Control cables; how to attach them?

That style clip was used extensively years back. That clip is a snap swivel used for fishing to prevent a spinner from twisting up the lines. However, as I mentioned, they can fail. Now some will say that it's only a 1/2A which is true and the pull on a 1/2A isn't hardly worth mentioning. The problem is when the lines jerk if something goes slack or the plane goes up over the top and your running back. That type of shock does huge damage and it can pull those clips apart. I fly control line combat and I have had some instances where you could hardly bend large clips with pairs of pliers in your hand but a mid air impact completely straightens them.

There's nothing magical or special about using steel lines. They work better than synthetic but they're fragile. They also don't become oil soaked and provide drag that braided lines do which can't be cleaned or removed. Both types of lines have their place and should be used accordingly.   I have one friend that I ask him first if he wants to step on my lines before I unreel them in the grass. One kink of the lines and this is where they're going to break. We pit out planes in the same area for the past 20 years, one afternoon he drove his car and parked it right on top of our lines. he gets out and were all yelling and he's totally spaced out wondering what he had done.

         .008's are what is suggested but they're extremely fragile and I've had them break with Cox equipment. Years back when we were doing mouse racing, we were using .012's. I found .012's to be very suitable with no breakage and NO difference in drag using them vs the .008's. I never looked back and tossed all of my .008's as I had no need for them. You can't unreel steel lines and leave them on the ground making them susceptible to foot traffic. If you do, wrap them up and throw them out. If there's a twist in the lines and your separating them with your fingers, you can't force it as it will instantly curl the lines rendering them useless.  

         This is the benefit of braided lines, you can walk on them drag the handle out to the circle if you want as your carrying the plane. ( Kidding of course) but in reality, they can withstand that punishment. If your flying combat and get into a line tangle, throw the lines out because more than likely they're trashed. This is non existent with braided lines. There's nothing that's difficult about them. It boils down to your cleanliness and pride you take insuring they don't get kinks.

It's not too heavy for Cox planes. The problem is that a Cox plane is just too heavy to begin with. A ready to fly Cox plane is more than 5 ounces overweight of a balsa model of it's equivalent size. Nonetheless, it doesn't equate to the fact that it won't work because it will and it could essentially make the model fly better. Steel lines have less drag than Dacron or braided lines therefore the model will more than likely fly faster and will offer more line tension. You also could offer the model .008's which are a bit lighter than .012's. The problem is that most ready to fly models have their lines directly tied to the bellcrank. This would require 1/64" music wire solid leadouts out to the tip of the plane so that you could use a line clip. This now makes the premade line set too long and it sould be shortened at least the length of the inboard panel. In other words to obtain the best line length, you should keep your line lengths from center of handle to center of plane. This means that any handle overhang, leadout extensions and wing panel lengths all need to be considered when making the line length.

          Eric, I've never been a fan of Sig lines. The one problem is the aluminum crimp tubes they provide. They're responsible for line breakage as the line flexes, it produces a wear point on the tube and it cuts the line. I've had it happen over a dozen times so I don't use them. I use copper or the tubes I get from my supplier. ALWAYS CHAMFER THE ENDS OF THE CRIMP TUBE PRIOR TO USING. This makes the Sig aluminum tubes even weaker and sharper which is why I don't use them. If you do use them, one thing that prevents some of this is to use the proper heat shrink tube over the crimp and at least 3/4" back onto the wire. This stops the flexing at the crimp tube. The only problem with using heat shrink tube is that you now can't see if the tube is cutting into the line. This isn't going to happen in one or two flights but I've had it happen in less than one season of flying.

      I also find that cost to be ridiculous considering I purchase 1000' of line for only $10 more. Another thing about Sig is the reels they offer. In that picture you can see the slot for lines to hook to. This is the T shaped slot in the reel to the right of the reel clip. Sig offers two styles, the T shaped slot and the straight I shaped slot. This is extremely important, if the reel you use doesn't offer the T and it's just a straight slot, you need to cut the T into it. Using the reel with a straight slot will injure the line right at the end by either placing a kink in it or causing a stress fracture at the crimp tube. So if you don't take this advice, your just asking for the line to break.

As I mentioned in the post above, the clips that were shown are no longer AMA approved. This doesn't mean that you can't use them or one's neglect to follow rules, it means that they have found them to fail because of what I said. It's not the pull generated by one that does a pull test or by the plane itself, it's what happens if things go awry. This can happen from many factors, A inexperienced pilot, a bad launch, a weed snag on the ground, flying in too windy conditions, etc. If the plane flies across the circle and pilot has a firm grip, and the plane jerks, something is going to bend or break. The bellcrank of the old plastic models are 30+ years old now and are brittle. So you take your chances and roll the dice.

I fly in areas where the public can enter. So therefore not only are people subject to getting hit, so are vehicles. I'm going to do everything in my power to avoid stupid s*&^. This means that I'm going to go above and beyond what's needed to avoid litigation in any way. This is why I suggest what I suggest. Somehow these issues get twisted and contorted to always assuming a competitive level. While I have flown in competition, I've spent very little in doing so. I'm a sport flyer and I've certainly been around the block enough to know what can and what will happen. I've also witnessed more accidents than I care to.

Jim, I can answer your knot question. I personally know the individuals responsible for getting the AMA to allow braided lines for our use. Phil Cartier is a combat flyer from Hershey, PA. Phil's testing and documentation and about 4 others on the east coast were compared and sent all their testing to the AMA for observation. All of the combat contests we held had at least one or more users of the braided lines. Anytime a break occurred or a failure, it was noted and documented. Knots of all types were used in competition and pull tested to failure on the ground. So the reason to answer your question why the Palomar knot is not being used is due to the fact that while similar to the 5 turn uni, it failed more than the uni. This could be due to the cinching factor when pulled up tight without lubrication.

  Phil recently suffered a stroke but he's actually up and about. He's having a contest this month. If you want to learn more about his findings and documentation, you could contact him through Stunthangar.  There's not too many people on this planet who's as nice as this man and he's most helpful.        

          Earlier this year, Bob  posted about gluing the knot, this was the largest failure factor. Split rings were also used at the terminations and this also was discovered to be a problem as the failures were breaking at the ring. When all of the factors that were tested to satisfaction over and over and all parties agreed upon what works, this is what was submitted. The AMA agreed upon it and braided lines were implemented for use in combat ONLY. The knot is what everyone had their eyes on and this is what was most problematic.

     When submitted for stunt, it was not properly worded initially and this took nearly a decade to get the text in proper form to allow it's use in competition. Braided lines were ALWAYS accepted for sport use by the AMA. If someone wanted to use them for competition in stunt, the contest director would then either allow or disallow them for use. I believe it was Brett Buck who was a major player in seeing this through over the last 3 years.

             So as George stated above :  As long as your equipment, handle to airplane passes a pull test, your good to go.

You cut the line length to the approximate length desired and prepare the knots on two of the ends. Place a screwdriver through the loops and anchor to the ground so that you can stretch them out. You place a Sharpie dot directly on both lines at the desired length. You insure that the dot stays within the loop. I have a board with two 1/4" dowels that I wrap the line around and I insure the dot stays on the dowel when finishing the remainder of the knot. The knot doesn't need to cinch up tight to the dowel as it won't slip. I use button bellcranks . My lines slip on and off the buttons with no mechanical means fastening them to the bellcrankother than friction. On my 1/2A's, I just make a razor cut into the bellcrank and the line slips directly onto it.

To deal with lines that are close but unequal length, I have a clip bender and I can make line clips which can be made in seconds with 1/16" differences.