Cable steering?

I was thinking of making a tadpole and incorporating a cable steering system much like used in
aircraft ailerons, has anyone done any work on this sort of system and if so how did it work? Or if
you have any opinions on this let me know.

Ben

to reply to me personally remove SPAMBALLS from my e-mail

do a "search" on infinity recumbents, they have used a dual set up like this since the eighties at
least, never heard of one failing. The one I had worked well, a little rattle of bumps, but about
every linkage system i've seen does that.

Ben wrote:
> I was thinking of making a tadpole and incorporating a cable steering system much like used in
> aircraft ailerons, has anyone done any work on this sort of system and if so how did it work? Or
> if you have any opinions on this let me know.
>
> Ben
>
> to reply to me personally remove SPAMBALLS from my e-mail
>

In article <8SFhb.998$Pe5.693@edtnps84>, b.eadie@telusSPAMBALLS.net says...
> I was thinking of making a tadpole and incorporating a cable steering system much like used in
> aircraft ailerons, has anyone done any work on this sort of system and if so how did it work? Or
> if you have any opinions on this let me know.

I've seen a Streamliner that used cable steering as you describe. Seem to work well. But then of
course, the S/L never made any sharp turns.

--
Cletus D. Lee Bacchetta Giro Lightning Voyager http://www.clee.org
- Bellaire, TX USA -

Ben Talk to Limeylew (Lewis Campbell)...he lurks here. He did a LWB using aircraft cables and when I
proposed this for a tadpole USS last year I was referred to a couple of sites where this method is
used...so it is NOT a dumb idea, just not enough people into doing it yet. Hope it helps Joshua
*****
"Ben" <b.eadie@telusSPAMBALLS.net> wrote in message news:8SFhb.998$Pe5.693@edtnps84...
> I was thinking of making a tadpole and incorporating a cable steering
system
> much like used in aircraft ailerons, has anyone done any work on this sort of system and if so how
> did it work? Or if you have any opinions on this
let
> me know.
>
> Ben
>
> to reply to me personally remove SPAMBALLS from my e-mail

If you are going to control each knuckle by cable, you will find it challanging to incorporate
Ackerman. Cable control for a trike is not a good idea.

"Ben" <b.eadie@telusSPAMBALLS.net> wrote in message news:8SFhb.998$Pe5.693@edtnps84...
> I was thinking of making a tadpole and incorporating a cable steering
system
> much like used in aircraft ailerons, has anyone done any work on this sort of system and if so how
> did it work? Or if you have any opinions on this
let
> me know.
>
> Ben
>
> to reply to me personally remove SPAMBALLS from my e-mail

>If you are going to control each knuckle by cable, you will find it challanging to incorporate
>Ackerman. Cable control for a trike is not a ..good idea.

.....unless you use it on steering the rear wheel!

the slovenian people i meet last yera, the same of eivie team at battle mountain, uses the cable
steering for the streamliner and for his 20/28 sporty swb i saw at tje last year meet truly, i will
feel unsafe on a cable steered bent

mate italia

Smoothest way to do it is with pulleys but this keeps the ratio constant making the possibility of
an ackerman ratio change hard (impossible?). Cables on levers makes one side go slack as the system
goes through the motion cycle. Obviously all that can be done with a cable is pull so for a
steering system 2 will be required meaning more parts. Consumer's fear of a broken cable will be
significant. This one always puzzeled me, most bicycle brakes work from cables but we all trust
them, most small aircraft steer from cables and have no troubles. Cable steering on a bicycle
scares people for some reason. This insight comes from someone who has built many cable steered
bicycles. Steve "Speedy" Delaire

Ben wrote:

> I was thinking of making a tadpole and incorporating a cable steering system much like used in
> aircraft ailerons, has anyone done any work on this sort of system and if so how did it work? Or
> if you have any opinions on this let me know.
>
> Ben
>
> to reply to me personally remove SPAMBALLS from my e-mail

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Steve,

> Cables on levers makes one side go slack as the system goes through the motion cycle.

I know you have a great deal of experience with cable steering systems. However, I believe you may
mislead people with this statement.

For any linkage system, a single rigid link can be replaced by two cables in tension....as long as
the two cables are of equal length, and the two arms are of equal length. This is a long winded way
of describing a parallelogram.

