Wing Jig with 1/4" Rods

[Wayne Foster]

Hi Guys,

I am getting ready to build Walter Umland's Spitfire kit and I have never built a wing using the 1/4" Rod set up.

Could someone tell me what material most of you use for the rods and where you purchase them.  I looked at Home Depot but their steel rods didn't look very straight to me.  I thought about using 1/4" Drill Rod, but I can only find it in 3' length's.  Looks like I need 4' for the kit.

Any help would be appreciated.

Wayne

[Mark Scarborough]

I use arrow shafts, aluminum ones,, steel rods can be to heavy to remain straight over a suspended distance.

Normally I build my wings in halves then join them so the  restrictive length of the arrow shaft is minimized

[David Shad]

I am building Walters Spitfire and used arrow shaft as Mark suggested.  I added an inner
dowel piece to join the two halves of the wing and arrow shafts together in the middle. 
My friend Mike Griffin has one too and you can see his here on the forum...It's the black
one where mine is going to be a Seafire scheme.   Mikey has lots more time than me so
his is ready to fly.   Mine should be done in January...Pics will come then.  Great kit.

[Tom Rounds]

You can get 1/4 tubing for this place.
http://www.onlinemetals.com/

[Wayne Foster]

Thanks for the help Guys,

I think I can get what I need at Onlinemetals.

Wayne

[Leester]

Wayne, unless you plan on only building planes with that size wing you might want to consider getting 6' rods. You will need to make braces to support them, but that's no biggie. On line metals packs there frieght very well  also.

[Glenn (Gravitywell) Reach]

I use solid brake lines bought at our local automotive parts store.  It can be bought in variouse thickness and lengths.  I "bore site" mine before purchase to make sure there striaght.

[Richard Grogan]

Definitely arrow shafts!

[Don Hutchinson AMA5402]

I thought arrow shafts were in inches, using a four digit number like 1617. The first two digits denoting the wall thickness and the second two digits the outside diameter in 64th's.
Don