Hard Point Handles

[Dave_Trible]

Found!

[Paul Walker]

Is that 18 grams with or without the tennis grip wrap?

If I'm getting my math right, just the CF plate should weigh in at close to the total -- but that is assuming my 4.25" monster-sized grip.

Tim,
It is 18 g w/o the tennis racket grip. I just put one on the scale and it was 25 g, but that included some of the safety thong as it is permanently attached. Probably around 20 g with TRG. Not too shabby!

[Brett Buck]

Tim,
It is 18 g w/o the tennis racket grip. I just put one on the scale and it was 25 g, but that included some of the safety thong as it is permanently attached. Probably around 20 g with TRG. Not too shabby!

 All right!  Now we can have a lengthy thread about which type of grip tape is optimal! 

     The self-adhesive gauze type is extremely light and has good grip and no compliance.

    Brett

[Tim Wescott]

Tim,
It is 18 g w/o the tennis racket grip. I just put one on the scale and it was 25 g, but that included some of the safety thong as it is permanently attached. Probably around 20 g with TRG. Not too shabby!

Thanks Paul.  I just put one together last night using a hunk of fiberglass-epoxy circuit board, and I ended up at 32g before the thong or wrap -- clearly the fiberglass is way more dense than CF.  Next time I must (shudder) buy some materials for a handle.

BTW: it's only 1/16" thick, and since it's not CF I was worried about it buckling under load.  So instead of making it "C" shaped with arms that could independently bend, I made it "O" shaped, with a bar all the way across.  My gut tells me this is stronger, but I don't know how much.  It pulls to at least 50 pounds, though, without any sign of complaint.  I would pull harder, but I'm a coward: at 50 pounds I start looking at my setup and thinking that (A) I've passed the pull test, and (B) if something snaps, I'm going to get hurt!

Brett: are you sure that vinyl electrical tape isn't better, or perhaps the old-style woven electrical tape?  Maybe rubberized string wound in a diamond pattern?

[Robby Hunt]

Tim,
It is 18 g w/o the tennis racket grip. I just put one on the scale and it was 25 g, but that included some of the safety thong as it is permanently attached. Probably around 20 g with TRG. Not too shabby!

It's important to take into consideration that Paul must weigh his handle with the battery on board!

[Brett Buck]

It's important to take into consideration that Paul must weigh his handle with the battery on board!

    Oh, the injustice of it all!

    Brett

[Robby Hunt]

    Oh, the injustice of it all!

    Brett

"What's a mother to do?"
-Paul Walker

[Tim Wescott]

I made one that came in at about 32g, and I've been flying it for eight flights or so -- I think it's going to be good for five to ten points in the turns and overheads, even though I still can't consciously feel the plane through the handle.

So now I'm really motivated.  The frame of the first try weighed in at 25g.  I trimmed, and got the frame of this one down to 12.5g.  Bushings brought that up about half a gram, and soldering the bushings on (since I could I figured I should) added about another 1/3.  The other 7g are balsa, dowels, and epoxy.  The dowels are there because try #1 chafed my hand a bit; it wasn't enough to hurt or injure, but it was distracting.  I also have a notion that if someone wanted to go into production of these things you could adjust the size of the hole by swapping in larger or smaller dowels.

The reason for the funny patterns on the frame is because it's made out of a surplus circuit board for a customer project, rather than CF.  Trying it out of CF will be my next step.

I'm still not ready to beat Paul, but man, but if the handle doesn't make a difference I'm subject to one heck of a placebo effect!

[john e. holliday]

In the few years I have been flying control line planes I have never paid attention to the handle as far as weight.   When you have a 60 ounce plane flying at 60 mph on 65 foot lines all I feel is the pull of the airplane.  The Fancher handle does handle different than the cable handles I have.  But, on certain planes I still like the cable handle for some reason.   Also training people I like my big D handle that Dick Byron sold me at VSC one year.  And I know I am going to get tarred  and feathered on this, but I do not use a safety thong when teaching people until I am sure they can handle take off to landings.

[Ted Fancher]

It's important to take into consideration that Paul must weigh his handle with the battery on board!

Good one, Robby.  Daddy Bubba would be proud of you!  A chip off the old block.

Ted

[Robby Hunt]

A chip off the old block.

Ted

Ted,

That is why I now reside on the west coast (best coast, that is), we have reached the divide and conquer part of the master plan.

Robby

[Ted Fancher]

Ted,

That is why I now reside on the west coast (best coast, that is), we have reached the divide and conquer part of the master plan.

Robby

...and we're happy to have you!

[John Stiles]

Found!

Man, I can't tell you how much I like this handle! I'm feeling much obliged to ya, any time you need a favor, just call on me, Bro!

[Tim Wescott]

I trimmed, and got the frame of this one down to 12.5g.

I just made a frame to the same dimensions, but out of 1/16" carbon fiber plate from Rockwest.  It's stiffer than the fiberglass, and weighs about 7.8g.  So I think I can take 4g out of the assembly, easily.

Better yet, all the sawing & drilling has been done easily with hand tools (a drillpress, coping saw, and hacksaw) -- there's no need to use a cutoff disk.  I'm sure that I'm dulling the cutting edges like mad, but I know how to sharpen drill bits, and hacksaw and coping saw blades are cheap and disposable.

[Tim Wescott]

I just made a frame to the same dimensions, but out of 1/16" carbon fiber plate from Rockwest.  It's stiffer than the fiberglass, and weighs about 7.8g.  So I think I can take 4g out of the assembly, easily.

Make that 5g.  The completed handle, with carbon-epoxy frame instead of epoxy-glass, is 16.0 grams -- and that's with three hurriedly applied coats of dope that haven't had a chance to gas off yet: I expect it to be about 1/4 of a gram less by tomorrow morning.  I don't know if five more grams will make a difference (particularly at the level that I fly), but given the difference between 32g and 21g, I certainly expect it to.

Now if only I could bring it down to 1g total...

[Steve Helmick]

Man, I can't tell you how much I like this handle! I'm feeling much obliged to ya, any time you need a favor, just call on me, Bro!

John, do yourself a favor and don't fly with the thumb on the top of the handle like the picture shows. And please throw those chocolate glazed donuts in the trash...they're pure evil!  Steve

[John Stiles]

John, do yourself a favor and don't fly with the thumb on the top of the handle like the picture shows. And please throw those chocolate glazed donuts in the trash...they're pure evil!   Steve

That's what I told my wife, but she don't put much faith in what I say....cause she's big enough to push me around now. The thumb was pointing out the adjustment screw, that I think is absolutely the berries! Here's ya another amusing pic I got over the last weekend, by sticking my fanger in a running prop[which adds up to about 3 fingers now with hacked up places]

[Steve Helmick]

That's what I told my wife, but she don't put much faith in what I say....cause she's big enough to push me around now. The thumb was pointing out the adjustment screw, that I think is absolutely the berries! Here's ya another amusing pic I got over the last weekend, by sticking my fanger in a running prop[which adds up to about 3 fingers now with hacked up places]

Oh, I didn't think about the potential of pointing with the thumb. As for the finger, it looked to me like some artwork done with a Sharpie...big eye, cute smile, sort of like one of the Smallmouth Bass I caught today...and yesterday... and the day before that. It was a lot of work, but somebody has to do it.  Steve

PS: I fell off my diet this weekend. Donut if you got 'em.

[John Stiles]

 it looked to me like some artwork done with a Sharpie...big eye, cute smile

I knew you'd like it. That is proof right there, of the damage a wooden 8/6 prop can do to a finger. On the other side it didn't look as cute....took off part of the fingernail and was too gory for primetime! LOL