Carrell has great illustrations. The crimps can be done with heavy pliers or (a bit crude) a hammer. If you were to end up ONE of the ears of the adapter shown in the first picture you could even piggyback in another "splitter" for an additional circuit. One last point, marking the terminals on the outside of the box is as easy as painting the NUTS red (pos) and black (ground). Place the terminals far enough apart to avoid accidental shorting of your clips, an inch should be plenty depending on the size of the alligator clips used.

PS. print the pictures and take to the store with you.

I will be using the method as recommended but a stupid question first . The alligator clips clip onto the #6 screw right?

And I will be needing two sets of these pairs (2 positives, 2 negatives) one for the starter and one for the charger.

Looks simple enough even I could do it

All those connections can be gotten at Carr Hardware correct? That would be the easiest place for me to get to tomorrow.

One pair will do. Clip on the starter when you are using it. Clip on the charger when you are using that. The terminals will give you a solid place to attach to and not damage the battery by constantly fussing with it.

Carr Hardware? I have no idea what they carry. Some of it anyway I'm sure. Get what you can there and check Radio Shack later for the remainder.

The flight box is finally completely built, just gotta finish sanding and then apply a couple coats of wood stain.
I could not figure out how the charger was supposed to be attached to the box so I just drilled holes and attached with panhead screws and nuts.
Hope it looks OK, I think I should get the staining done in a couple days. How do the cradles look? The box satisfies me the way it came out, even if the charger was installed my own way. It is a solid hold to the box and not near anything that would sort batteries and such out while charging.
One question though: where is a good place to install the dual connector outside the box???

Some more pics. Closeups of the components.

So that would be a "yes" to that question about clipping the alligator clips to the screw? And that somehow draws the power from the battery huh?

Before doing the staining stage is there anything more that can be attached to the box that may come in handy?

Somehow? It's done through the WIRES you're supposed to connect between the battery and the screws.

I'd put them to the left of the field charger

[size=7]WOW what a box how sweet is that! Pat myself on the back just a little but you done good Steve I hope you get thousands of hours of enjoyment from it.

Thank you for those kind words. You were a tremendous part of my success: You built me those beautiful cradles, you showed me a way to lock my drawers closed, you helped me in more ways as well.

If I need any more advice with this box I will be sure to listen to you. As well as bruce, ken, carrellh and all you who helped in some way - thank you all so much.

But I have made up my mind not to build any more flight boxes anytime in the near future - setting up is too confusing.

Til later

Once you start using the box, you'll load and unload everything from it a dozen times until you get it organized "just right." Then you'll come up with a few things that just don't fit. A trip to Wal Mart, or the hardware store, will yield a plastic toolbox or fishing tackle box to carry all of those things.

This part I've heard about, but have not gotten there yet: After a few years of lugging your entire workshop around, you'll scale back to the bare essentials to get the plane fueled and started; possibly a spare prop or glow plug.

My brother and I fly together. Our club uses a field that is 45 miles from my home, and almost that far for my brother. We're still at the place of carrying lots of spare hardware and tools for moderate ability to do repairs at the field.

After spilling the tray contents out of my box all over the ground for the umpteenth time I came up with a similar retainer pin system. But I use a long shank ball-driver wrench in the back that drops into an alignment block. To a casual observer, it is an inconspicuous "lock" mechanism and is useful as a tool so it's a multi-purpose item. I have enough other needless junk I carry in my flight box.

When I stared flying I was like most beginner pilots, I had a flight box that was stuffed to the gills with tools and parts. After a couple of years of lugging that monster out to the flight line I came to the conclusion that I needed to do something different. So here's what I did. First I split up what I take to the field into repair tools that can stay in my truck and things I needed on the flightline for flying. Then I decided that I needed to take less tools to the field. Some guys seem to carry every tool to the field with them (heck, I think some of them could fabricate a new engine from scratch with all the tools they carry ), but I decided to not do that any longer. I only take the basics to the field with me any more. Enough to do simple repairs like tightening loose items, changing props, repairing holes in the covering, etc... But for bigger repairs I simply take the plane home. I hate doing field repairs because they are pain to do and most of the time you can do more damage than good doing a field repair. I can't even count how many times I've watched guys rush through a repair at the field only to have it come loose in flight and the plane crash, whereas if they had gone home they could have done the repair right and would still have their plane. So for me, only simple repairs at the field. This usually doesn't ground me because I always take at least 2 planes to the field, usually it's more like 3 or 4 planes.

Anyway, back to my flight box. Since I was tired of lugging a flight box to the flight line I decided to find something with wheels on it so I wouldn't have to carry it. I found a tool box at Lowe's that was perfect for me (see pictures). In the bottom of the box is a 12v lawn mower battery (needed for starting larger engines, 140+ size) and 2 one gallon containers for fuel (one 15% for the majority of my engines and one 25% for my YS). In the top tray I keep tie down ropes, my electric starter, my field charger, glow driver, overflow tank to catch fuel when filling, and my fuel pump. That's all that goes out to the flight line/pits with me, that's all I need there. I've had this box for about 4 years now I totally love it. I have two 12v taps on it (one for my starter and one for my field charger). I do have the power panel on there but I never use it and will probably leave it off if I get another box later on. The best thing about this box was that I didn't have to spend a lot of time "building" it. I had it ready to go with about 20 minutes worth of work.

