WW Joystick Extension - am I missing something?

[Jamie_G]

Hi guys

 

I have a Winwing Joystick Extension that I've decided to try out, but I'm a bit confused about how it mounts to the base. 

 

The threaded section on the stick has a flat surface that you line up with the hole in the collar so you can use the grub screw to secure it in place to stop it rotating, but the extension doesn't have this flat surface, so it simply unscrews as soon as use the stick.

 

What am I missing? If anyone can shed any light on this I'd really appreciate it.

 

Thanks all 

[rob10]

Sorry, don't have an extension so I can't directly comment.  What you're having happen is the stick is unscrewing itself from the extension as you're using it?

As a work around you could try adding some teflon plumbing tape to the threads to increase the friction and hopefully keep it tighter.

Worst case you could use a drop of Loctite (or something similar) -- make sure you use the version that will let you break the bond rather than the permanent version.  It's probably overkill and might not be ideal if you need to take it apart again.

[Allo]

I had the same problem and I too thought, "Where is the flat part on the other end?" But I couldn't see any flat part either.

They should really add it to both ends so you don't damage the thread.

Anyway, I tightened it up as "PER NORMAL" and it kept being able to twist.

My problem was solved by tightening the grub screws much more than I normally do.

If you want to try this solution which worked for me, just tighten it little by little till there is no twist. Little by little so this way you shouldn't over tighten it.

I was surprised by how tight I had to tighten it.

[Jamie_G]

Cheers for the replies! So if Allo has the same thing on his, it must be by design then? How did that make it past QC??? 

 

Loctite is a good idea, although as you say...bit of a pain if taking apart, and also know from experience it's bloody messy when dry and you do unscrew the thing!

 

So Allo, did you just basically crush e threads? Cos if you just keep tightening the grub screw surely that's all that'll happen?

 

I've generated a ticket with WW incredibly convoluted and confusing customer support... Let's see what they say.

 

Thanks chaps 

[Cgjunk2]

Before I ordered my stick extension, I would occasionally have the issue of the grip twisting.  It wasn't twisting at the threads,  but rather the portion of the stick that goes into the gimbal (the same part that holds the screw ring)   I could reduce the chances of twisting if I really tightened the grip with the screw ring, to the point I could no longer land the grub screw on the flat area. 

I installed my stick extension tightly enough, so I thought. But my spastic reaction during a near-miss in form flight loosened it slightly lol.   In order to retighten it, I had get a good body position to improve my grip on the screw ring, grabbed the middle screw wring for counterforce, concentrated, stuck my tongue out a little, and tightened.  I felt I got a good solid torque on it this time and it's been stable for a while.   If it loosens again, I might dump the grub screw (it's just chewing up threads if it keeps slipping) and use the teflon tape idea.  Hopefully, the teflon tape would still allow for enough torque to be applied to sufficiently pre-tension the stick nub coming out of the gimbal.  That's my theory anyways!

 

EDIT:  I forgot to add this.  I was playing around with different springs after using the stick extension for a while, and on my second try, I developed a hard center (I use soft center cams) on my aileron axis. It could hear/feel a "thunk" whenever I crossed center when the pitch axis was also centered.  It felt horrible and thought it was actually wearing out.   I looked around and thought it might have something do with the bearing that rides on the cams and that it somehow lost tension on the cams.  I imagined maybe the bearings were on some sort eccentric mount, so I tried adjusting the bearing mount screwto no avail (because there was, in fact, no eccentric adjustment like I was hoping).  Then my stick extension loosened up on a flight (that near miss I mentioned above).   By total and complete chance, when I properly tightened the stick extension to the stick nub on the gimbal, my hard center completely went away, and it returned to normal quiet movement across the center. 

Edited February 6 by Cgjunk2