Lesson time

[Dwayne]

When using clevises always use some tubing to keep them from opening, or use the ones with the little clips.
End of lesson and plane.

[dennis lipsett]

When using clevises always use some tubing to keep them from opening, or use the ones with the little clips.
End of lesson and plane.

OUCH!

[Randy Ryan]

Yes, I used them early on and luckily had no issues but I've seen them fail for others. Ball joints are the only way to go plus they don't wear anywhere near as fast as clevis joints. Sorry about your model, man that sux.

[Dwayne]

Lawn Arrow? Many , many times on here and on Stuka Stunt, it has been stated by many to never, ever use clevis type connectors unless you can keep the from spreading. I lost two before I understood what had happened. It happens so suddenly, one can think it may have been wake turbulence.  Now I use ball links ONLY.

Wondered if anyone was going to say something like this.   Hey gotta keep a sense of humor. I used a clevis on the elevator on this plane as I designed it to be easy to work with, it had an upright engine and the push rod came out the side so that the nylon horn and clevis was exposed for easy access. I still think this can work but I will be using  Sullivan retaining clips from now on.

[Chris McMillin]

Go ahead and try it, it'll last longer...
Chris...

[FLOYD CARTER]

The ones called "Golden Clevis" use very strong spring steel, with a detent which locks when closed.  I find them very hard to open, even with heroic tools!  The forces on the pin are not in a direction to cause them to open.

[Jim Kraft]

I never had one open on me but I did have one that wore out the thread on the push rod and came appart. I never used them after that. I am old school and bend the ends of the wire and put wheel collars on them. It does take a little more expertise to get them the right length, but they always work and my controls are butter smooth. I sometimes use a split connector soldered half way to get them just right. The ones that look like a roll pin but are tinned to accept solder. Never had one fail put together this way. Still no way to adjust the length of the push rod without adding a little bend some where, or since I use R/C horns and run the pushrod through the side of the fuse ala R/C, I can change the horn or drill a new hole to change the action.

[John Park]

Yes, those split connectors are fine - but don't ever use brass tubing, unless you can solder a lot better than I can!  I once had an elevator pushrod come apart through faulty soldering, and got away with it because (a) the model had flaps, (b) it was in level flight at the time, and (c) I had to keep it airborne for little more than a lap before the tank ran dry.  Oh, and I was also flying over grass, so the less-than-perfect landing did no damage.  If only I could always be that lucky...

Regards
John

[jfv]

I've used these with success on classic size without any issues.  They have a safety lock and are easy to adjust.  Don't like the all metal ones.

http://shop.dubro.com/p/4-40-safety-lock-kwik-link-qty-pkg-12

[Dwayne]

I've used these with success on classic size without any issues.  They have a safety lock and are easy to adjust.  Don't like the all metal ones.

http://shop.dubro.com/p/4-40-safety-lock-kwik-link-qty-pkg-12

Yes, they work quite well.

[Brett Buck]

    I think you only have part of the lesson - you should never use RC clevises *of any type, no matter how tough they look*. People have been crashing airplanes from various clevis failures since they were invented. They are convenient, but they *will* break eventually in some way - pin breaks, clevis opens up, pin wears through, threads strip, threaded section opens up, on and on.

   They are even marginal on trim adjustments. The picture below is the kwik-link from my rudder - which is static, and ran in a well-lubricated *plywood* horn. After about 4 years on vibration on a relatively smooth system, and absolutely no other consequential load.

    Brett

[EddyR]

I believe Ted Fancher had one fail at a team trial many years ago. I have seen them fail a lot on RC planes. I saw one on a RC pylon racer last week and I mentioned the high failure rate and I got the look ! " don't bother me "
Ed

[Dwayne]

    I think you only have part of the lesson - you should never use RC clevises *of any type, no matter how tough they look*. People have been crashing airplanes from various clevis failures since they were invented. They are convenient, but they *will* break eventually in some way - pin breaks, clevis opens up, pin wears through, threads strip, threaded section opens up, on and on.

   They are even marginal on trim adjustments. The picture below is the kwik-link from my rudder - which is static, and ran in a well-lubricated *plywood* horn. After about 4 years on vibration on a relatively smooth system, and absolutely no other consequential load.

    Brett

Thanks, I'll be checking my planes.