Last night I got the sticks back in place, but I was troubled by too much friction in the roll axis once I tightened down all the bolts that hold the whole thing in place. This was something that I had noted quite awhile ago, and it was on my list of things to fix.

I took an adjustable wrench and slipped it over the bracket that holds the front end of the stick assembly. If I pulled up on it slightly, which moved the rod end forward, I noted that the friction disappeared, and the motion in roll became smooth as silk. So, that meant that the bracket needed to be a bit further forward. I made a shim out of the thinest aluminum I had, but the friction was still there, and now I needed to push down on the adjustable wrench to get rid of the friction, so I had obviously overshoot the mark.

I looked for some brass shim stock today, but I couldn't find a place to buy it in small quantities, and the local scrap yard didn't have any. Another builder suggested I try an aluminum discardable pie pan, so I headed down to the aviation aisle of the grocery store. I found a package of little pans, and it turns out that the aluminum is only 0.003 inch thick. Tonight I made a stack of shims, put three of them in, tightened down the bolts and bingo - smooth as silk in roll.

I've still got a bit of friction in the pitch axis to fight with. I had thought I had beat that one a few months ago, but it came back when I tightened down the bolt that secures the brass bushing that the rear stick pivots on. Hopefully I can sort this one out tomorrow.