Cable Source
By Bob Kuykendall
I can recommend a good cable assembly manufacturer:
McFarlane Aviation, Inc
696 East 1700 Road
Baldwin City, Kansas
66006
Phone (785) 594-2741
Fax (785) 594-3922
Email sales@mcfarlane-aviation.com
Just send them a sample cable, or even just a sketch that shows what cable size and length and what parts to use, and they can get it out for you. The Aircraft Spruce catalog shows the common cable sizes and the MS or AN numbers of all the common cable parts and fittings. They also show how to measure length for all of the common terminal types. ACS also makes cable assemblies, but my experience is that their turnaround time is longer than McFarlane, even with shipping from Kansas.
One important thing that McFarlane and ACS can do that a lot of local shops can’t is the Kearney swages for the stainless steel forks, clevises (clevi?) balls, and etc. Anybody and their dog can do Nicopress sleeves, but it takes special equipment to do the Kearney swages, and it takes experience to do it right. I leave that job to the pros. Besides, the Kearney swaging tool runs around $3500 (yes, four digits).
Incorrect cable swaging, by the way, was implicated as a possible causal factor in an HP accident many years back. It turns out that somebody tried swaging a Kearney-type fitting with a nicopress tool - an incredible no-no. This was obviously a cable assembly that was NOT supplied by the Schreders.
Editors Note: They fabricated me a new set of control cables for my HP-14. The quality of work is outstanding and the price was reasonable!