Replacement grip with PTT, what's best?

[Rookie]

I've seen all kinds of grips, and I'm looking for tips on where to go to replace mine.

Right now, my PA18 has what I believe to be a pretty much factory grip, not really a grip at all, just a black 1" ball, with a red push-to-talk (PTT) button on top. The ball screws down onto an inner threaded shaft, which is concentric to the tube that is the stick, and is about 3/8" with threads on the outside (it looks a lot like the threaded shaft often used to make table lamps).

The switch is getting pretty finicky. I suppose I could just replace that, but I'm toying with the idea of replacing the entire grip, perhaps with a form fitting wooden one (seen those at the Arlington Airshow), or maybe a neoprene version...

In any case, I definitely need to replace the switch, and if I can find something that can be installed with a minimum of fuss, that would be great.

Does anyone make something that I can screw down in place of the ball, and that has a good PTT built in?

[WindOnHisNose]

I purchased two grip/switches from Menzimeraircraft.com 760.598.0592 and, while I like the grips, the ptt mounting tubes don't fit the control stick, rendering them unusable. I phoned Menzimer and spoke to someone, and they were less than helpful. The grips came with plastic tubes that were to permit application to sticks of a variety of planes, but none fit the supercub! I wouldn't buy them again.

[Rookie]

Thanks for that tip.

AircraftSpruce.com has a few, including these really nice ones made from teak:
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...kwoodgrips.php

I'm just hoping to gain from others expereince (like the above) on stuff that doesn't work out the way you'd expect. Ideally, I'll figure out how to install one of these teak ones using the same threaded shaft as the stock ball...

[RMREBOB]

I put the teak ones on my SC and have no complaints.

[Rookie]

I put the teak ones on my SC and have no complaints.

Who did you order from? Did you have to place a custom order to get a proper fit, or did you work with 3/4"? How did you fasten it to the stick, using the stock inner concentric threaded shaft?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[Rookie]

I put the teak ones on my SC and have no complaints.

Who did you order from? Did you have to place a custom order to get a proper fit, or did you work with 3/4"? How did you fasten it to the stick, using the stock inner concentric threaded shaft?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[Cubus Maximus]

Rookie, if you or a relative/friend are good at whitling or carving, then making your own grip isn't a bad way to go. I and a friend made a couple once that we based off of a grip from a C-17 (the Boeing guys in the back room - or ask Bret - can fax you a drawing with the dimensions.) It doesn't take that long and can turn out pretty cool. The personalized touch.

Brad

[mvivion]

Just a "wet blanket" note here, folks, these things are part of the control circuit, and must be pma'd, stc'd or field approved for a legal installation.

Depending on how anal your mechanic is, this might run him or her right up the wall, check before you start whittling.

You will find that Aircraft Spruce will generally tell you that all this stuff "is not intended for, nor approved for use on, certificated aircraft."

There's another reason to go experimental--you can do your own whittling.

Mike V

[Rookie]

That's a good point, and it is my intention to do this in a "legal" fashion, properly documented in the logs.

The teak is pretty, but I like the ambidextrous aspect of the stick capped with a knob.

I think I'm now leaning towards just replacing the PTT switch. I'd like to find one that will fit in the knob (18875-07) as is, and has a good positive click to it. Probably start at Radio Shack...

[Lance]

I cut the ball off and drilled,removed the threaded plug on both sticks and installed two G-1's. I like them a lot. They are neoprene grip with a plastic cap and integrated PTT. They fit right on, no trouble.

[cubdrvr]

I was too lazy to do all that work so I just drilled a hole in the backside of the stick about 6 inches below the knob for my PTT. It's out of the way and I use my pinky finger instead of my thumb.

[Rookie]

I went ahead and installed the G101 (was G-1), and it went basically pretty smooth. the grip is made of two major parts, a neoprene foam "sleeve" with grooves around the circumference, and a mushroom shaped cap that fits on top, and houses the very nice micro-switch PTT. The "mushroom" is designed to fit around a 1" stick, with the "cap" extending outward to match up with the outside surface of the foam grip.

In my installation, the mushroom "stem" would not fit around the stick; the outside diameter of the "stem" is exactly the same as the stick. It matched up very nicely end to end, and I cut a small piece of the PVC pipe spacer sleeve that came with the grip (for sticks with a smaller outside diameter) as a kind of butt splice piece, going between the inner surface of the stick, up and into the inner surface of the mushroom. Some tape (under the foam grip) held it together pretty nice.

While it?s not bad to hold onto, I don?t like feeling the edge of the cap of the mushroom, which is hard, where it meets the foam, which is soft. It is not quite as nice a thing to hold onto as was the stick capped with the ball.

The PTT is excellent, and a great improvement to what I was using. It gives a nice positive tactile click, with a minimal amount of movement.

Although I haven?t pulled out some calipers, and done a proper job of measuring stuff (I?ll have to do that before a custom wood grip is fabricated); from the published dimensions of the G101 grip, and how it fits, it seems that the inside of the stick is exactly 1". The off the shelf teak grip at Aircraft Spruce has a ¾" bore, and from the picture, I?m not sure if I could bore it out to 1-1/16th" or 1 1/8th" that I think will be needed, it may not have walls thick enough. It says larger bores are available, or I may take the approach Cubus Maximus suggests, and go to work on a buddies lathe.

I think my stick is original (late model) Piper, and the ball has a PTT that seems to be installed forever. I may be able to cut or drill the old PTT out, but it doesn?t seem to want to come out with torque (what little I can apply to the knurled countersunk nut securing it).

Did Piper in fact install the PTT, or was that likely done after the plane left the factory, at an avionics shop?

So, phase II consisting of a custom wood grip will be a project for the upcoming lousy weather weekends.

