Speaking of Snap Rings -- Music Wire

I have never been able to make a nice groove in a round piece with a dremel, it grabs and cuts an arc, and with music wire (how thick?) the wire would be bending a bit, too.

If you have a straight shot at the end you could make a small toolholder that fits over the end of the wire, maybe bottoms out, and has a cutter that you advance with a screw, almost like a tubing cutter but with a small parting tool, or a collar with a setscrew but the setscrew advances a parting tool.

Dave

Works on my backhoe, no reason it can't on your model airplanes...of course I use thicker snap-rings on the hoe on bigger parts, but that is essentially how I cut them in-situ when needed.

For a "fixture" try a section or two of plastic tubing that fits snugly over the wire to register the cutting wheel against (or between, with two.) It will wear a bit, but should be better than pure freehand. Or rig up a deal with a hole that you stick the end through and then turn the bent-up wire as a crank to rotate it against a jigged disk.

It's 1/8" diameter, and I was thinking of something along the lines of your toolholder idea.

I would say you could sell such an item... there's a good need in the RC industry for a reasonable way to cut a nice C-clip groove in, say, a 5mm ground motor shaft.

Dave

Make a jig with a hole for the wire. Cut a slot in it to position the wheel. Rotate the wire while the wheel cuts.

Even a very shallow groove would lock a push nut style retainer.

or maybe a pretty version

I've put snap ring/E-clip grooves in a lot of pins down to ~5mm by mounting the pin in the vertical lathe (drill press) and cutting the groove with a mini hacksaw. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

That should work -- I have trouble trusting glue, but that's a me problem, not a glue problem.

I would use an abrasive cutoff disk in my Dremel, very carefully.

Have you seen these clips before?

Specifically this one (McMaster links don't always work right):

or search on item #94824A100. These are for 4mm shafts, maybe too big but may give you some other ideas. They also have crimp on clips like ##90102A011.

Another off-the-wall idea is to try using bicycle wheel spokes. They are around 1/8 inch and already come with a threaded end. An old spoke nut works pretty good to use as a crimp-on too. I've used same to crimp on bicycle cables to stop the end from fraying.

Actually I think the 90153A212 looks better.

I have never seen a bicycle wheel spoke that was 1/8" in diameter. They're more like 14 or 16 gauge. Motorcycle spokes, maybe.

My bad, I measured a bicycle spoke, ~.085 and a quick search found only

14 gauge max. Motorcycle I have now doesn't have spokes like that but they are quite a bit bigger.

Your in the best position to judge, but I was afraid that clip could possibly catch on things like weeds and maybe pop off. I've used some of those #94824A100 clips before and I don't think they would come off unintentionally.

That's a good point that I hadn't considered. Most competition stunt flying is done off of paved circles, but nearly all of my practice flying is done off of grass (well, short weeds).

Bear in mind that Jaguars and Ferraris used to come with wire wheels too.

So, I made some grooves by hand with the Dremel tool, and hand made a couple of hairpin clips. We'll see how it works.

Were you able to retain any semblance of a sharp shoulder? Didja mount the Dremel, build a jig, and just rotate the spokes into the cutter, or try to freehand it?

-- In an industrial society which confuses work and productivity, the necessity of producing has always been an enemy of the desire to create. -- Raoul Vaneigem

I've become terribly frugal of late and I'm sure that is what I would have done too. If I happened to stumble upon some of the other options suggested (clips, rings, doo-dads...) I would probably snatch them up with this use in mind.

It occurred to me after one of my previous posts that those "hub-caps" you were eying would probably protect the clip from getting inadvertently snagged/removed too.

D'oh, d'oh, d'oh.

I was showing my landing gear to a guy at a fun-fly yesterday, and he said "just sweat-solder some brass tubing with the right ID onto that, drill a hole in the end, and use a little cotter pin".

D'oh.

--There's a simpler way to do it but I don't know the proper name for the part. Basically it's a jam-fit washer; it's got little fins on the i.d. that bend to grip the shaft it's slid onto. Very hard to remove but very easy to install and they're really cheap. You can probably get 'em at an auto parts store.

Idea being the tubing is fairly easy to drill compared to the music wire?

I was at a new-years day fly Sunday, some folks got up before the wind got too nuts (was gusting above 20 when I arrived).

Dave