Shortening Servo Wires

I want to clean up my servo wires at the receiver. Instead of "balling them up" I would rather take some of the length out of the ones that have excessive length. The easiest method would probably be to cut out a section and just solder splice them back together with heatshrink. Unless someone has a concern about doing this I'll give it a try and post the results.

I was looking at making the length change at the connector or the servo but, I have already had to open up one servo and repair and resolder the wires. I'm looking for a less technical soldering way of making the length change.

Thanks for any comments/experiences you guys have had. I'm sure someone has been down this road already.

Curt

I have to shorten every wire on mine. All done in the servos. A lot neater I hate all the wiring you see on most birds. Shortening them in the servo is a bit harder to do but the results are worth it. Making our birds look good when we build is for me a big part of it.

I wish my eyes were as sharp and my hands as steady as I remember when I used to do a lot of electronics repair! I think I'm going to have to look for a good quality magnifying lamp in order to see more precisely. The rewiring I had to do on one of the servos went ok but if I'm going to be doing more of the precision soldering I'm going to need some visual assistance.

Does anyone use a desk lighted/magnifyer that they would recomend?

I'm with you Prel, after spending all that time getting the heli built and setup, I want the wiring to look good and be secure.

Spun up the blades on the Squadron last night for the first time! It's a whole different ball game than the HBFP. Scary fast head speed.

Let the fun begin!

this is the gear you need bud. makes like so much easier

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=65779

I'll go by my Harbor Freight today. Thans for the quick reply with an inexpensive soulution!

Curt

I'm thinking about getting one of those lighted magnifyers that you wear on your head like a cap. The one's like a jeweler uses.

Donnie D

Prel,

Thanks again for the suggestion of the lighted magnifier! I went by last night and picked one up. Looks like just the ticket. My tired old eyes thank you. The additional feature of being able to hold parts will be very helpful also.

Thanks again, another great information sharing on this great board!

Curt

Just be really carefull if you are going to run hidden wiring. There is a lot in there for it to get caught on and you really don't want it cut during flight.

Something else I find helps is to run all your wiring before you start cutting. You won't be happy if you run 1 wire, cut, resolder and then realise it won't fit back in the same place with other wiring there.

I also have a stack of extensions that I can cut up and use to replace wiring that ends up to short. Good to have about so I don't end up throwing a fit cause I screwed up and can't finish it lol. Learn from experiance

I'm going to make sure and file and or sand the edges of the frame that the wires cross over. That is where my first servo wire repair came from. Installing one of the servos I cut the insulation on the wires on the frame. Thanks for the suggestion on watching the length. I'm thinking I may not do too much with the wiring until I get a couple of flights under my belt. I'll keep them out of harms way but I may not shorten them until I know If I'm going to be rekitting the bird right away. I'm working on fabricating a set of training gear and then I'm going to try hovering over the next few days.

Wish me luck! Thanks for all the help!

Curt

I found a great site if you are interested in shortening your servo wires to get rid of the rats nest.

http://www.hansenhobbies.com/products/connectors/connectorkits/ck_sck/

I just ordered the kit above. They also offer kits with a deluxe crimper and futaba connectors. There is also an excellent PDF instructional file on shortening servo wires.

I will give a review after I have used the kit.

Curt

wow, I want one too, thats just what I need

I received my connector kit from Hansenhobbies.com already! Really fast service haven't had a chance to check it out yet but, very quick shipment after order.

http://www.hansenhobbies.com/products/connectors/connectorkits/ck_sck/

Will give an update after I have a chance to use the setup.

Curt