wire for line clips

[George Waters]

Does anyone have the McMasterCarr number for the wire to make line clips from? Thankyou George

[Brent Williams]

 Hard "Spring-Back wire" (spring temper), not "bend and stay" wire.  Anything in the .047", .049", .051" range should be fine.

.051 Hard Stainless Spring Back Wire -  #: 8908K56 https://www.mcmaster.com/#8908k56/=17hl5ok

Music wire seems to work just fine, also.

[George Waters]

Thanks for the info, Igot safety wire by mistake before. George

[Tim Wescott]

I started using line clips made out of music wire, planning on switching to stainless when I started seeing rust.  That was four years ago, I'm still waiting.  If you fly electric the story may be different -- I suspect that everything in my flight box has at least a thin coating of castor oil on it.

[RknRusty]

I use 1/16" music wire too. It holds up just fine.

I won't call that a recommendation, just saying it's been working fine for me for a long time..
Rusty

[john e. holliday]

Last Sunday I picked up wire from Jim Lee,  Lees Machine Shop.   All the wire I got from the hardware store rusted even though it still makes the max pull testy.

[Randy Cuberly]

I've used .047 music wire for many years.  More than adequate strength for any CL airplane with the double loop end!

Randy Cuberly

[Bill Johnson]

I just made a few using the jig borrowed from Ty. I had K&S music wire on hand so tried a couple but I found it difficult to work with. This from a guy who does metal work for a living, so I ordered 100 feet of .049 302/304 Hard Stainless Spring Back Wire from McMaster-Carr. $11.37 plus about $8 shipping.

What a difference! Much easier to bend and get it into the correct shape without a lot of fooling around. Getting 4 clips per foot, they come in at a nickel a piece.

The K&S wire is rated somewhere around 350,000 PSI in tension, the 302/304 hard stainless at 205,000. That works out to a single .049 wire strength at 386 pounds in tension and I figure the actual strength double that at 773 pounds because of the clip configuration.

Does that sound right to all the engineers out there?

[BillLee]

Last Sunday I picked up wire from Jim Lee,  Lees Machine Shop.   All the wire I got from the hardware store rusted even though it still makes the max pull testy.

LeeMachineShop.com

Then "Ordering" then select "Line Clip Bender". Jim has the wire hidden there! :-)

[Paul Smith]

Considering that you're flying on .015" or .018" 7-strand, anything solid of .020" or would be plenty.

This is based in the "weak link" theory.

One thing about "tensile strength".  A line clip can fail by straightening-out, so tensile strength isn't the ultimate goal.

[Target]

Paul, you might want to bend some clips of .020" wire and use them on your planes, but I wouldn't do it on mine. MAYBE .039", but nothing less....
That's my opinion.
Theory is one thing, but everyday real world use is another.

[Bill Johnson]

LeeMachineShop.com

Then "Ordering" then select "Line Clip Bender". Jim has the wire hidden there! :-)

Well, that would have been a lot easier, Jim, since you made Ty's tool in the first place. If I had known you sold the wire, I wouldn't have had to buy 100 feet of it.