I know that everybody has their own way of doing things and I would never think of knocking somebody for how they do their equipment, but instead I bring this up to show that there are alternatives. Many beginners (myself included) think that they need a huge flight box with every tool they own when they go to the field. I have found that KISS (keep it simple silly) works a lot better for me. I'm pointing this out so that beginners out there can see that there are other ways of doing things.


Edit: Forgot the picture of my box

Ken

I have a flight box and a hardware (tackle) box. The hardware box has most of my building and repair/replacement items. If I need a screw, bolt, tail-wheel, etc. they are in the hardware box. I figure my planes are lighter than my hardware box, so that stays in the car most of the year and I carry my model to the car if it's needing repair.

Props, tape, glow-plugs, tach & ESV, tools, wheel collars, rags, cleaning solution, bug balm - those are things I might need in the pits so they are in the flight box.

I have decided to go with the banana plug terminals on the outside of the box.
I have the banana jacks that screw onto the outside of the box, I have the electric piggy-back terminals and the female inserts, I have multiple sets of banana plugs and 5 feet each of red and black 14-gauge wire.

So it is my belief that all I do is drill the holes for the banana jacks into the flight box, solder a red and black wire to the banana jack leads and cover with heat-shrink tubing. Then the other ends of the wires get soldered to the female terminal discs and then covered with heat-shrink tubing. Then the female terminal discs get plugged into the piggy-back terminals which are crimped onto the battery. And I have to make two sets (negative and positive).

Am I right about how to do this? Sticktickler has it done on his box (that is his box displayed below) so you are the one to ask, is that the way you did it?

Because I have the piggy-back terminals that clip onto the battery I can do two sets of these external terminals on my box (never know when you will need two going at once so I will be having two sets).

Am I right that this is all I need to purchase and all that is required to install them?

Then I also know I will need to cut the alligator clips off from my charger and starter (knew I should have gotten a panel-ready ) and solder on the banana plugs. One question with that. I have played around with those plugs and can not see how to remove the banana plug from the casing to solder the wire onto.

And a question about soldering. To solder all you have to do is stick the wire in through the hole in the terminal and fold the wire onto itself and then solder? How much solder do you want to apply, I imagine you wouldn't wanna overdo it obviously but how much is overdoing? Do you want a thin coat to the point that it sticks or do you want it well coated?

The solder will suck in through capilary action. You want all the gaps sealed. Nothing more. It should look like shiny silver heat shrink covering over the wire and not a pile of frosty dog doo on top of it.

Tigerdude,
Do a Google search on "soldering how to" and you'll come up with a good list of "how-to's" on soldering. Definitely enough information out there to get somebody started in soldering.

Here are a few of the sites that come up in the search that looked pretty informative:
[link]http://www.epemag.com/solderfaq/default.htm[/link]
[link]http://www.aaroncake.net/electronics/solder.htm[/link]
[link]http://www.mediacollege.com/misc/solder/[/link]
[link]http://www.instructables.com/id/E30LR180T4EWP872BS/?ALLSTEPS[/link]
[link]http://www.bestinc.org/docs/Survival_Guide/education_resources/sasoldering.html[/link]
[link]http://www.robotstore.com/download/How_to_solder_1.pdf[/link]

Hope this helps

Ken

What is the p/n of the banana plugs you bought. Picture too fuzzy to read. Once I know that I may be able to tell you how to solder to that particular plug.

Here's one of mine from a Radio Shack (I believe) solder banana plug.

Digital camers are wonderful things.

That's a good one Charlie. If he has the same style plug it will be a good example.

Well Steve I liked yours so much I had to mount mine on the box too. Can't wait to use them I think I'm going to find my snow skis and give it a shot.



PS the hand is from the last guy at the field that got into my box lol!

If by p/n you mean part number it is Radio Shack 274-730 and the banana jacks are Radio Shack 274-725B

I also have some banana plugs that came with the charger that are smaller and screw into the casing (no part number)

From the picture Charlie P displays in the post above the banana plug just pulls of the casing. I guess you just carefully grab it with pliers and twist.

So I don't need anything more, and the connection I mentioned is correct?

EDIT: I just looked again at Charlie P's pic and it looks like thread screws that unscrew to remove the plug.

I like. Looks like you did yours a bit different. The slots for up and down adjustment seems to be longer so you have more area of adjustment.

P.S: I love the hand, what'd the guy steal to lose it?

I made them so I can push them all the way down when not in use rather than removing them just another mod. And I chose to mount mine on the ends becouse I have some very large planes that need to fit (wide wing cord) very cool unit!