Original red plastic throttle knobs

[Joel Severinghaus]

Several of us got off on a throttle knob tangent in a thread over in the "Buy/Sell" section of the forum:

http://vb.taylorcraft.org/showthread.php?t=6844

Thought I'd continue it over here where more people might see it.

Aircraft Spruce sells a black throttle knob that's the same dimensions as the original red Taylorcraft knob:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/frictionth.php

Photo below shows one of those I had a trophy shop engrave to match the lettering on my worn red original.

I emailed Aircraft Spruce, and their customer service guy Josh Solis quickly emailed back that their throttle knob supplier makes only black, and would need a minimum run of 1000 pieces to make red. Here's our subsequent email exchange:

Josh,
Thanks for checking with your vendor. How many red throttle knobs would I have to buy in advance for Aircraft Spruce to agree to split their minimum run of 1000 pieces? If I bought 200 up front, for example, would you put the other 800 in inventory and list them in your catalog?
Thanks,
Joel Severinghaus

Joel,
I'm sorry, but this would be a special order, and you would need to order the complete 1000. We have no records of any previous requests for red knobs, so these would probably be on the shelf for many years.
Regards,
Josh Solis

Josh,
Well, my wife would commit or divorce me if I bought 1000 throttle knobs with plans to re-sell them myself, so thanks anyway. I'll try another avenue to have just a small number custom-molded. We'll get red throttle knobs back on the Taylorcraft fleet yet!
Thanks again for your research,
Joel Severinghaus

So, dead end there, unless 999 of you will promise to buy a red knob from me before the credit card bill for $4500 with Aircraft Spruce would come due. And before my wife noticed the huge box of knobs hidden in the basement.

I'll check next with Bill Berle's resin-casting friend, and keep you posted.

[Larry Lyons]

Re: Original red plastic throttle knobs

Good luck Joal, both Tim and I have the original factory style; i.e. faded red with the crack around the knurling! Larry

PS: you only need to sell 997 now!

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Original red plastic throttle knobs

You only need to sell to 100 people if we each agree to buy 10. Let's see, $45 for the one I want and I have 9 free ones to use for....beats me, snow ball cores?
I could probably be convinced to pay $45 for a brand new throttle ball! Are there another 99 interested? Remember, the value of a red ball will be near zero after we do this. All 100 of us will have a drawer full of them and be willing to practically give them away.
Hank

[Joel Severinghaus]

Re: Original red plastic throttle knobs

Here are some more photos of original red throttle knobs to tantalize everyone.

Jim Zangger managed to get the lettering on all of his original control knobs re-engraved and re-painted when he did his restoration. Nice, huh?

[mulwyk]

Re: Original red plastic throttle knobs

Just Beautiful, Joel. Kinda makes the mouth water.

This knob could be another candidate for a Hanks Type Club group purchase (along with those T-craft bungees).

[TimHicks]

Re: Original red plastic throttle knobs

I see that Aricraft Spruce has 3 foot, 4-foot, 5-foot and 6-foot throttle lengths. Any idea what is the correct length for a '46 BC-12?

[Robert Lees]

Re: Original red plastic throttle knobs

The following is an extract from various emails over the years about how we replaced our throttle cable:

During the installation of the new cable, we re-drilled the firewall about an inch higher than original (just below the fuselage tank) so that the throttle cable routed over the heat muff instead of below. We found that the old cable was kinked due to the extreme angle it was being asked to route below the muff.

We bought the throttle control from Aircraft Spruce, and are very happy with it. If I were to do the same again, however, I would make some changes. Let me firstly describe what we bought, and then describe those changes.

This description will take a while, and I'm hoping you've got an Aircraft Spruce (ACS) catalogue somewhere (but it doesn't need to be a new one) to take up some of my points. I apologise if my meanderings go on a bit, but I would like to make sure that I've described everything possible. It cost me a fortune in phone calls from England to ACS to resolve the various issues before I spent my money, and I'm sure I can pass on some of the info I gleaned.

We bought an A-800 BLK 41", which means an A-800 control, with a black knob, 41 inches long (measured from the under the panel nut to the end of the rigid threaded shaft with the knob pushed in). This length has to be made special.

This throttle assembly comes with a rigid threaded shaft that swivels 8 degrees laterally to take up any misalignment between the outer sheath clamp (see next paragraph) and the carburettor butterfly arm. This is good news. The travel is 3 and three eighths inches.