For a two wheeled vehicle, with a one-to-one steering ratio, this can be a very light,
dependable system.

For a system with other than a one-to-one ratio (always the case with Ackerman steering) the system
gets more complicated and will be more complex than a rigid link system. But it is still absolutely
possible to do, without cables going slack.

Warren

eldberg@cstone.net (Warren Berger) wrote in message
news:<930c70dc.0310180444.7939df7@posting.google.com>...
> Steve,
>
> > Cables on levers makes one side go slack as the system goes through the motion cycle.
>
> I know you have a great deal of experience with cable steering systems. However, I believe you may
> mislead people with this statement.
>
> For any linkage system, a single rigid link can be replaced by two cables in tension....as long as
> the two cables are of equal length, and the two arms are of equal length. This is a long winded
> way of describing a parallelogram.
>
> For a two wheeled vehicle, with a one-to-one steering ratio, this can be a very light,
> dependable system.
>
> For a system with other than a one-to-one ratio (always the case with Ackerman steering) the
> system gets more complicated and will be more complex than a rigid link system. But it is still
> absolutely possible to do, without cables going slack.
>
> Warren

I have been using cable steering linkages similar to the kind on Infinity recumbents. This is the
kind of steering that was on the Moby streamliners that I have. I also have some Rotator Super Seven
streamliners with cable steering which is different. The Rotator steering actually bends the cables
around some pulleys. The Rotator steering works well especially in tight turns at slow speeds. The
Infinity-Moby cable steering I have used for many years on heavy streamliner bicycles in the rain
with heavy cargo has never had any failures. I use 3/32 inch cables that do not bend around pulleys.
3/32 is much larger than your average bike cable. They are like the parallelogram set up Warren
Berger mentioned. I tighten them with two turnbuckles. My Infinity recumbent did not have one to
one steering but something close. I prefer cables over rod end bearings because rod end bearings
wear out and get sloppy which is bad on a bicycle. I also feel safer with cables since I think I
can put more stress and abuse on cables that are straight like the Infinity parallelogram set up.

joeshpl@hotmail.com (Joseph Kochanowski) wrote in
news:48f128.0310211713.4a3337fc@posting.google.com:

> eldberg@cstone.net (Warren Berger) wrote in message
> news:<930c70dc.0310180444.7939df7@posting.google.com>...
>> Steve,
>>
>> > Cables on levers makes one side go slack as the system goes through the motion cycle.
>>
>> I know you have a great deal of experience with cable steering systems. However, I believe you
>> may mislead people with this statement.
>>
>> For any linkage system, a single rigid link can be replaced by two cables in tension....as long
>> as the two cables are of equal length, and the two arms are of equal length. This is a long
>> winded way of describing a parallelogram.
>>
>> For a two wheeled vehicle, with a one-to-one steering ratio, this can be a very light, dependable
>> system.
>>
>> For a system with other than a one-to-one ratio (always the case with Ackerman steering) the
>> system gets more complicated and will be more complex than a rigid link system. But it is still
>> absolutely possible to do, without cables going slack.
>>
>> Warren
>
> I have been using cable steering linkages similar to the kind on Infinity recumbents. This is the
> kind of steering that was on the Moby streamliners that I have. I also have some Rotator Super
> Seven streamliners with cable steering which is different. The Rotator steering actually bends the
> cables around some pulleys. The Rotator steering works well especially in tight turns at slow
> speeds. The Infinity-Moby cable steering I have used for many years on heavy streamliner bicycles
> in the rain with heavy cargo has never had any failures. I use 3/32 inch cables that do not bend
> around pulleys.
> 3/32 is much larger than your average bike cable. They are like the parallelogram set up Warren
> Berger mentioned. I tighten them with two turnbuckles. My Infinity recumbent did not have one
> to one steering but something close. I prefer cables over rod end bearings because rod end
> bearings wear out and get sloppy which is bad on a bicycle. I also feel safer with cables since
> I think I can put more stress and abuse on cables that are straight like the Infinity
> parallelogram set up.
>

The 6mm rodends I use are rated at 2700lbs. Can't argue with the loosening with wear point you make.
It would seem that cam shaped pulleys could be utilized with cable steering, if one wanted to have a
variable steering rate, or ackerman on a tadpole.

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