Small sleeves for rigging/turnbuckles

[Dirigible-Al]

I had an acident the other day and smashed some of the rigging and a couple of struts on one of my favourite planes, the Albatros W.4. I set about fixing it but stumbled on the sleeves above the turnbuckles. I had made turnbuckles from fuse wire and glued them into their attachment points so only the ring on the end is protruding. From there monofilament was tied from eyelet to eyelet and just above the eyelet was fitted a small sleeve.
    I simply could not remember how I made these small sleeves (and that is very embarrassing). I had 2 choices, cut off the entire rigging and start again without them or find out how the hell I made them and re do only 5 wires. I know I did not drill brass tube like I have seen elsewhere so I set about a series of experiments to replicate these.
    Finally I have it. I am quite sure this is how I did it. Turnbuckles glued in so only eyelet protrudes. PVC sleeved fine wire (the type found inside electronic devices) about 1mm diameter is cut to a length of about 4cm. The strands of fine wire inside them are then pulled out. The PVC tube/sleeve now left has one very long strand of fine wire only slightly wider than the monofilament inserted thru it. Next bit is to heat stretch it no differently to heat stretching sprue. When it goes all soft and shiny like sprue does pull it along the wire. What you get is very bubbly and uneven but some parts are just perfect, they of course do not need to be very long. It is important to cut the PVC with the wire still inside or one end of the sleeve will be crushed closed. In fact I left some inside right up to the moment before it has the monofilament threaded thru. That is how I made super fine sleeve for rigging, hope this is useful.
Alan.

[macsporran]

Interesting technique Alan, thanks for sharing.
I'll have to give that a try. I've been experimenting with heat stretched tube - plastic tubing, drinking straws, pen ink refills, etc - but none will successfully pull out to a thin diameter without dissolving into a messy goo. I used to have some success with plastic cotton buds, but you can't get them here anymore for understandable environmental reasons.
Keeping a wire inside when stretching is very thought provoking and will send me back to the test bench to try it out.
Cheers
Sandy

P.S. I wish one of the cottage industries would attempt hollow turnbuckles that you could pass mono right through then right through the wing. Desperately fine tolerances of course.

[Dirigible-Al]

Hi Sandy
You mentioned on your list of tries pen refills. The Bic type pen refil (when empty) did actually work well too but just did not go as thin as the PVC wire sleeving. I would use pen refill for bigger scale or other things like exhaust pipes.
Alan.

[WD]

Like macsporran, I too cannot get anything to stretch without either outright failure, or just becoming a mess.

WD

[Berman]

 I have polyimide tubing available in twelve inch lengths. It has a .017 inside diameter and a .019 outside diameter. Contact me if you could use this material for sleeves.
                                                 Barry
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