Best Prices for K&S music wire?

[Target]

Where are all you guys on fixed incomes buying your Music wire from?

I found that Tower is somewhat of a rip off.
Ace Hardware has great prices, but only up to 1/8" I think on their website. http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=53084566
McMaster Carr only goes to .187" !
This place is decent:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/cgi-bin/a4.cgi


I am looking for 8 5/32"
                        (2) 1/4"
                        (2) 3/16"
                   (8-10) 1/8"
                        (2) 7/32"
                        (2) 9/32"

I also want to find some 3/8", 1/2", 5/8" steel rods for sanding aids, I will probably just go to the Home Depot for that.

Thank in advance for suggestions.

Vr,
Target

[Gordon Van Tighem]

'Omni Models on eBay' seem to have a significant selection of K&S.
G

[Target]

Thanks Gordon, I'll check that out as well.
Kind regards,
Chris Behm

[kenneth cook]

             Omni is Tower Hobbies. Many times the shipping is reduced on the Ebay sales. Ken

[Paul Smith]

I buy mine from Great Lakes Hobby in Sterling Heights or The Prop Shop in Centerline.

No postage and one-hour delivery.  Keep you LHS in bidness.  What you need when you need it.

[Mark Scarborough]

I use brass or aluminum tubing for sanding guids, solid steel tubing is cumbersome and heavy IMHO

[Fredvon4]

I find and use Wally World wood dowel in all sizes 1/16th" up to 1" for cheap for the sanding shape helpers
I use aluminum and brass tube in many sizes to cut precise holes in Balsa or foam

Each order from SigMFG is where I add in Music wire in the sizes I use for lead outs or push rods....I much prefer aluminum/Carbon LG so rarely order the larger diameters


That all said Chris is in LA... man... if I was in that large a city I would certainly find a metal fab/ Weldon shop and beg any and all their smaller cut offs...for shapes and weights

Got a small shop locally but the owner is anal about EVERY piece of scrap is going to reclaim bin... even as I offered to buy the end cuts for going steel recycle rates

[Target]

Omni seems like the prices are actually higher than what Tower lists for the same....
Unless I am missing something.

The sanding guides that I refer to in the first post is when you want to sand to a certain thickness, like when you are sanding an elevator or flap to a taper, so the weight is not an issue, but resiliency to sand paper is....
Sorry if I wasn't clear from the start. Steel rods are fine for that.

The rest of the music wire is for either my two new Adjust-o-jigs, or building wings with bigger pre-cut holes in the ribs (like the .15 Umland Magician I got, with .250" holes), or bending up landing gear.

Regards,
Chris.
PS. I think the link I posted might have the best prices overall.

[RknRusty]

I never wondered much about it before, but what kind of metal is music wire? Am I right in thinking it's made specifically for use in pianos?
Rusty

[john e. holliday]

Manufacture and use[edit]
General-purpose, high-carbon steel, drawn music wire (such as ASTM A228) is manufactured in both inch and metric music wire gauges (m.w.g.) in diameters as small as 0.15 mm up to 4.8 mm (0.006 to 0.192 inch). A small number of companies produce the tough, high tensile polished wire intended for limited music instrument markets, which is manufactured from steel of a specific composition by cold drawing. Unlike many other forms of wire, piano wire has no twist and is not formed from bundles of smaller-diameter wires.
  This according to Wikipedia.

[Steve Helmick]

Personally, I think K&S "music wire" is crap. In the old days ('60's), the good stuff had a shiny finish. That's said to be from a second drawing through a die that work hardens the surface and strengthens the material. I seem to think the good stuff was Sullivan, but maybe SIG is ok?  Steve

PS: I highly recommend using wood dowel, brass or aluminum tubing for sanding tools, per Mark's post. Less damage if you drop it on your model...

[Norm Furutani]

Have you checked on "drill rod"? Lots of sizes and up to 6' in length. Here's the McMaster link, probably cheaper if you look around: https://www.mcmaster.com/#drill-rods/=172gc3b

Norm

[Lauri Malila]

Norm,

Do you know anything from McMaster that would be good for F1A wing joiners? Especially the 6,5mm ones keep bending..
Hardening & grinding is not a problem.

Lauri

[Tim Wescott]

Have you checked on "drill rod"? Lots of sizes and up to 6' in length. Here's the McMaster link, probably cheaper if you look around: https://www.mcmaster.com/#drill-rods/=172gc3b

Norm

Music wire comes hardened.  Drill rod comes soft.  You have to harden it yourself, which is (A) not trivial, but (B) not impossible.

[Norm Furutani]

Hi Lauri
McMaster shows several grades available, both soft and hardened. Not sure how they would be as joiners. Chris, (OP) is a serious RC glider guy and may have a source. I have also heard of some using mold ejector pins as a source.

Norm

Norm,

Do you know anything from McMaster that would be good for F1A wing joiners? Especially the 6,5mm ones keep bending..
Hardening & grinding is not a problem.

