bulk wire

[rich gorrill]

Just curious, has anyone used the bulk wire offered for sale on e-bay from the Fly By Wire co. Pretty reasonable price, $15.00 for 250 feet of .015

[Dane Martin]

not bad, but this is half the price. and lots of people i know order from this co.

http://www.MBSModelSupply.com/Ordering/Order.php

[don Burke]

not bad, but this is half the price. and lots of people i know order from this co.

http://www.MBSModelSupply.com/Ordering/Order.php

+1

[richardhfcl]

Hey, Rich,

      Don't worry about buying lines in the thousand-foot spools.  It's not as much line as

you may think, and you'll have no difficulty using it.  I've used MBS's line for several years and

like his quick service.

     Best regards,

     Dick

[Howard Rush]

Another amen for MBS.

[Randy Cuberly]

Just curious, has anyone used the bulk wire offered for sale on e-bay from the Fly By Wire co. Pretty reasonable price, $15.00 for 250 feet of .015

Incidentally, if that's a 250 ft roll you can't even get 2 sets of lines from it unless you're flying 15 size engines.

You basically get 1 1/2 sets of lines and about 50 ft of waste.  Not a good deal in my book.

Randy Cuberly

[rich gorrill]

Thank you, everyone. I had forgotten about MBS. Just bookmarked them in my favorites.

Rich

[Richard Entwhistle 823412]

I bought 5000 feet of .015 from Fly By Wire about two years ago.  I just got around to making some 60 foot sets with it the other day.  When I cut the wire it was like the wire had a life of it's own.  Sixty foot of wire must have relaxed maybe fifty or more turns.  Once it had relaxed the ends started to come unraveled.  I have never had any wire from any other company act like that.  I had to put a little drop of CA on the ends to stop the unraveling.  I will not be buying again.  I don't think I will live long enough to use it all.

Richard

[mike londke]

This was discussed at length in another thread but I could not find it.  Like Richard said when you cut it it has a mind of its own. It frays real bad. It seems more brittle than the line from MBS, and it kinks easier. I bought 1000' thinking it was a deal, but after trying to make 2 sets of lines I gave up and it is sitting on the shelf. Mike

[Dennis Moritz]

Are the MBS lines different? I've used the big rolls from ebay as well as other lines cut from rolls purchased elsewhere. They work well enough. Lines I used seemed to have taken a set from staying on the big roll for a while. I had to be more careful than usual when rollling them up or they'd pull off the reel. After a while the tensions seemed to anneal. Took abuse like typical lines. I'd rather frequent MBS. Nice folks.

[Brett Buck]

Another amen for MBS.

   Ditto.

   I think there may be only 2 factories actually producing the wire we use. One of them seemed to be SIGs supplier, and the other seemed to be Pylon's. Back in the 80s I had all sorts of strange issues with the SIG line, like having it break in several places at once on a pull test (fortunately, before it was attached to an airplane) and at far less than the expected strength. I know most of it was OK. Pylon, I never had a problem with, and it was noticeably stiffer in flex. The MBS type seems to be the same as, or very similar to, the Pylon/Sullivan lines. I have gotten a couple of 1000 foot reels from them, and used it with success for a long time now.

    Brett

[Steve Helmick]

I haven't gotten line from MBS, but do like the line I got from RSM. It's shiny silvery and not that bronze finish stuff like Hi Johnson/Dynamic sold. Bronze finish is too hard to see on grass or pavement, so make sure you don't get that.   Steve

[Randy Cuberly]

I bought 5000 feet of .015 from Fly By Wire about two years ago.  I just got around to making some 60 foot sets with it the other day.  When I cut the wire it was like the wire had a life of it's own.  Sixty foot of wire must have relaxed maybe fifty or more turns.  Once it had relaxed the ends started to come unraveled.  I have never had any wire from any other company act like that.  I had to put a little drop of CA on the ends to stop the unraveling.  I will not be buying again.  I don't think I will live long enough to use it all.

Richard

That's an indication that the tension on the spooling machine was too low.  It's a serious quality control problem.  I would be hesitant to use that wire without a serious pull test!

Randy Cuberly

[Paul Smith]

As always, McMaster Carr is in the bidness.  They can supply one-piece orders as long as you specify.  But if you don't tell them you want one piece, they'll ship you 100' pre-cut packages.  They did this once, but took the hundred-footers back & gave me the big rolls.

[Fred Underwood]

Made up a set of lines from Fly-by-wire bulk a few weeks ago.  Had the same unwinding difficulty described, but only for several inches.  What was very noticeable was that the F-B-W lines were long spiral twists, much less per foot than the MBS tighter spirals. Not sure how that related to usability, but they passed pull tests and seem ok.  Once made up they seem fine.  No problem with rolling up or out, but I would not buy again.

[rich gorrill]

I ordered a spool of .015 wire from MBS and made my first set of lines today. What a pleasure to work with, no unraveling or twisting when cut. I have to admit I tried the line from Fly by Wire and had bad experience with it like everyone else, twisting and unraveling, just a general pain.

Rich

On a side note I ordered a set of large line connectors from MBS problem is I couldn't squeeze them open metal is so strong pliers are needed. The med.size connectors were fine.

[Randy Powell]

Gee, I must be an outlier. I get my line from McMaster-Carr.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-wire-rope/=tp4l9v