Well building my hanger 9 .60 thunder bolt has been awesome, but I’m worried the ball joints i purchased might not cut it, I bought dubro threaded ball links ( dub181) for all the control surfaces , servo arms and throttle. I’m sure they'll be fine on the throttle but the last thing I need is to lose a rudder or elevator on the maiden flight. I was wounding if it would be wiser to buy a heavy duty ball and socket connector. If u guys have any suggestions just post the brand and model so I can buy them up lol.


http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXD897&P=7 <dub181

In my humble opinion, those (ball sockets) are ok for throttle, but I would rely on standard clevis' and horns for your control surfaces. They are very positive, especially when held closed with a short piece of fuel tubing slipped over the clevis.

The problem with those is that there is no way to hold them in place and they could pull out during flight and that would be that.

Get the standard control horns and clevis's and use those. In other words, I would strongly recommend NOT using ball sockets for the control surfaces at all. I would not trust them for that. As I said, and as you said, throttle is ok, but ailerons, elevator, rudder? Nope. Not a good idea.

DS.

CG,
I hate to contridict, but those ball joints are very VERY secure in flight. Once they snap in place they won't come out in flight. In fact, many of the "pros" use the very same ball joints in their planes that they compete with. You won't have any problems using this for any control surface that you wish to use them on.

Hope this helps

Ken

I stand corrected. I always thought the good old clevis/control horn was the best solution. Ok.. live and learn!!

I use these for boats: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXFV40&P=7. They seem very secure and are actually easier to remove than a traditional ball joint. Some of them have survived heavy abuse, such as shearing off the servo output shaft, but keep working well. They also have a 2-56 version: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXFV39&P=7 for lighter duty such as throttles.

Ball connectors are fine in themselves. They may make it more difficult to make length adjustments and can also present a challenge at the control surfaces.

Can you give us any pictures of your attachments when done (or now)?

well i didnt want to start till i had atleast some positive feedback, but i plan on using the included control horns and simply bolting the ball to it.

Finding or making a rod of exactly the right length and threads on both ends is going to be tough.

since is my first legitimate build im gonna haft to agree with you, maybe i could make one end a ball and use the included hardware on the control horn end. Im pushing the ball joints cause i have about 10 that wont be used lol.

They won't be used THIS TIME. There will be more planes.

lol i hope so this isnt a very cheap hobby, but its addictive.

You'll do fine.

BTW - my mother lives in Novi and my niece used to live in Sterling Heights before she moved to Novi also. I grew up in Detroit, was a QC Engineer at Chrysler for a while.

lol michigan is cool with the exception of the economy.

G'day Mate,
It's not a good idea to use ball links on the control surface horn, because the ball will twist the plastic horn, use clevises on the horn & swivel ball links, on the servo end.
Then you will have length adjustment through the clevis. Easy & no slop.

Hey Allan. How goes it down under? Hope the weather is cooperating in your winter.. we have had some nice weather and some, well, it has been getting pretty windy in the afternoon.

Anyway, I thought that the ball socket would twist in use which potentially would cause it to pop out. For this reason, I never tried them, and just stick with the good old clevis. Dubro makes some pretty nice heavy duty clevis's in both 2-56 and 4-40. They have a little clip on them that locks in the pivot pin so it will not pop out. They are both light and strong. I have them on most of my planes and have had ZERO problems with them. And, because they are 'threaded' the control rod screws into the clevis which allows for length adjustments of about a half inch or so, which, if built right, is more than enough room for adjustment.

But, as I said earlier, I stand corrected for those that use them. But, I like my Dubro's and will stick with them for control surfaces, and will limit the use of the ball sockets for throttle only.

Dick.

i read a post here about useing ball swivils on both ends and if i remember the post correctly they said the same thing about the balls twisting and causing adjustment problems.i think the post was in the giant scale section.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXD912&P=SM
You can reduce the twisting some by using something like this. Also use HD horns.

really kind of over kill and risky going with a ball joint on your control horns, if your worried about hardware, then junk the push rods for the rudder and elevator and go with real 256 rods there stiffer than the supplied H-9 ones,that will flex and bend under stress.
the rods for the ailerons are fine as there only 4"long and really are not going to flex at all, but the rudder and elevator rods are a bit too flexable being over 6"long IMO,so I replaced mine on my 2 H-9 warbirds.
the horns provided by H-9 are typically fine for a 60 size plane.
adding a ball joint to your horn is just adding a week spot,unless you get the type Bruce suggested, if you use a typical clevis and secure it with fuel tubing like any other model in that size range you will be fine.
if you drip some thin CA in the holes you drill in the control surfaces, thin CA will harden the area,just let it dry then redrill the holes,after you have lined up the back plate, it will make the area tougher a tip I got from the warbirds section that works well to harden the rudder, elevator horn locations.
note the scale tail wheel location on the Mustang,a good place for a ball and socket joint,I would steer away from using one on a control horn,unless it's one of the ones specific for control surfaces,and replaces the horn all together,but it's really not necessary.