Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Fairleads, Cable Guides

These fairleads are usually called cable guides, although they do the same job as the round kind.  The T-Craft has 4 cable guides, two 3 holers as shown in Photo 1, and two single holers.  They serve to route the elevator and rudder cables around the cockpit.  My project T had the right front cable guide missing...it is the one that gets the most wear and gives the most friction (due to the angle of the cables at this point).

But it's easy to make a duplicate part.  Cut two identical blocks of 1/4 thick phenolic using an old cable guide as a pattern.  Then drill the mounting holes 3/16".  Bolt the two blocks together and then drill the 3 guide holes down the center. (Photo 2) The drill bit will tend to follow the seam between the blocks giving two nice half-holes in each block.

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Link to Fairleads, Phenolic

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