Building Tips and technical articles. > Building techniques
How to make sure both lines come out equal in length?
Brian Courtice:
I'm unclear about the most fundamental part of control line...the lines themselves.
With all of the connections from bellcrank to lead, lead to line, line to handle, with various wraps, ties, crimps, thimbles and clips that have to be fabricated to make it all work: after all that, the finished pair of lines need to end up very nearly identical in length.
Is there a clear, complete handle to bellcrank walkthrough available as a reference somewhere?
Ken Culbertson:
--- Quote from: Brian Courtice on January 18, 2022, 09:45:59 PM ---I'm unclear about the most fundamental part of control line...the lines themselves.
With all of the connections from bellcrank to lead, lead to line, line to handle, with various wraps, ties, crimps, thimbles and clips that have to be fabricated to make it all work: after all that, the finished pair of lines need to end up very nearly identical in length.
Is there a clear, complete handle to bellcrank walkthrough available as a reference somewhere?
--- End quote ---
Probably not. Just do it and adjust it at the handle when you are done.
Ken
Dan McEntee:
Fred Cronenwett did a video on wrapping lines for YouTube and I'll bet you will find some others there also. Do a search here on Stunthanger, as I know it has been discussed several times. There are VERY few topics that haven't been covered multiple times.
The basics of it is to pay attention to the bell crank and lead outs all through construction and at some point where you can tell that the bell crank is at neutral, wrap the first lead out. That parts easy. The tricky part is the other lead out. You just need to mark the lire where the line will wrap around the eyelet for the lead outs to be even. it just takes practice to do correctly, and the last one is the really critical one.
The same goes for the flying lines. I wrap the eyes on one end of a roll of lines just to get warmed up. Do both lines. Lay out your tape measure, anchor the made up end in the grass or weight it down or what ever at zero, then mark the first line. Practice getting the eye right at the mark. Put the mark at the front, side or back of the eye, then wrap as usual. Now the tricky one comes back into play, the last one. pull a little bit of tension on both lines and mark the send line. Put the eye in relation to the mark the same way you did the first one, then wrap as usual. It helps to have all the tools needed for the job within reach. I keep a kit of tools just for making lines. Good sharp small pair of side cutters, small needle nose pliers, two or three pairs of hemostats, 100 foot tape, various sharp object to stick through eyelets to anchor lines or tape measure, Several colors of Sharpies or whatever you like to mark lines with, eyelets, line clips, extra line reels, anything that you think will help you wrap lines. There are several different designs out there for fixtures to hold things that act like a second set of hands and they help. But after you make up 50 or 60 sets of lines you will have figured it all out and just need the two hand on the end of your arms! You can get them pretty dog gone close, but that is what they make adjustable handle for, and for those that fly hard point handle, they have the little fixture for bending their own custom line clips to certain lengths and keep that tool in the line making case, or buy the "Hello Kitty" commercial clips that Randy Smith sells. Like I mentioned already, it's like anything else with this event, practice makes perfect!
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
Brian Courtice:
That was a great reply Dan.
I like the idea of fabricating a custom made clip to lengthen the shorter line. It would come in handy if your lines were uneven enough to exceed the adjustment length available at the handle. Kind of takes the pressure off for a struggling noob trying to make lines.
Brian Courtice:
I found this video. It uses some simple clamping jigs at each end and looks foolproof enough for a first timer to get it right.
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