Iam putting in my pushrods, gray type tubes with steel rods. Then every inch or so they want me to glue on white inserts I believe to aid in making it slide easier. So my question is as I am putting this together I want to lube it with something to make the push rods slide easier. Or is it a bad idea. My first thought was dry Teflon dust or bees wax any thoughts ?
Rich

Be careful of what you use for a lube. The residue from the engine can get into places you never thought possible and "gum things up".

If you MUST use a lubericant for the pushrods, I suggest a DRY graphite powder. Do not apply the graphite powder until ALL the gluing and painting is finished since IF the powder gets into a glue joint or area you want to paint, it is next to impossible to get off.

teflon has a lower coeficient of friction than graphite and i cant think of any ill effects that would arise from teflon and glow fule :-p solve the whole problem :-D use golden rods

I'm with Campy on this one, if you are going to lube use powdered graphite for your lube. Anything else can "gum up" with age.

As for the plastic inserts on the control rod. Those are spacers that are there to keep the control rod from flexing inside of the pushrod tube. Without them you can have anywhere from 1/16" upwards to 1/4" of flex in a control rod. This makes for at best weak control surface that have lack of authority when flying. And at worst they can be a cause of flutter in your control surface which can destroy and aircraft in a matter of seconds.

Hope this helps

Ken

So what Iam hearing is typically you guys do'nt lube..
Is it best to use larger pieces of white insert or shorts pieces per top flite instructions.

When I first saw the title of this thread, I immediately thought it was another one of those "muffler bearing grease" posts by someone with too much time on their hands...

Rich, I first saw what you're talking about when I built a SS MK II some years back. Having used a solid wire pushrod in a plastic outer tube without any drama many times before, I thought those little white spacers were a bit odd, but I gave them the old college try. I was seriously underwhelmed. Perhaps I didn't hold my mouth right, but the pushrod had a LOT more resistance with those things than without.

My advice is to simply not use them. If you have enough of a bend/curve/kink in your outer tube to require lubricity, its not going to be smooth regardless of what you do. The bare solid wire runs quite well within a reasonably straight tube, all by itself.

OTOH, if you simply must "follow directions", then I'll echo the dry graphite suggestion. Anything else is going to be a horrible mess; period.

I read somewhere tha silicon spray works, and doe not leave a residue after it dries.???


rotltech

I've used graphite with positive results. I wouldn't hesitate to use it again even.

I've used the Great Planes pushrods many times before. Just keep the white pieces as small as they say. Second thought on this is when you are glueing the pieces on you need an applicator tip on the thin ca bottle. all it takes is a tiny drop on each side to hold it on. Anything more will just build up on the surface and add drag. I've never used any spray powder or anything else on pushrods. My feeling on this is if it has a bind right from the start while you are building the kit. now is the time to fix it.

Dennis

Use the white inserts. Don't use any type of lubricant. Graphite is messy and any type of silicon leaves residue.

Dr.1

Odd thing is I can not test it without gluing the sleeve because it slides easier on the pushrod than sleeve. Ken’s point for tighter rod is a good point. My other planes I sleeved the whole rod with the solid insert this is the first time I remember it said to cut an glue them in little pieces. As Steve said if I’am going to follow the directions I will cut ¼ “ pieces and glue an see how it tight en’s up then try a dry lube if its sticky. BTW I once used beeswax on flex cable for throttle as it made a sharp turn around the tank an got stiff that was 2 years ago an it’s still smooth now but on plastic to plastic it wasn’t my first thought.

Thanks for the input. Rich