The shaft comes with a 10-32 thread on it to which we attached a ball-joint (ACS part no 05-07500). This will attach between the threaded end of the shaft and the brass butterfly lever using two 10-32 nuts (although we had to open out the hole in the arm to accept the ball-joint stub).

The two nuts lock against each other to provide the necessary security. A third nut locks the ball-joint to the threaded shaft.

The throttle comes with a sleeve swaged over the outer casing where the rigid shaft comes out of the outer to provide a clamping point for securing the control to the aircraft structure. If your T-craft is similar to ours, this is mounted on an L shaped bracket which bolts underneath the oil filler tube.

We also had to slightly open out the hole where the throttle is mounted at the panel, but not much.

So there you have it, that's what we bought, & it works. Cost in 1998:
A-800 BLK 41" $46.35
Ball joint $4.15
Pack of 20 10-32 stop nuts about $2 (can't remember precisely) plus all the usual taxes, shipping etc (but don't tell the taxman but I collected them from their trade stand at Oshkosh & paid none of the above).

However, now we get to the bits I would change.

Take a nice, safe & comfortable seat in your machine and look at where the throttle knob is below the panel. There is a "step" between the throttle mounting point and the panel proper, and this is accomodated by a brass hexagonal barrel, which protrudes beyond the mounting point towards the pilot.

The new throttle assembly we bought comes with a relatively short barrel, such that the friction lock is about level with the panel proper (although it doesn't foul it). When we wish to adjust the friction lock, our fingers tend to get averted from their true aim by the "proud" panel. We've got used to it, but to rectify this, I would ask for the barrel to be an inch longer, so that the friction lock is aft of the panel (meaning towards the pilot) . If they can't make it thus, you could send them your old barrel to use. This will have an impact on their manufacturing (remember I said they have to make it specially anyhow?).

The second (and less important) change is the throttle knob. We bought the smaller (more modern) black knob as you'd find on any typical Cessna, but this was probably a mistake. You can order the big 2" diameter classic Taylorcraft-type throttle knob , but you must specify it (it's black). This changes the part number of the whole assembly...it becomes 05-13800, and again needs to be manufactured to your specified length.

I know all this sounds confusing, your best bet is to phone or fax them with your requirements and resolve it between you.

One last point. Make sure the guy who has to sign it off is happy with buying this from ACS. We operate our Taylorcraft in a category similar to the Experimental category, so as amateur owner-pilots, we've got a fairly free rein. This may not be the case with aircraft in a Certificated category.

Have you got a spring between the throttle arm & the nose bowl in case the throttle cable breaks? If not, take care when flying across mountains or water in case the throttle linkage breaks.

We later added a 1" spacer at the panel mounting face to bring the throttle barrel (and friction nut) proud of the panel proper.

[TimHicks]

Re: Original red plastic throttle knobs

Thanks Robert,
I can see what probably happened. My throttle has a big back knob. But it is about 7 inches too long. I'm sure that it is a standard 4-foot cable (48") instead of the custom 41" cable required.

I think that I'll take my time and measure my own airplane to check the length number before I get a special order length.

Tim

[VictorBravo]

Re: Original red plastic throttle knobs

I'll check next with Bill Berle's resin-casting friend, and keep you posted.

Sorry, my friend is currently internet-challenged. Contact Court Wizard Special Effects, ask for John Eggett 818-822-1211 .

John can do resin casting, metal casting, foundry work, and several other interesting things.

He makes commemorative coins, magician's props, blows things up in movies and at airshows, and can even blow a few other things up if you happen to be traveling through North Vietnam and need an experienced professional.

Bill

[L-2 GARY]

Re: BUNGEES FOR TAYLORCRAFTS

www.sbcindustries.com Check it out, lots and lots of new bungees in stock. The best raw rubber in the world is out of THAILAND AND VIETNAM
all top of the line stuff for aircraft bungees. just got back from Thailand and
the Rubber trees are going like hell.

[RobertP]

Re: Original red plastic throttle knobs

Excellent company to deal with and recentley made a "one off" set for my
F22A and dispatched to the UK. I can't speak highly enough about them. They even still had Forrests measurements for when he ordered a set for a
F22A some years ago. I guess you can't beat that! Plus they fit perfectly on my aircraft but are much stiffer than a set supplied by a UK supplier which were the wrong one's and flattered poor landings!