HANDS ON
HINTS FOR HOMEBUILDERS
The brass wheel collar is used here as a safety stop on a throttle cable. Note the shrink tubing installed over the collar and cable to keep the end of the cable from fraying.
Three Uses for
Model Airplane
‘Brass Wheel Collars’
BY CHARLIE BECKER
EAA MEMBERS WHO ARE involved in the radio-controlled (R/C) model
aircraft hobby will recognize these little collars. Any hobby shop that
serves the R/C community will have these in various inside diameters (ID). They are simply a brass bushing that is drilled for a
setscrew that will be used to lock the collar.
USE 1—Cable safety stop: I used one of these collars as a secondary
backup to the bug nut that attaches the throttle control cable to the
throttle lever. The nice part of these wheel collars is they are small
and streamlined. They don’t take up much room, but they can provide a lot of security. I finished it off by using some shrink wrap to
cover the collar and cable end to keep the cable from fraying.
USE 2—Pulled rivet spacer: Many times on my Sonex I needed to
pull a rivet in a confined space where the head of the rivet gun was
blocked out by the aircraft structure. I simply couldn’t get the gun
down onto the rivet head. The 1/8-inch ID wheel collars are just the
right size to slide over the mandrel of the pulled rivet and act as a
spacer. This allows the rivet to seat properly even though you cannot
get the rivet gun down close to the rivet head. If you have an
especially tight spot, you can also use the spacer in conjunction
with a modified rivet gun as shown in the February 2010 issue of
Sport Aviation. (See www.SportAviation.org for a PDF.)
USE 3—Collector pin back: These collars
work great for securing your AirVenture
pins to your hat so you’ll never lose them!
Charlie Becker, EAA Lifetime 515808, is EAA’s director of
member programs. He is currently building a Sonex.
Brass wheel collars come in various diameters, and are
packaged with an appropriate hex key for tightening the
set screw.
