Custom Trim Cable Attachment Brackets
While working on the trim system of my RV-10, I decided to make my own trim cable attachment brackets.
There has been a service bulletin from Van’s, SB 06-9-20, concerning the trim cable anchors. This issue has since been addressed in the newer kits, so the service bulletin is no longer applicable to my build. Nevertheless, I wanted to come up with a design of my own.
My goal was to make a clean aluminium bracket that could be attached with screws rather than riveted directly to the inspection covers. From what I gathered from various forum discussions, keeping the brackets removable seemed like the better approach.
There is already a very nice solution available from iflyrv10.com, but, as so often happens when building an RV on this side of the pond, getting parts from the US is not always the most convenient option. I also wanted to make the bracket slightly thicker, giving me a bit more material to actually thread and screw into.
So, naturally, I designed my own version in Fusion 360.
One of the most important things to get right was the angle of the trim cable. I wanted to keep the geometry of the original Van’s bracket, so I simply measured the angle of the stock bracket and used that as the basis for my design.
With the design finished, it was time to make some chips.
I milled the brackets from aluminium on my mill, followed by the finishing work. Once the machining was complete, I countersunk the holes on the underside of the brackets and dimpled the inspection covers accordingly.
The result is a completely flush installation, with the brackets sitting nicely against the covers without anything protruding. So far, I am quite happy with how they turned out. The screws will be secured with loctite (once finally mounted).
If you want to make a set yourself, I have included the STEP file as well as a drawing below.