Tiller pin for autopilot

STOL71

STOL71

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www.shuda-sailing.com
I need to install a tiller pin onto my new wooden tiller made of iroko.
See photo of pin attached.
Drilling a relatively large hole for the pin may compromise the stability of the tiller and not too keen on having a bracket made. Was wondering where I can get the stem machined so that it is thinner or have a new thinner pin made with a self tapping thread. Any input on this or other ideas would be appreciated.
Many thanks.
 

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I have made both pins and brackets for the Raymarine tiller pilots.
Pin is 6 mm diameter if i recall.
I made a bracket out of 25x 4 mm stainless flatbar that would be Z shaped if the upright of the Z was vertical.
It is screwed on under the tiller and the pin welded upright on the lower flat piece with clearance above to pop the tiller pilot on and off.
In your case, it seems that you need to drill a clearance hole for the pin and bed the pin in epoxy.
This should be basically as strong as the original undrilled tiller, but if its not, then your new tiller may be inadequate.
I would caution against reducing the pin diameter. The loads on the pin can be quite significant and if you were to thin the pin, I suspect it would just shear off - at the worst possible time naturally.
 
John the kiwi said:
I have made both pins and brackets for the Raymarine tiller pilots.
Pin is 6 mm diameter if i recall.
I made a bracket out of 25x 4 mm stainless flatbar that would be Z shaped if the upright of the Z was vertical.
It is screwed on under the tiller and the pin welded upright on the lower flat piece with clearance above to pop the tiller pilot on and off.
In your case, it seems that you need to drill a clearance hole for the pin and bed the pin in epoxy.
This should be basically as strong as the original undrilled tiller, but if its not, then your new tiller may be inadequate.
I would caution against reducing the pin diameter. The loads on the pin can be quite significant and if you were to thin the pin, I suspect it would just shear off - at the worst possible time naturally.
Click to expand...

Yes, I was thinking about epoxy. Maybe I give that a try as you say it should be as strong as the I drilled tiller. Don’t want to fit a bracket as the tiller sits horizontally across without a bracket.
 
Looks like a 2000 pin.There is a lot of repetitive force applied to these pins.You can spread the load (or correct a pin that has become loose) by employing a small screwed plate to which the pin is firmly bedded.In this case the pin is firmly held in the 5mm ali plate by Loktite.Has held happily over a season and several similar assemblies using loktite have held firm.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3yeiTLTLdqan3hzV7
 
I did NOT drill a clearance hole for mine. 6mm hole for 6mm pin. Drill down to the depth you require. Drop a small amount of epoxy in the hole, don't worry if it doesn't get to the bottom. I then tapped the pin into the tiller with a small hammer. with the pin driven into the tiller it will add core strength under compression. with the pin central to the tiller, there will be a minimal lateral bending moment in the adjacent timber, the bend stress varying from zero at the centre to a max at the outer surfaces.
 
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