Tim Flyer Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 (edited) I thought I would share photos of the balancing jig I just finished . It was inspired by one of Rons earlier posts and as I had just finished building a DB Spitfire I needed something steady to balance it on . This should work for any models I envisage building. Weight is not a problem on this unit as it is heavy duty with 13mm aluminium tubing sleeving the pivot bolts and 10mm ID bearings. It was built from some solid wood shelving off cuts, 3mm and 4mm ply and a couple of old bike suspension ball race bearings , plus a few other bits I had lying about in the workshop. The balancing arms are made from laminated 3mm ply with 4mm flat top surface. The top will be covered with foam strip after painting to help protect the wings when in use. The unit is very adjustable with removable slot in legs, and long m8 Threaded rods which run in brass sleeved holes in the wooden side panels. The side panels can be turned either way round . It folds away almost flat so requires little space After varnishing I will stick the self adhesive measuring tape to each arm so the balancing point can be easily read. Edited November 10, 2021 by Tim Flyer 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 Looks very neat, Tim, and beats a pair of fingers under (or on top of) the wings. The only mod I'd suggest might be a pair of sliding verticals to butt up to the wing l/e with a pointer to the measuring tape but not really essential. Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 Very nice job Tim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Flyer Posted November 10, 2021 Author Share Posted November 10, 2021 Cheers chaps it will save my fingertips going through the sheeting hopefully. I might possibly make some sliding verticals for measuring . If I do that I will also need to add a moving counterbalance for each one in order to retain accuracy. That’s why so far I haven’t done it … but it wouldn’t be too hard to add them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Flyer Posted November 12, 2021 Author Share Posted November 12, 2021 Here is the finished picture with the tapes on 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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