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Joined: April 2, 2012
Posts: 8
Submissions: 1
Location: Fargo, ND, USA
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| Stainless Steel |
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| Posted on Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:29 am |
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| Anyone have an idea on how hard it is to wrap Stainless Steel wire yourself? looking at making rings, but all I've worked with is plain aluminum, am i going to have significant problems/difficulty with it? looking at about 16 AWG on a 1/4" rod. |
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Joined: October 22, 2010
Posts: 311
Submissions: 242
Location: Madison, WI
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| Posted on Wed Apr 04, 2012 11:11 am |
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it depends how your are wrapping it. i recommend using a wire tension device to give you the tension you need to coil stainless steel. this discussion and pictures might be helpful for you:
http://www.mailleartisans.org/board/viewtopic.php?t=17114
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Joined: July 23, 2006
Posts: 2132
Submissions: 95
Location: Standish, