Stiffening up Pushrods
 

Hi,

I purchased a Bambi 2 from nesail.com I finished building it but one thing i have noticed is that the pushrods are very flexiby and it really affects the control surfaces movements. I added the clear sleeve to "beef" it up but it wont work. Is there are cheap way to stiffen the pushrods up? (i was thinking maybe wetting the pushrod with thin CA and spraying it with accelarator.

ANy ideas?

THanks

RE: Stiffening up Pushrods
 

The best thing to do is to buy a carbon fibre rod which goes over your pushrods just like a sleeve. So you first put epoxy on your rod then push the carbon fibre rod over.

This should give you a VERY strong non flexible push rod . It works fab for me !

RE: Stiffening up Pushrods
 

I'll second what Halogen said - to the hilt. I use that method on all of my planes and it works great.

Make sure you put some tape over the threads so that you don't have to try and clean the epoxy off them afterwards.

RE: Stiffening up Pushrods
 

You could replace the entire rod with carbon rod too, no worries about threads. But you have to use a Dremel to cut them, and be certain of your measurements (shouldn't be a problem if you use your current rods as measurements).

RE: Stiffening up Pushrods
 

samolot,

One of the cleanest and and best looking ways is to for example buy some 4-40 all thread rod and buy the Mid West Carbon Fiber tube that fits it the best. Cut the 4-40 rod to length, cut the CF tube about 1 1/2" shorter than the 4-40 rod. Slip the CF tube over the 4-40 rod and secure it on both ends with 4-40 nut. Now add your ball links are whatever you choice to use to both ends of the rod. Add a drop of CA on each nut so they wont come loose.