Lauri

[Norm Furutani]

Music wire comes hardened.  Drill rod comes soft.  You have to harden it yourself, which is (A) not trivial, but (B) not impossible.

I would think for making fixtures, drill rod would ideal. It is available hardened if needed. Price might be an issue.

Norm

[Target]

Hi Lauri
McMaster shows several grades available, both soft and hardened. Not sure how they would be as joiners. Chris, (OP) is a serious RC glider guy and may have a source. I have also heard of some using mold ejector pins as a source.

Norm

Dixie pins is where to get ejector pins. I doubt that they would bend easily. They are used on "Pitcheron" and "Wingeron" planes where they both serve as a joiner and also since they wings have no ailerons, they serve as a pivot and the entire wing moves either opposite one another (Wingeron) or opposite and together up and down (Pitcheron).
They are strong and super round and highly finished.

http://dixiepins.com/headed-inch-pins/Inch-Nitrided-Ejector-Pins.asp


For wing joiners for FF, I would think Carbon tow pulled into a round mold and then post cured with the proper epoxy would be the best to save weight. Better yet space wise would be a square joiner. The ejector pins are pretty heavy.
If you want to cheat, and they are the right size, you can buy a pair of "Supra" 5* square joiners for I think $35... That's a bargain for what you're getting, and they are very light.

R,
Chris

[Mike Griffin]

Hi Chris

From some of the answers you are getting I may be misunderstanding your question but I got the impression you were using these rods as a thickness guide and you were putting them up next to the edge of a flap or elevator and using them to sand the taper in the balsa to the thickness of the rod so the taper would be uniform all the way across.  If that is the case, what I use is square Key Stock.  It works really well and will not roll on the building or sanding table like a rod will.  If this is the use you are talking about, you can buy Keystock at a good hardware store or from McMaster Carr online in thicknesses from 1/8" through 3/8" and everything in between.  If this is not what your use is, please disregard this post.

Regards
Mike Griffin

[Target]

Ding-ding-ding!
"We have a winner!"
Thanks for reading my post, Mike. I realize that I don't wax poetic on the keyboard, but OMG! Hahahaha.

Yes, some are for wing jigs, but the thicker rods (and they don't NEED to be rod) are for exactly what you are talking about.

I have the smaller stuff ordered already form that Hobbylink place, it was cheapest by a wide margin.

The other stuff is not a rush at all.

I'll let you all know how the Hobbylink place pans out.

R,
Chris

[Mike Griffin]

Just for a future reference Chris, here is the McMaster Carr link to keystock
Mike

https://www.mcmaster.com/#key-stock/=173587g

[Lauri Malila]

Dixie pins is where to get ejector pins. I doubt that they would bend easily. They are used on "Pitcheron" and "Wingeron" planes where they both serve as a joiner and also since they wings have no ailerons, they serve as a pivot and the entire wing moves either opposite one another (Wingeron) or opposite and together up and down (Pitcheron).
They are strong and super round and highly finished.

http://dixiepins.com/headed-inch-pins/Inch-Nitrided-Ejector-Pins.asp


For wing joiners for FF, I would think Carbon tow pulled into a round mold and then post cured with the proper epoxy would be the best to save weight. Better yet space wise would be a square joiner. The ejector pins are pretty heavy.
If you want to cheat, and they are the right size, you can buy a pair of "Supra" 5* square joiners for I think $35... That's a bargain for what you're getting, and they are very light.

R,
Chris

Chris,

In this case I'm looking for round ones, and carbon won't work. In carbon joiners the critical part is compression side so they have to be square in cross section.
We also use kind of a wingeron, right wing is rotating as joiner  as pivot point. Of course it's more logical with a round joiner but works with a square joiner too, movement is so small.
I have a feeling those ejector pins would be too brittle. I don't understand why only the 6,5mm is a problem, both solid and drilled ones keep bending.
Weight is not a problem, even with solid joiners the models are at minimum weight. L

[RknRusty]

Omni seems like the prices are actually higher than what Tower lists for the same....
Unless I am missing something.

The sanding guides that I refer to in the first post is when you want to sand to a certain thickness, like when you are sanding an elevator or flap to a taper, so the weight is not an issue, but resiliency to sand paper is....
Sorry if I wasn't clear from the start. Steel rods are fine for that.

The rest of the music wire is for either my two new Adjust-o-jigs, or building wings with bigger pre-cut holes in the ribs (like the .15 Umland Magician I got, with .250" holes), or bending up landing gear.

Regards,
Chris.
PS. I think the link I posted might have the best prices overall.

Almost everything except heavy stuff at the Ebay Omni store is $1.99 shipping.
http://stores.ebay.com/OmniModels?_rdc=1

The shipping at the other Omni store is expensive, like $7.99.
http://www3.omnimodels.com/cgi-bin/woe0191P