can get an excellent finish using Sebo's technique. Done it a bunch of times.

However (the big BUT) - good ole golden rod length changes from day to day especially in the heat requiring that you check the trim on your first flight of the day. I didn't buy into this too much until a day this summer when I didn't have enough adjustment available in my radio (no way no how) to trim the plane for straight-n-level flight. I had "zero out" the radio, move several clevis to a horn location closer to the control surface (or clevis at the arm out) for more mechanical advantage and then redo all of my static trim settings. Then on the next flight go thru the basic trim cycle to get back to straight-n-level. Definitely not something I want to do again when I go to the field.

Couldn't remove the gold'n rod stuff fast enough.

BillinIndiana

What did you go with instead? The book calls for 1/4" Balsa sticks.

SeamusG

When I replaced the gold-n-rod the planes were already built-n-covered. I replaced the inner rod with 2-56 rod. I'd prefer a tighter fit but it has worked out fine. Solder clevis at the servo arm and a threaded clevis at the control surface horn for easy adjustment at the field.

I've used balsa dowels for control rods but not square sticks. A piece of 2-56 is bent to 90 degrees. A hole drilled thru the dowel and a groove cut so that the 2-56 rod sits "in" the wood and then everything is wrapped (whipped) in fishing line then everything is covered with CA. The balsa control rod will expand right along with the rest of the plane so that there won't be significant differences in how they each react to weather conditions.

SeamusG

sebo

It depends on the length of the rod.............I have never had this problem with any of my golden rods........maybe because I use red for short lengths and blue for medium lengths and black for long lengths..
I never go from one extreem temperature to another either...........In north carolina I did but never noticed any difference.

Here in FL. not much difference in temperatures if you fly the same time of the day as a norm. Usually a 30 degree or less temp change from mid day to the following morning.
I like the stuff. just my opinion

SeamusG

sebo - mine went from the basement (65 degrees) to the field (100). The plane was unflyable (is that a word?). I use blue exclusively. The plane is a Hog Bipe - almost a 40 sized plane in length but a 60 sized plane in weight (with a Saito 100). Others include my SSE and 4Star60. Like Isaid "this summer". I've been flying 5 years and this was the first "can't get it squared away"flight.

Bozarth

My Feedback: (15)

I use a long 2-56 wire within the larger red outer housing. But, I slide 1/4" pieces of the yellow inner portion over the metal 2-56 wire approx. every 12" as mini-bushings. Works great.

Kurt

SeamusG

Dang it Kurt - where were you and your idea earlier this year?

BillinIndiana

Well now I'm really confused on which way to go...haha

edit: Could I just run the 2-56 wire without anything around it?

Bozarth

My Feedback: (15)

No! I would not use an unsupported piece of 2-56 wire any longer than 4 or 5 inches on a .25 to .46 sized airplane. Foamy park flyers - sure. Greater than a .46 plane, I would step up to 4-40. Hollow carbon rods with short 2-56 ends are great as unsupported pushrods.

Kurt

thepamster

Good for throttle control and not much else. Just an opinion though. All of my servos these days are close to the control surface and use short 4/40 rods.
Years ago after all the flexing problems they create and before I switched to servos in the tail I used fiberglass "arrow shafts" for pushrods. Those seem to work pretty well. I am not sure you can still get them though.
If you are going to use ny-rods, as others have said, secure in multiple places throughout the fuselage..
You must be coming along quickly Bill. Is it still going to be spring before you fly it?

jaka

Hi!
I use Sullivan Golden rods on mostly throttle control. Anything else I try to use fishing wire and if that is not possible, Eaton aluminium arrow shafts and after that carbon fiber shafts.
5 and 6 pic shows how its done on a Great Planes GEE BEE R-2. The rest on a high winged trainer.

All Day Dan

My Feedback: (5)

Bill, Here's how I do it. Dan.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Ya know I thought we were talking about a typical Trainer here, at least I think that was mentioned in one of your posts BillinIndiana and it is a new ARf of some sort that uses the typical wooden pushrods either round or square (not an issue for either).

