Piano wire thickness - what's the best diameter for push rods.

[TheFlyingBrit]

Okay its not a new question and its probably been answered dozens of times.
What is the ideal thickness of piano wire for push rods, we are talking foamboard models here.

Over the years I have used all sorts of wire and various gauges with differing success. However, never actually used piano wire, as I always thought it was a tad expensive.
As I am presently out of anything suitable for the FT duster project I have been looking at various options, one of them being piano wire (1.3mm to 1.5mm options)

I am interested what others on the forum have been using and do you have any advice.

 

[Musdang]

Okay its not a new question and its probably been answered dozens of times.
What is the ideal thickness of piano wire for push rods, we are talking foamboard models here.

Over the years I have used all sorts of wire and various gauges with differing success. However, never actually used piano wire, as I always thought it was a tad expensive.
As I am presently out of anything suitable for the FT duster project I have been looking at various options, one of them being piano wire (1.3mm to 1.5mm options)

I am interested what others on the forum have been using and do you have any advice.

I think the ft wire is 1mm, so for piano wire, I would go for 1.5.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

I think the ft wire is 1mm, so for piano wire, I would go for 1.5.

Thanks for that much appreciated

 

[Tench745]

I'm pretty sure the piano wire I use for most of my FT builds is .039 inch diameter, about 1mm. Obviously, you can go smaller on smaller planes and need to go bigger on bigger planes.

 

[SSgt Duramax]

Depending on your routing, this may work (and cheaper too).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003B4VHHM/?tag=lstir-20

If you can route through coffee straws for long distances, this works great. Especially if your servo rods are mostly within the plane. I use this stuff on almost all of my builds, even my nice F6F has it. It is a few bucks for enough to do like 20 planes. It is super easy to work with too.

It is for hanging the giant fluorescent lights from rafters.

It works fine for ailerons unreinforced, but as soon as you start to get over 75-100mm or so you will want it routed through coffee straws as it isn't terribly stiff. If you need longer, exposed routing this may not be the answer, but can be made to work about 80% of the time, and it is available at any home improvement store.

Another cheap source for thicker wire (~1.5-2mm) is construction flags. They are about 18 inches long and a pack of 100 is about 10 bucks. Yet again available at any home improvement/construction/hardware store. It is a little heavy for my liking and you do have to drill out your servo holes for it, but it is super stout. It also works well for shorter landing gear for planes under 500g or so, like your minis.

Edit: Looks like it would work perfect for the duster. You can run the coffee straws through the fuselage and no one would ever know..

 

[Mr NCT]

I use 0.047" ~ 1.2mm

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

I just measured the wire on my Sea Otter and its roughly 1.2mm which seems a reasonable gauge for that size of model. The FT Duster isn't far off the same wing diameter so maybe I should go with a similar gauge.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

Depending on your routing, this may work (and cheaper too).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003B4VHHM/?tag=lstir-20

If you can route through coffee straws for long distances, this works great. Especially if your servo rods are mostly within the plane. I use this stuff on almost all of my builds, even my nice F6F has it. It is a few bucks for enough to do like 20 planes. It is super easy to work with too.

It is for hanging the giant fluorescent lights from rafters.

It works fine for ailerons unreinforced, but as soon as you start to get over 75-100mm or so you will want it routed through coffee straws as it isn't terribly stiff. If you need longer, exposed routing this may not be the answer, but can be made to work about 80% of the time, and it is available at any home improvement store.

Another cheap source for thicker wire (~1.5-2mm) is construction flags. They are about 18 inches long and a pack of 100 is about 10 bucks. Yet again available at any home improvement/construction/hardware store. It is a little heavy for my liking and you do have to drill out your servo holes for it, but it is super stout. It also works well for shorter landing gear for planes under 500g or so, like your minis.

Edit: Looks like it would work perfect for the duster. You can run the coffee straws through the fuselage and no one would ever know..

Sorry posted my message before I got to read your reply, I have seen the galvanized wire before and often considered it as an option. But that particular one on Amazon is not ideal although it ships to the UK, it takes 1 to 2 months to ship

 

[Monte.C]

Okay its not a new question and its probably been answered dozens of times.
What is the ideal thickness of piano wire for push rods, we are talking foamboard models here.

