sitsinhedges Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 My pigeon magnet is home made with 6mm steel rods for arms. I'm wondering if there is a better alternative available such as fibreglass or carbon fibre to buy or make. Any ideas??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 I have tried fibre glass tent poles with a sixteen foot dia but they tended to whip with the weight of real birds but they would work well with decoy birds. I have also made extension square section steel bars which fit on the exsisting arms and increase the dia but have only used them once as they did not seem to make any difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 (edited) My pigeon magnet is home made with 6mm steel rods for arms. I'm wondering if there is a better alternative available such as fibreglass or carbon fibre to buy or make. Any ideas??? Why are you looking for alternatives? do you find the 6mm rod too flexible or heavy etc? Edited September 14, 2015 by aga man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted September 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 I have tried fibre glass tent poles with a sixteen foot dia but they tended to whip with the weight of real birds but they would work well with decoy birds. I have also made extension square section steel bars which fit on the exsisting arms and increase the dia but have only used them once as they did not seem to make any difference. I'm not too bothered about making them longer, just lighter and a bit more flexible. Steel always seems to shine thru the painted surface in places too. Why are you looking for alternatives? do you find the 6mm rod too flexible or heavy etc? Steel can be heavy and is always shiny where the paint rubs off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Oh i see what you mean. My homemade arms are made of 10mm mild steel tube, which is suprisingly light but has no flex so is rigid. The cradle that holds the bird is attached to some 8mm solid rod[8" roughly] which inserts into the 10mm tube. A homemade adjuster at each end completes the arm. I leave the new steel outside to rust for a day or two then spray over with normal grey primer which seem to stop the shine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 I'm not too bothered about making them longer, just lighter and a bit more flexible. Steel always seems to shine thru the painted surface in places too. Steel can be heavy and is always shiny where the paint rubs off. My square section arms are covered with green garden twine which has faded and stops all shine , the round section is sprayed when it needs it with black mat often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deny essex Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 I have made steel and fibre glass composite arms, normal round or square to the motor then a short steel section as the male fitting to the motor section that has a 6 mm fibre glass composite arm end epoxy'd into it. The bird mount in my case was ridged glass fibre wings permanently attached to the end section and slotted shell decoys slipped over them when in use. If real birds are to be used obviously the glass fibre arms would need to be beefed up and sized to accept the birds weight I would imagine.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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