BUILDING JIGS
 

Does anyone have any plans for a fuse jig and/or a wing jig. Years ago Tower offered a wing jig for Great Planes kits. I bought one but later willed it to my off springs who have since sold or gave it away. Some where I saw a building jig for fuses but can't now find it. Magnetic jigs are out but I had rather build my own wooden one. Both of these I have tried to reconstruct from memory, but over the years memory fades to the point it is almost non existant.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

The GP Wing Jig is still available

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXK258&P=7

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

[link=http://webpages.charter.net/rcfu/ConstGuide/FJConstr.html]here's[/link] the one I built before my Magnetic Building Board.

-MA

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Thanks Alex, that is the one I had. I glanced through the 08 Tower catalog but could not find it. I rather then order it I'll just make it for less money. Its pretty simple.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Thanks Minni, that is the one I had. I glanced through the 08 Tower catalog but could not find one. For the bucks, I think I'll make one and save a dollar. They are so simple.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Minni?

:D

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Be nice Minn, you've made typos too. :-)
KW_Counter

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Yeah, that's exactly what I did - I made it. ;)

Nice link there Minni :D

-MA

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Sorry Minni, both you and Alex replied, you about the wing jig and Alex about the fuse jig and when expressing my appreciation to each of you separtly I forgot who did what and who gets the two bits. Anyway I took my trusty power saws and turned a lot of wood into saw dust and just finished making the wing jig using a wood top instead of the metal. Works! I looked at page 251-258 of the 2008 tower catalog and guess what? Nothing!!!

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

If you go to http://www.rcmmagazine.com/issues/re...A4DNcsoy83g5B1 you can find a wing jig and a fuselage jig construction article. There are numerous other interesting articles from RCM too.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

The printed catalog is pretty worthless. It has a partial listing of stuff they stocked several months prior to mailing it out. If you want to know what they do or do not have, right now, go to http://www.towerhobbies.com

A while back there was a thread saying they no longer have SIG kits because none are listed in the catalog. My speculation is that SIG products were omitted from the catalog to make room for more of the products that are exclusive to the Hobbico conglomerate.

My speculation on the omission of the wing jig: They needed to make room for things they think they might actually sell on occasion.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Thanks England: That is the web site I have been looking for. I now have it marked for the future. That is the fuse jig I will be building later this afternoon. I have all the lumber and now make a lot of saw dust!!! Thanks.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Here is a fuse jig build article in case you are not aware of it.
http://webpages.charter.net/rcfu/Con.../FJConstr.html

Hope it helps.
Lorne;)

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

I've built one like that in your link bear 57.
I made one mod that has worked out way good. Instead of drilling holes in plywood just use a partial sheet of peg board. It comes stock with 1/4" holes on a 1" center grid. I put down a piece of packing tape in the middle of the board and draw a straight line down the middle. Mark the centers of all the formers and line em up with the line.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

I use this one, too. It works very well.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Thanks for all the help guys. I now have a fuse jig and a wing jig completed. I followed the RCM plans for the fuse jig only I added 6 leveling screws, one on each corner and one in the middle just in case I need to level it with the stove bolt heads on the bottom.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Could you post pictures of your wing jig? I have a plane that has just over a 70" wing and I would suppose the Tower/Great Planes jig might not be long enough. Just curious how you built yours and what you used for the metal rods that hold the ribs in alignment. I'm not a subscriber to RCM and could not log on to view the wing jig plans.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

airbus: I used 2-1/4" metal rods purchased at Lowes. I just made a platform from a 1X4 base, X 36", attached 1X4X6 accross the top. Drilled through with 1/4" bit using a 6" stove bolt with wing nut and a 1/2"X1/2"X6" top cross piece to hold the rods in place. It is real simple, but works. The difference in mine and Greeat Planes, who I don't think carry them anymore, is they use metal for holding the 1/4" rods and I use wood. Wish I could furnish pictures but my computer skills will not permit me to be that advanced so I don't have a computer camera. I'm still using the old outdated 35mm Nikon.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Thanks:):)

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

It is worth noting that anybody can log onto the RCM site because the login details are shown there for you ( presumably nobody is a subscriber to a defunct mag!)
There is also about 6 years of back issues online, they seem to have every article there!

It's nice of them to keep the articles there and I suppose it supports their plan service which still seems to be trading.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Aren't you obsevant?(password and login info) Or should I say, "aren't I not?":):) Still, once I did the wing jig search, it says the page has been moved to "Link." When I click on the link, it then says server not found and I can't even go "back"

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

I just checked it is working OK now. Start at http://www.rcmmagazine.com/index.htm...itWReYzW498403 and follow the various headings. For the jig you want Requested articles, then,features, then log in , then scroll down about 15 items to wing jig. There is also another wing jig lower down the list.

Occasionally the site is unavailable probably due to too many people downloading big files. When I try it is 5 or 8 hours ahead of US time and is normally OK then.

There is a fantastic set of articles by David Anderson and he has even allowed a copyright free plan for a 1/3 scale Grumman Lynx model for free download from the site. Again I just checked it is still there.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Thanks, kdc, I found it. Also, it appears that this link will go right to the article in case anyone else wishes to view it, http://www.rcmmagazine.com/issues/re...itWReYzW48C6M0

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

Here are a couple of photos of my jig which I made recently but not used yet.

Note that the clamp bar is only notched at the LE to retain the rods, the other end is plain to allow any rib length. An intermediate clamp and 2 extra supports are there to stop rods sagging as I used 5 mm steel rods (smaller than 1/4 which is 6.35mm ). The intermediate clamp is loose & is used for wings that are less than the 48 inch length of the jig. All the wood supports were prepared to exactly the same thickness. I drilled clearance hole for the bolts right through. I used nut inserts but hexagon nuts could be used underneath, in that case measure the distance across the flats and enlarge the hole to that size for the depth of nut. The ‘corners’ will cut their own way in when you draw the nuts in on the bolt and hold themselves in. Wing nuts are used on the bolts instead of using a spanner.

RE: BUILDING JIGS
 

There is another wing jig on the RCM site at http://www.rcmmagazine.com/issues/re...tjw8ZYfk00R4c1 then scroll down until you find Wing Jig Mark2

I have used one of the features of this jig. The top cramp has a notch at the LE to retain one of the rods, the TE is left un-notched to allow any size ribs. All the support blocks are therefore the same thickness, which is easier than notching all tthese lower blocks!
This photo shows this more clearly. and if you compare it with the previous photo you can see the TE rod is moved further in but the LE rod is still located in the notch.