"Holding it all together" Fittings & Ferrules for Kites.

Holding it all together.
I make my own fittings 90% of the time.
Most of the bits and pieces I use aren't available of the shelf.
And those that are can not be obtained locally.
In a city like Melbourne with a population of 4 million people you think there would be a speciality kite shop......there's not!
So its either a 2-3 week wait from an OS supplier or make it myself.
This has led to some strange and innovative ways of putting a kite together.  

Being a tool room machinist in a past career has helped with making and designing of many of the fittings.

M4 or M5  nylon bolts are often used.

I like to use acetal as it is the easiest of the plastics to machine accurately.

I purchased a myford lathe 20yrs ago....Its paid for itseld 10x over.

These fittings are what I use in a BoF delta kite. It gives gives me adjust-ability of the spreader bar, so the wing drop can be altered for different conditions.This kite has flown without problems for many hours.

Fitting for a Marconi Kite

One of the difficulties of making fittings is getting the hole to the correct diameter. Here an adjustable reamer is used to increase the hole a few thousands of an inch ......the difference between a good and a bad fit. 

"Marconi Kite" a Cliff Quinn design

Parts for a spool winder with brake mechanism.

Not a kite fittings but one of my other interests is horology (clock making)

All the wheel, pinions & trundles represent over 300 hrs work.

" Grasshopper Clock" by W.R Smith Ongoing construction by Trevor Reeves
These were started the day my son George was born....13 years ago.  One of them is a future 21st Birthday present for him......guess I better get them finished.....as time rolls on.