Rudder Stops

 To keep the rudder from moving so far that it hits the elevator, you need stops on the rudder cable.  Pete designed a simple stop using a split piece of dowel with a Nicopress sleeve crimped on the rudder cable.

The block just bumps up against the bulkhead and keeps the Nicopress sleeve from wearing through the plywood on the bulkhead.

 That worked fine but the cable sawed a slot in the plywood over time.  To stop more wear I created some Nylon cable guides which stick out through the bulkhead.

 I wanted the stop to hit solid wood, not the end of the cable guide.  If the cable guide moved the stop position would change and the rudder hit the elevator.

I made these blocks from 3/4" plywood to cover the ends of the cable guides.  That way the stops again hit solid wood.  The blocks are screwed to the bulkhead to keep them in position.

 The screw holes are located so they only go through the plywood gusset not the structural members.  I clamped them in place to drill one hole, install the screw and stop nut, then drill the second hole.

 I lost the original stops so I made some new ones from a piece of 1" oak dowel.  The hole center was located, then used to align the table on the Shop-Smith.  I started the hole with a 1/8" center drill, then drilled to depth with a regular twist drill.

 A stop was clamped on the bandsaw to get a nice groove for the safety wire by spinning the dowel.  To make this easier I didn't cut the blocks from the ends of the dowel until the grooves were cut.  I added one more grove at the end where the Nicopress sleeve hits the block.

 A centerline was drawn around the block to use as a guide sawing the block in half.

I started sawing at each corner than worked to connect the corners.  The cuts on the long side were slow but it worked fine.

 With them cut in half I clamped each set back together then re-drilled the holes so they would fit nicely on the cable.

 You can see the saw blade wandered slightly but the pairs fit together and fit nicely on the cable.

I only varnished the outside, so the pairs would fit together better.  I need to put the tail surfaces back on before I can install these and crimp the sleeve in the correct position.

I am running out of little things to do.