Who sells Titanium wing rods?

[Michael Heer]

A club member who is a scratch builder is planning on building a new glider and he is looking for a seller of titanium wing rods. If anyone out there knows a compnay that supplies different sizes of titanium wing rods, please advise. Mike:)

[Gliderguy]

At one time www.titaniumman.com had rod that could be used for wing rods. Be a good place to start anyway.


Gliderguy

[Ollie]

Small parts www.smallparts.com has 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch diameter round grade 2 titanium bars.

McMaster-Carr has an even wider selection of titanium bars. Their grade 5 titaniun is the strongest. See:
http://www.mcmaster.com/

[BMatthews]

OK, call me a trouble maker but I can't see the purpose of a titanium wing rod over steel or carbon.

Most of our gliders can easily handle the small extra mass of steel rod in the center. In fact it helps load the model up for better penetration with basically no bad side effects.

And if it's truly going to be a lightweight floater then carbon rod is lighter and probably cheaper and easier to get. And a quick swap to steel can be used for windier days for added penetration.

So it seems to me like titanium is an expensive option that sits in the middle between these two materials... Am I missing something?

AKA Devil's Advocate.... :D

[Michael Heer]

My friend requested info on Titanium wing rods. He has his reasons and I don't feel like typing ten pages to try and explain them. (And I didn't want to know why in the first place.) So I do the favor and I forwarded on the information from Ollie and Gliderguy and I am very grateful for their help. But he has his reasons...that's all I remembered. Mike

[Ollie]

BMatthews,

Good point! I think you have almost nailed the coffin shut on titanium wing rods. There may be a very slight advantage of titanium over steel in stiffness to weight ratio and there is no denying that titanium's yield characteristics are superior to carbon's brittleness. Because of its brittleness carbon should be applied with a generous safety factor.

There is no denying that a pair of over size carbon and steel joiners give you more functionality for less money. What's not to like?

[BMatthews]

Originally posted by Michael Heer
My friend requested info on Titanium wing rods. He has his reasons and I don't feel like typing ten pages to try and explain them. (And I didn't want to know why in the first place.) So I do the favor and I forwarded on the information from Ollie and Gliderguy and I am very grateful for their help. But he has his reasons...that's all I remembered. Mike

Sorry if I sounded like I was blasting away at you Mike. I was truly just wondering if I'd missed something by being away from giders for the past few years.

Since you explained it this way it's all cool but I can't help wondering if your friend is caught up in the Boutique'ness of titanium.

Ollie, I've heard about the brittlness of carbon being a problem with the winch launches and for that reason I don't think I'd ever use carbon in pure contest gliders but for electrics where the forces are so much less carbon is king IMO. Light weight and strong enough. Perhaps for a 3 peice contest glider wing I'd go carbon for the joiners but oversized as you say. But for center line joiners "Steel is Real"...:D