Hi guys,

This is my first time doing them, any pointers are welcome. The Antic is set up for bellcranks and pushrods circa 1970ish but I was not going to do that so I roughed this out.

-Do I need to run a tube inside the wing for the servo leads or is it ok to just let them flop around? Flopping around might induce the connector to disengage, strain the wire, etc. Adding the tube will make it easier to rethread the leads should I have to remove the wires someday. But it also adds weight, and will look funny when you look through the fabric in the sunlight.

-I'll reopen the debate about cutting off the leads close to the servo and resoldering on new single length extensions. Good or Bad?

-If you don't do that then how do you keep the extensions from seperating from the lead? It will be in an electric Antic so there should not be a big problem with vibration.


Thanks,

Steve

I would run tubes in the wing. To me it makes life easy.

I cut the wires about 3 inches from the servo and solder on shielded wire when I need to make long runs.

If you keep the connectors I would take a section of wire or a small wire tie and tie the connectors together by inserting it between two of the wires on the connector or use a section oh heat shrink tubing or electrical tape over the connector.

I normally do not use tubes for the servo leads.

I connect the leads and use a piece of electrical tape to insure they don't separate. For removing/replacing the leads, just tie a cord on the end of the wire, and as you remove the servo and lead, it will pull through the wing. Tape the cord in place and when you are ready tie one edn of the cord to the lead and pull it back through.

I have not had any problems with the connections coming loose or strain on the leads (I do leave a little slack on them ).

Resoldering long leads has many good points to it, the primary one is there is one less connection you have to worry about for oxidation/corrosion. The downside may be finding the necessary parts to assemble the ends (You could always cut down 36" servo leads to the length needed and not have to worry about the ends ).

In any case, a servo lead up to 12" long the standard servo lead will be OK. A servo lead over 12" long I highly recommend using using a heavy duty lead to minimize voltage drop due to the smaller wire size of a standard servo lead.

I like to keep things standardized - makes repairs easier.

I made the same sort of mod to my 33% L-4 - dumped the sloppy bell crank design and stuck GS servos between two ribs inline with the aileron control horn.

I used servos 'as is', and cobbled up the wire runs by using the female end of a heavy duty servo extension soldered to shielded 18 ga. audio cable. The wire run terminates at the wing root with a 4-pole audio connector, and the wing root in the fuse has a mating 4-pole receptacle.

I hot-glued the wire run to the ribs.

The wire run reaches into the rib bay where the servo is, and with a removeable cover it's simple to change servos. I use hot glue to prevent the servo connectors separating except when I want them separated.

It would take about 10 minutes to change an aileron servo if the need arises - presuming the model survives an aileron servo failure, of course.

You can roll paper into tubes instead using metal.
And where there's a connection with an extension, I use grocery bag ties around the connectors.
And sometimes I leave them loose. but not too floppy.

I use heat shrink tubing around the connectors when I use a servo extension. It does a nice job of holdin gthe conenctors together but can be removed (with some care) using a hobby knife.

Mark