Taylorcraft wire

[Hank Jarrett]

YEEE HAAAAA!!!! Finally!

[Jim Herpst]

Well ....BINGO !!!. I have a company I am sending the sample of Taylorcraft Wire to that can work with our dimension wire !!

Stay tuned

Jim

[Hank Jarrett]

I have some really old pieces and you are right. It doesn't seem to rust.

Hank

[Robert Lees]

I re-used my 1946 wire. It's definitely "corrosion resistant" and certainly not plated but not necessarily stainless.

[Hank Jarrett]

Shiny on the newer wire, kind of dull on the old stuff. Afraid I haven't had access to a materials lab since the late 90s. Sure was fun when I did. I could disappear in there to play with all the toys for days! Engineering was fun! Like making a living in a toy store! I was always finding interesting stuff to look at under the SEM.


Hank

[Jim Herpst]

Hank, what is the type metal material

[astjp2]

Roll forming wire can be a little rough in diameter if the dies are worn

[Jim Herpst]

Hank, That was me asking. I will call the folks with this info and if they can work and obtain the wire will see if they can get it...Next Question What type of metal is it???

[Hank Jarrett]

One of the group was looking for the diameter of the wire and I took a micrometer out to the hangar today. The wire I measured was from .032" to .035" in diameter. Seems they weren't too strict on the diameter back in he day. This was random pieces of original wire. Would be interesting to see if other guys wire also was different diameters.

Hank

[Robert Lees]

Martin wire has the wrong bends in the barbs...they are too "soft", whereas the original Taylorcraft wire has the proper, sharper bends.

[3Dreaming]

What vendor sells Martin wire? Has anyone asked them for their source or let them know what changes would work for Taylorcraft? I would expect we'd need to commit to several thousand feet. IIRC a shipset needs ~250 ft.

Does someone have a drawing including the wire specs? I have a friend that owns a spring company. I know he can make bends, not just coils, but don't know if he can do a continuous roll. It would help the conversation to have a drawing and know the material spec.

Drawings and samples are available. The Martin wire comes in 25 foot sections according to Aircraft Spruce. They show 32 rolls in stock which is 800 feet. Oddly enough the manufacturer's part number on Spruce is, Model# 80ROLL MIN. This equates to 2000 feet.

On a different note I came up with a slightly different idea to try and make the Martin wire work. Instead of one big Z bend, how about making a shrinker that makes a series of small bends in the whole section between the barbs.

[Bigdog]

Negative. We shipped an example to a wire source company someone referanced located in Missouri. They said no go too thin. I have the example we sent back ready to go to any vendor that bends music wire... I am probably going to carefully remove mine and re use what is in the wings now. I am going to order a little Martin wire and compair to what is in mine just to make sure what is in mine is indeed taylorcraft wire.

We need to find out who makes up the Martin wire !!!!

What vendor sells Martin wire? Has anyone asked them for their source or let them know what changes would work for Taylorcraft? I would expect we'd need to commit to several thousand feet. IIRC a shipset needs ~250 ft.

Does someone have a drawing including the wire specs? I have a friend that owns a spring company. I know he can make bends, not just coils, but don't know if he can do a continuous roll. It would help the conversation to have a drawing and know the material spec.

[Jim Herpst]

Thank you for the explanation. I have not looked at a web on the post war in years. Fabric is still on the wings when dad and his partner recovered it. Wings are my fall project after finishing most everything else pre cover. Lord knows what awaits me in the wings anyway.

[3Dreaming]

No pictures. It looked bad enough that I took the fabric back off the wings. The ribs are designed with a little trough for the wire to lay in for a smooth finish. When you Z bend the wire moves outside the trough, and does not lay well.

[Jim Herpst]

I tried the Z bends to take up the slack. It looked like crap.

Have any pictures? Yes know what crap looks like...and perhaps smells like. What was the problem? Seems like if it lays flat it would work. I have no dog in this hunt really. Going to re use mine. I would like to get some wire for all who need it (as in Hank and I finding a source..which we are working on) meantime if the Martin wire could work...??? Why did it look like crap?