Gene, yes the back was a second layer as was the front piece to connect the PVC tube.

Pakfront, sorry no other pictures of the u-joint. I did not think of taking pictures while I was building it and the ones I did take were an afterthought. Sorry. I removed the spider from the joint and put the bearing cups on my lathe. I used the lathe to bore holes in the ends of two of them. The grease channel in the center of the spider is 1/4" so I dowel fit nice and tight. The magnet is epoxied onto the end of the dowl. I drilled two holes in the assembly next to the end of the magnets and put bolts through to hold the hall effect sensor. It is pretty much exactly like the instructions found here:

http://www.jpfiles.com/hardware/uni_stick.pdf

Here is the layout for the cut:

Ah well - I'd like to do something similar but don't have access to a drill-press or lathe. the prospect of drilling out steel with a handheld does not appeal.I was hoping the motorcycle joints magically already had the hole for the dowel.

I look at that drawing and all I can think of is how cool that would look cut out of 1/2" acrylic and then flame polished. Left alone or painted, it would look really cool. You could fill in the spots around the switches with a little silicone filler or maybe some carefully applied bondo or microballons.

g.

As soon as I source some multi layered plastic (black with a lower layer of white) or just white plastic painted black, I am going to make a cover for the button area with labels. Clear acrylic is a cool idea but have you seen the prices on that stuff lately? You know, labels like "fire", "comms", and "OH SH**#@T!!!) lol

David

I buy all my acrylic as scraps from my local plastics monger. They price it by the pound.

I'm sure any plastic supplier local to you likely does the same thing. I use an adhesive called "Weld-On" that has the consistency of water - it's designed specifically for acrylic "welding" and does great for laminating multiple layers, so you could even use .25" if you wanted to and make a four deep stack out of it (or whatever the final thickness would be)

g.

pakfront,
Magical u-joints are pretty rare but there are other ways to attach sensors without drilling or even disassembling the u-joint.

u-joint with sensor arms

The long dog-leg arms are made to connect to Cubpilot's rotary Hall sensors, but they could be made shorter, with the magnets epoxied to the ends over the u-joint axis centerline. One arm is epoxied to the top of the spider, the other has a small hole drilled and is held in place by the grease zerk.

Some trial-and-error and bending would probably be needed to get the magnets properly positioned, but it should work, and the u-joint could still be greased if needed in the future. Just an idea to think about.

If you're considering buying a new u-joint, another alternative to motorcycle parts would be to check an agricultural/truck parts supplier. They may have small no-name brand u-joints for less. Around here they go for $25 to $30.

9T

Where is "around here"? In Michigan, Tractor Supply and Family Farm and Fleet sell acricultural u-joint assemblies for 100.00+

http://www.tractorsupply.com/agriculture-farming-ranching/pto-parts/pto-drive-parts/

A used motorcycle u-joint assembly (with a nice flat flange) was 25.00 shipped from Ebay. Example:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1982-Yama...=item51909ccb28

Out of curiosity...what is holding those arms to the joint?

Gotta agree on the difficulty associated with drilling the u-joint cups though, they are tough. I removed them because it was easy to do so (many years spent under old vehicles "fix-in er up") lol.

Around here is on the frostier side of the 49th

The new $30 u-joints I mentioned are admittedly not high quality parts - I wouldn't install one on my truck - but they should be fine for a stick. I just thought new motorcycle parts were pricier. For my sticks I just got used steering joints from the wreckers.

Princess Auto

Wow - you did great on ebay. New parts look to be about $300!

Yamaha u-joint


As mentioned, the top arm is attached with epoxy, the bottom one with the grease fitting.

9T

Those are always availible on Ebay, I had been keeping an eye out for over a year before I actually bought one. The nice thing is that they have a flat flange to mount to the the base. That really is a good price you found on Princess Auto. Any OEM part is going to be expensive