• The Biplane Forum is a large global active community of biplane builders, owners and pilots. From Pitts to Skybolts, to older barnstormers, all types are welcome. In addition to our active community, our content boasts exhaustive technical information which is often sought after for projects and maintenance. This information has accumulated over the 12+ years the forum has been in existence.

    The Biplane Forum is a private community. Subscriptions are only $49.99/year or $6.99/month to gain access to this great community and unmatched source of information not found anywhere else on the web. We are also a great resource for non biplane users, since many GA aircraft are built the same way (fabric and tube construction). Annual membership also comes with two BiplaneForum.com decals.



Control Cable tools

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

planebuilder

Registered Users
Supporting Member
*
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
2,127
Reaction score
1,248
Location
Midland Ontario Canada
I recently had to replace all the control cables in a finished older airplane (1946), and thought this might be helpful if you need to do this.
I cut the cables a few inches from one end, attached a string, and pulled the cable out. I put one knot in the string, doubled it over, and put 2" of small heatshrink tube on it. That made it easier to use electrical tape to connect the string to the end of the cable with minimal "lump" so it would feed through any fairleads.
Made a clamp to hold the cut end on the long cable. You can see through the slot that the cable cut ends are together. This held very well and I put the cable on my cable jig and marked the length to make the replacement cable. Nicopressed one end. I made a clamp to hold the cable on the Thimble when pressing, it's not normally needed but in some positions where you need a third hand it helps. I left the cable a few inches long, then I wrapped the other end around a thimble and marked on the cable where the end came to. I drew the new cable back into the airplane with the same string, wrapped around a thimble, lined up the end with the mark and nicopressed. Then I trimmed off the few extra inches.
Cable cut clamp B.jpgCable cut clamp.jpgCable end clamp.jpgCable string heatshrink.jpg
 

Latest posts

Back
Top