To accommodate the thickness of the inner roller bearings, the outer tube has to be larger in diameter than the ones used by Velocity (7/8" OD). Again, I used aircraft steel tubing (4140 steel, 1.25" OD, 1.010" ID, 0.120" wall thickness) for my outer tube. Since the ID of the outer tube is (1.010") and the OD of the inner bearing (1.0") - I may have to add a sleeve for a good fit. My past experience tells me that the ID tolerance of these tubes are not that exact, I may get lucky. 

[Hindsight:]  I had to take the outer tube to a machine shop (with a lathe) and had them round off the ID (maybe shaved ~.001" off). The depth of the cut (into the tube) is the same width as the roller bearing (~.5" wide). Once shaved, the roller bearing fits into the ends of the outer tube flush and snug.

My second set of roller bearings (outer roller bearings) have an ID of 1.25" and OD of 1.5". It turned out I also had to shave ~.002" off  the OD of the outer tube for the roller bearing to slip over because the tubing was not as perfectly round as the bearings.

Once assembled, I have the inner tubing sliding and spinning inside the outer tube smoothly with no slop. Similarly, the outer tube rolls smoothly inside the outer roller bearings nicely.

I decided to design and make my own pedal arms instead of following the tubular design per Velocity. In addition, I did not want to drill any holes through the pedal tubes such that the integrity of the tubes can be preserved. This may be conservative thinking, but with all the discussions about the twisting of the pedal tubes in the Cozy forum, I wonder if the holes may have contributed to some of the twist. Regardless, my pedal arms, will be welded around the tubes instead, with slight exception for the pilot's right pedal (the one with a square hole - explain later). 

I started out with 1.5"x7"x5/16" thick aircraft steel bars and drilled 1 large hole at one end to slip through the tubes. At the other end, I drilled and tapped a 1/4" hole to accommodate a threaded bolt. I also drilled 3 more holes out of the pedal arms to reduce unnecessary weight. The two arms (at the ends) are for pulling the rudder cables. I may eventually replace them with an attachment to the rudder pedals instead. I'll wait till I get to that Chapter, for now, I have them made at the same time, just in case.

The foot pedals are just 1" aluminum rods with a hole drilled through them to accommodate the center bolt. the center bolts, in turn, are screwed into the ends of the rudder pedals.

You probably wonder how I would weld the pilot's right rudder pedal onto the inner tube - there's just no room to do so... and you are correct! Instead of welding the rudder pedal arm to the inner tube, I will weld a round plug into the end of the inner tube (as shown). The external end of the round plug has a square peg that will fit into the square hole of the rudder pedal leg. A bolt and washer will lock the rudder pedal in place.

Here's the picture of the pilot's right rudder pedal after it is assembled. You can also see the inner and the outer roller bearings. The rudder pedal will rotate the inner tube via the welded plug - again, no holes will be drilled through the tube, thus maintaining the structural integrity of the tube.

If you look closer to the picture (left), there is a set screw on the pedal arm. This set screw is not for securing the pedal arm onto the hanging rods in its final form.  These set screws will be inadequate to hold the pedals in place for actual use. However, they served an important interim function. They were there for holding the pedals in place throughout its (trial & error) alignment process with the rest of the brake and rudder systems. In addition, these set screws were there to secure the rudder pedal arms in the exact position for welding. For example, when I brought my rudder assembly to the welding shop, I wanted the rudder pedal arms (pilot left & passenger left) to be firmly secured and perfectly lined up to each other + their relative position to the slot on the hanging tube (for the passenger left pedal arm), such that they can be welded exactly where I want them (refer to assembled right rudder pedal assembly picture below).

Here's a picture that shows all the parts for the rudder pedal. I got all raw materials and parts from McMaster Carr. They include the steel tubings, steel plates for the rudder pedals, roller bearings, 1" diameter aluminum rod for the foot rest, a 3/4" diameter rod for the end plug, and the long end bolts.

Note that there is a bit of precision machining was needed for making these pedals - well beyond the machining capability I have at my shop. Fortunately, I work with many well equipped, talented, skillful small business owners who can lend a helping hand as need arises. In this particular case, Jamie, who owns a highly automated machine shop and provides mechanical components to aircraft industries around the world, came to the rescue. He implemented some great machining considerations in making this set of rudder pedal rugged and durable. These rudder pedals can take a beating and should last a long time as well!  I have line drawings of these rudder pedals with elementary dimensions (but not a full engineering drawing with tolerance etc.) for those builders who are interested.  

Here's a picture of my pedal assembly. My next step is to determine the mounting method and integrating it to the Matco master brake cylinders. I have some ideas how to do that, but have to wait till I turn the fuselage right side up again.

Jamie, the talent behind all these machining work, came to check out my installation. He owns a highly automated machine shop with his own product lines. He provides his products to many major aircraft companies all over the world. Jamie and I have been working together for close to 20 years.    

To be continued...

Jamie made the roller bearing holders for the rudder pedals. It consists of 2 center, 1 left, and 1 right mounting units as shown (left). The 2 center ones will be mounted on top of NG-30 and I shall build a small step on each side to support the end holders.

I had to do quite a bit of shaving and shimming to get the holders seated correctly so that the rudder pedal shaft spins freely without any binding. It took me several hours to get it mounted to my satisfaction. The pedal tube sits just below the manual override of the nose gear actuator (with no interference).

The center mounts are bolted to NG-30 sides with 2 AN4 bolts each (right below the holder) and 1 AN4 bolts through F-22 to its side (at the top). You can get a better view of this bolt from the pictures below. The side mounts are held to the steps with 2 AN4 bolts from the bottom side of the steps.   

The three pedal arms (pilot left, passenger left & right) are all welded to the hanging tubes. Attachment of the pedal arm (pilot right), also welded, is shown in Chapter 13 Section 6. In addition, 45 degree chamfers were cut along the circumference (both sides) of the rudder pedal arm holes, to provide larger welding/mating surfaces for the welds to the hanging tubes.

Picture left shows the assembled right rudder pedal. Note that the two mounting roller bearing assemblies are encased between the rudder pedal arms once they are welded in place (onto the hanging rod).

Here's another picture of the pedals mounted in place. It looks clean...

Note that I can easily remove the foot pedals for the passenger or reduce the width of the pilot's pedals if extra foot room is really needed.  

Here's the cockpit view of the pedals.