Updated joystick end

My old joystick end had hardened rubber surround which was making the alloy PTT switch slightly loose, so time to replace … and add something extra

Having researched the market there is a very smart Allen head that offers a PTT plus … he ability to have other electrical operated without the need to remove your hand from the stick ….

Currently my smoke system needs me to take my hand off the throttle OR across over with my right hand in an already small cockpit … the smokingairplanes u it does, however, come with an additional ‘intermittent’ option which, when wired to a suitable switch, allows smoke at the touch of a button …

The slight problem is that the Allen head is quite large and with my panel design having a slightly lower line for fuses .. the two meet! So I needed to take a small amount off the end of the stick.

The tricky piece is you DO NOT want any burr dropping down to the base of the stock unit. So, rather than a saw cut action, I bought a larger diameter pipe cutter that made a perfect job. Less than 60 seconds and your are left with a very neat, slightly sharp edge (inner) and smoother chamfered (outer)

The two new handshakes allowed an easy connection to the existing PTT circuit ..leaving about 10-15cm of cable for ‘working-wiggle’ room if I need to pull them out again. So many cut things super short and it makes it almost impossible to get crimps or soldering kit in there if needed. (The cloth pushed into the joystick tube above is to prevent any debris disappearing down the tube during this operation).

The tricky bit was then to thread through the additional cables using locking wire as a guide and tape hook arrangement to pull them down the tube and exit part way down the stick .. one will be a new dedicated earth ..the other a dedicated power to the head (when needed) and a final 3rd cable to handshake into the smoke intermittent earth socket.