Over the years I have used all sorts of wire and various gauges with differing success. However, never actually used piano wire, as I always thought it was a tad expensive.
As I am presently out of anything suitable for the FT duster project I have been looking at various options, one of them being piano wire (1.3mm to 1.5mm options)

I am interested what others on the forum have been using and do you have any advice.

My Amazon history says .039. Haven't been doing any long runs with it but it seems great for any small-ish model.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BMJSAA/?tag=lstir-20

That's 1mm.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

I managed to find a company in the UK who sell 1.2mm piano wire off cuts (3x 300mm long), including postage for only £3.49 ($4.72).

I hope (fingers crossed) that two of the pieces will sort the tail section and the third piece halved will sort out the two ailerons

 

[SSgt Duramax]

Sorry posted my message before I got to read your reply, I have seen the galvanized wire before and often considered it as an option. But that particular one on Amazon is not ideal although it ships to the UK, it takes 1 to 2 months to ship

I wasn't saying you had to buy that particular one. Certainly yall need to hang lights over there. Here I found this.

https://www.homebase.co.uk/whites-steel-tie-wire-1.25mm-x-95m/12812909.html

https://www.diy.com/departments/diall-steel-wire-l-50m-dia-1-1mm/1521253_BQ.prd

Sorry, I have only been in your country for about 20 hours, and that was spent at Heathrow, I didn't know what your equivalent to Lowes and Home Depot was.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

My Amazon history says .039. Haven't been doing any long runs with it but it seems great for any small-ish model.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BMJSAA/?tag=lstir-20

That's 1mm.

I have used 1mm dental (orthodontic) wire in the past, it works okay with the coffee stirrer guides as @SSgt Duramax suggested. The only down side is its coiled and its a pain in the arse trying to get it straight.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

I wasn't saying you had to buy that particular one. Certainly yall need to hang lights over there. Here I found this.

https://www.homebase.co.uk/whites-steel-tie-wire-1.25mm-x-95m/12812909.html

https://www.diy.com/departments/diall-steel-wire-l-50m-dia-1-1mm/1521253_BQ.prd

Sorry, I have only been in your country for about 20 hours, and that was spent at Heathrow, I didn't know what your equivalent to Lowes and Home Depot was.

My deepest sympathies stuck in London , should have flown to Manchester

 

[luvmy40]

Kinda sorta on topic question:

The last two SBKs I bought came with a nice thick wall white plastic rod guide tube. It almost looks like Teflon, but its more rigid. Any idea what it is and where to get it? I really don't like the coffee stirrer guides.

 

[SSgt Duramax]

My deepest sympathies stuck in London , should have flown to Manchester

I was hoping to get stationed there before I retire, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

I was hoping to get stationed there before I retire, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen.

What a pity I can drive to Manchester in around 30 minutes. I could have picked you up and taken you to my club for a few hours flying (weather permitting), you have missed an opportunity there.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

Now I have everything I need to finish the FT Duster, thanks for all the feedback much appreciated .

 

[checkerboardflyer]

I used 1.5mm (1/16") on my Busch Trottel. The rudder and elevator pushrods are about a 300mm (12") run. I used Du-Bro Micro Pushrod Guides. What I like about them is they standoff from the fuselage, so you can keep the pushrod straight. And easy to install. Whatever wire size that you end up with, the most important thing is to avoid flexing. More tips for foam board RC modelers on my blog: https://foamboardflyers.com

 

[Monte.C]

I have used 1mm dental (orthodontic) wire in the past, it works okay with the coffee stirrer guides as @SSgt Duramax suggested. The only down side is its coiled and its a pain in the arse trying to get it straight.
View attachment 218458

Straightening coiled wire sounds like the most horrible proposition.

 

[SSgt Duramax]

Straightening coiled wire sounds like the most horrible proposition.

It isn't that bad. There is a trick where you drill a hole in a block of wood and put the wire in the drill and spin it through. I never really do that though. You can get it "straight enough" by just dragging it through some pliers and slipping it through coffee straws.