Anyone have any additional information to offer? I have the Northland CD, and I can?t find a decent drawing of the stick, showing dimensions. Anyone have any additional information or hints?

[RMREBOB]

Rookie, you've jogged my memory. The first set of teak grips I got from Aircraft Spruce didn't fit. I returned them and furnished them with the O.D. of my stick and after a slight delay the sent the correct ones.

[Rookie]

I called Aircraft Spruce today, and they said that 1" was a big as you could get them, and that thought that you could not bore one out to 1 1/8".

So, I got a hold of the maker of these, Michael at Aircraft Custom Grips in Kelso, WA (360-274-650. He's sending me a symetrical grip with a 1-1/8" bore, and if I like it, I'm to send him a check for $50.

He expressed some annoyance with Aircraft Spruce in that he says he's sent them lots of information, but they can't seem to keep it straight.

I think I'm going to still visit the lathe, and see what I can come up with myself, using the lathe to make a wood sleeve to mate up with the plastic mushroom from the G101. Then, one will go in front, and one will go in back. I'll decide later which goes where.

[SuperCub MD]

The PA18 never came with a PTT in the stick. If you have one, someone has added it. The stock knob on top is the same as the throttle knobs. You can also put a PTT in the throttle channel or panel, somewhere where it is convenient, then you don't have to worry about broken wires in the stick, or under the floorboards. (Cubdrvrs low on the stick installation works well too.)

This is strictly opinion...but I hate it when I fly a Cub that someone has cut off a perfectly good stick and installed some phalic, dildo looking contraption. Keep it simple.

If you must add something to your stick, make absolutely sure the thing can not come off when you pull hard on it. It may come off at exactly the wrong moment... You may also want to check the legality of what you are doing on a certified aircraft.

[Rookie]

The PA18 never came with a PTT in the stick. If you have one, someone has added it. The stock knob on top is the same as the throttle knobs. You can also put a PTT in the throttle channel or panel, somewhere where it is convenient, then you don't have to worry about broken wires in the stick, or under the floorboards. (Cubdrvrs low on the stick installation works well too.)

This is strictly opinion...but I hate it when I fly a Cub that someone has cut off a perfectly good stick and installed some phalic, dildo looking contraption. Keep it simple.

If you must add something to your stick, make absolutely sure the thing can not come off when you pull hard on it. It may come off at exactly the wrong moment... You may also want to check the legality of what you are doing on a certified aircraft.

Hey Mark (and everyone else),

I've been working on my teak wood grip installation. I see what you mean about the suggestiveness of the stick with a big round handle on top, it's pretty obscene. None-the-less, it feels good when you hold on to it.

Anyhow, I wanted to let you know that after seeing a friends Pitts, where there's an AD for the plastic stick grip due to it coming up and interfering with movement by hitting the panel, resulting in a pop rivit (cherry max?) to secure it, I've decided I need to include a kind of "toe nail" screw, to really secure the grip to the stick so it can't possibly be pulled off. Seeing that AD, and remembering what you wrote, brought it all home for me; I have more work to do on this installation before I'm done. Also, I know that strictly speaking, it won't be legal when I'm all done, unless I can get an IA sign off as a minor modification. Even then, it's a grey area, and I'm okay with that, but I'm not cutting anything, and the installation will be reversable when I'm done.

This project started with just needing to replace the switch that had been previously installed in the stick. I may have gone a bit overboard on this. I think you're right that the throttle is a better place for a button. If I was starting from scratch, or was willing to open up the interior to run a wire up the wall to the throttle, I'd probably go that way instead.

Thank you for the benefit of your experience.

Damn this is a great web site, even if Rants and Raves wasn't there!

[Steve Pierce]

I put the push to talk in the throttle knob on the L18C. I used the real small ones Chief A/C sells and counterbored the knob for a press in fit. I had one in the knob on the stick in my previous Clipper. Same knob as a SC. They had drilled a hole through the middle of the bolt sticking out the top of the stick for the wires to run through.

[Rookie]

So this wood grip turned out to be a bad idea. I was finally convinced of that on the ground, during some other work, when I tried to defend this installation, but ended splitting the grip with just a small amount of non-panic induced twisting. A far better lesson than one in the air could have been.

Here's the new addition to my gallery:

http://www.supercub.org/gallery/view...album81&id=aau

-->Aaron

[fobjob]

I hate a dorky contraption on the end of the stick, so I put my ptt's inside the throttle knobs. The only problem is finding a good snap-action switch. Finding some that will fit inside a throttle knob was even worse. I finally grafted some subminiature radio smack switches to some planar snap action switch modules used in ptt's for high end walkie-talkies. Worked fine for the last 13 years. Used R/C Deans connectors on the back of the knobs. I could probably find some catalog numbers if motivated. Made a stick with a commercial plastic/rubber grip with switch for a friend, and simply cut off the end and welded a 1" length inside it. (it was already short to hold a walnut grip contraption on the end of it) The rubber grip slid up over the junction and you'd never notice.

[Rookie]

I can see what you mean by "dorky", but I did like the grips. They were quite comfortable. Unfortunately, they didn't have a threaded nut the way the stock ball does, there was no good way to fasten them to the stick. What I tried was just plain wrong. Also, I don't have enough time to work on my airplane, so I was trying to do something simple. The ball on the end of the stick had been previously drilled out, enough to accommodate the switch that came with the grip. I ended using a couple layers of shrink tubing to build up the switch and get a nice friction fit in the hole, and the faulty button that was in the ball has now been replaced with the button from the wooden grip. I did add some grip tape for a tennis racket to give me something other than painted metal to hold onto, but otherwise I'm back to where I started, just with a new button.

I'd like a button in the throttle, but that's more work than I have time for. At least until I fix the seat belts.

-->Aaron