Looking for post re using PEX as conduit from under-seat area to tail

[109JB]

I needed to run wires down the the spars for the strobe and wing tip lights. Given all the obstructions in the spars, I went to Home Depot and bought some drip irrigation tubing, 1 inch, I think. Anyway, it was easy to run the length of the spars and created a clear path for the wiring. Once the wiring was where it needed to be, I pulled the tubing back out leaving the wires in place. I didn't use this tubing in the fuselage because only the trim wire is routed back to the tail so it didn't seem like it was needed but, I could see how it would have worked well for far less than PEX both in cost and weight. In my first KF5, I used a piece of 1/2in PVC for the fuselage but, that plane had the battery in the tail along with other things and that worked fine to.

Probably not a huge issue, but pulling the tubing out means that the wiring is free to rub on the internals of the wing or other structure.

[jiott]

I left the tubing in the wing spars because there are many sharp rivet ends poking thru the spars and no way to secure the wires from bouncing around in turbulence.

[jiott]

I preferred the irrigation tubing over the corrugated because "fishing" a wire thru is easy. It can also be easily slit with a pocket knife if desired, and the slit stays closed; it takes quite a bit of effort to open the slit and pull a wire out. In fact in a couple of places where I needed a wire to exit I cut a little wide spot in the slit so the clamping force of the slit would not damage the wire insulation over time. Handy stuff, cheap and lightweight and easily cut or bent.

[Eric Page]

If you need to get a wire through a sealed tube, whether it's a piece of pipe or a wing spar, try this trick. Tie a wad of cotton balls to the end of a length of nylon string, then use your shop vac to pull it through the tube. Once it's through, cut the string sticking out of the shop vac and you're left with a pull cord in the tube. Always pull another pull cord through with the new wire, and you'll never have to do the vacuum trick more than once.

[4Hummer]

If you need to get a wire through a sealed tube, whether it's a piece of pipe or a wing spar, try this trick. Tie a wad of cotton balls to the end of a length of nylon string, then use your shop vac to pull it through the tube. Once it's through, cut the string sticking out of the shop vac and you're left with a pull cord in the tube. Always pull another pull cord through with the new wire, and you'll never have to do the vacuum trick more than once.

Brilliant !