Standard Rudder Bar and Front Cockpit Pedestal Welded

 The last parts to weld to the standard rudder bar for my plane are the clips which hold the rudder cable from sliding along the rudder bar.  They are just small pieces of 0.095" steel with a hole drilled for a cotter pin.

I used this hole with a small spacer of 3/16" tubing and a cotter pin to hold the parts spaced and aligned parallel to each other.  A piece of safety wire twisted tight worked great to hold them while welding.  I found the 0.032" wire was easily melted with a stray torch, 0.040" wire worked better.

The cotter pin and spacers were easily removed after welding.

 I started welding the front cockpit Rudder Bar Pedestal by tacking the ring to the main tube in 3 places.  I didn't want the tack welds to interfere with the diagonal tubes.  While tacking the ring I supported it with a piece of tubing to hold it the correct distance from the end of the tube.

I drilled locating holes in a piece of plywood and bolted the diagonal tubes and base plate to it with washers to space it up about 1/2" from the wood.  The wood still got scorched tacking the base plate to the main tube.

I welded as much of the cluster as I could reach with it bolted down then removed the bolts, finished the cluster, and welded the base.

 With it welded the cotter pin hole in the main tube and top ring were drilled.  It's ready for paint.

Very cool to have a nice new assembly.  I'll use the new bar in the rear (pilot) cockpit and move the old one to the front (passenger) cockpit.

Now I need to finish John's Heel Brake Rudder Bar.