You gotta be kidding me!

I decided that I need an incidence meter so that I can ensure I get the engine, wing, and tail of my larger planes at 0-0-0 when I build.  So I went online to buy one.  I checked Tower and they had the Robart incidence meter (https://www.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXET66).  $36.99 plus shipping, when it gets off of back order.  Checking Horizon showed the E-Flight incidence meter (https://www.horizonhobby.com/anglepro-ii-5-in-1-digital-throw-incidence-meter-efla280).  $59.99 plus shipping, but at least it was in stock.  Ridiculous.

So, I decided to draw out my own and build it.  I jotted down some numbers and then took a $2.00 stick of 3/8” x 36” spruce and some scrap ply from the junk box to make my own.  The spruce piece was cut to make a 24” stick that the two plates will slide on.  The stick will be sandwiched top and bottom by two 6” pieces of spruce cut from the stick and glued to the scrap plywood plate.  Here’s the drawing and the ply plate with lines sketched on it.





Here, the top piece of spruce is glued to the top of the meter plate.




Then the slide stick is sandwiched between the upper piece and the lower piece of spruce to make things nice and tight for gluing the bottom piece.  The lower piece gets thin CA on the bottom side, and the middle stick is removed and the other side of the lower piece gets hit with more thin CA.





Next, I sawed down the middle at the top and bottom to prepare for the final piece being glued on and getting ready to separate the two halves.




And the final piece of ply glued on top to close out the box section that will slide on the 24” piece of spruce.




The two halves separated:




Next a couple of bubble levels from the Dollar Store.  One removed from the plastic housing and glued to the 24” spruce stick, and the other alongside to verify they are level with each other.




And the two slide pieces after sanding to shape and coating with a layer of thin CA for a finish.  I can clamp a wing with a wing chord of up to 26” 21".  Somehow I doubt I’ll ever need that much.  I’m figuring a probable max of 10” at most.





Total cost was about $5.00 for the project using scrap and Dollar Store components and about three hours of time.  

The Penny Pincher Mark