The airplane is not a Quickee 500 pylon ship and its not a large sport aerobat with air retracts so I beleve Bill you are doing yourself no favors by overthinking all these mod's.

Fact is your ship will work just fine as designed if simply and properly put together. I would stay away from the plastic pushrods altogether and just use the pushrod setup that was intended. In addition find a Local Mentor to double check your work and do not depend entirely on these forums.

Only just an opinion here!

John

thepamster

Good points John. It is actually a kit that he is building and I agree that the stick pushrods if done properly would be just fine for this model. I was only responding with an opinion about Golden Rods for push rods which can be used if done properly. I have seen too many installations of those pushrods however which usually ended up in a major control flutter situation and resulting in a crashed airplane.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

No problem pamster and I certainly do understand what you were trying to point out. The problem is these days is the marketing, that I beleve really started with the RC car market.

It has been ground in relentlessly with marketing that you need 'upgrades' and all the packaging is carefully designed that way. It has become so pervasive that virtually all new buyers are buying the upgrades before they ever even get the initial package.

Now I see this constantly bleeding over into the airplane market, probably worse with the electrics but even in glow. I think virtually all the modern trainers in what would be called the 40/60 size trainer work very well when properly assembled with no mods and a reasonable sized engine and there may only be just a few exceptions to this.

The problem is so many get caught up in this cycle that they soon become discouraged and go on to something else. We all have our preferances and these can be quite varied but that is healthy as long we don't send the new folks into overload. Even more important when they may not yet have any hands on mentoring.

My apologies for gettin' preachy

John

BillinIndiana

Do you glue the yellow right to the 2-56 wire, then slide it in the red?

Edit: Also I have the Blue ones..

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

I use Sullivan Goldenrods all the time. I sand the tube at the formers and epoxy them to the formers. Sometimes, I groove the former to fit the tube and then epoxy it in place. What you don't want is to have the rod flex because the tube is not secured properly. This will cause problems with the control surface losing "strength" in maneuvers. It could reduce effectiveness because of the flex in the rod because the tube is not secured properly.

Anyway, what I do at the ends of the rod is this:

First, I measure it (the Goldenrod) carefully so I know the length that I have to work with. Then, I take a metal rod, let's say 2-56, that is threaded at the end, let's say 1 inch of threaded surface with about three inches of non threaded metal. So, the rod is four inches. This is a starting point.. you may, most likely, will shorten this to perhaps three inches after reading this. Make the metal rod length long enoug so that it will go well past the point where it would pass the hole into the fuselage - gromet if you are using one - so that it is secure and will not flex or bend.

I then put the metal rod against the Goldenrod, at the end, and mark the metal rod to show how far it would go into the Goldenrod. I mark that point, on the metal rod, with a Sharpie. This notes how far you have to push the metal rod into the Goldenrod.

Next, I chuck the metal rod into the jaws of a variable speed drill at the threaded pont, being careful not to injure the threads.

This next pont takes focus because what you are going to do happens very quickly and really needs you to focus on what you are doing.

Coat the metal rod with thin CA. Then, put a few drops of thin CA at the hole entry point on the end of the Goldenrod. Then, quickly, while gripping the Goldenrod with the pliers (but not to the point where you crush it), spin the drill and push the metal rod into the Goldenrod to the mark you made with the sharpie with one quick, smooth motion, THEN STOP.

Do this in one fluid motion very quickly because as soon as you stop, the CA will set and you will be stuck.

Practice this once or twice on a scrap length of Goldenrod and a scrap length of metal rod.

I use this all the time and it works great.

CGr

BillinIndiana

Thank you for the great details CGr

BillinIndiana

Thank you too Dan, I see how close you got to the servo arm with both inner and outer rods.

sebo

I've been flying since the 1970's and have never had to ca the wire into the yellow nyrod. The screw taps itself and has never backed out of thegolden rod.
If I make a mistake and have to put in a new wire, I have no problem doing so..just un-screw the old one and put ina new one; by puting it in a little fartheritwill get a bite into fresh rod..........good luck

gene737

The best thing I ever did was to stop using Gold N Rod. There are much better choices. But hey, that's just me.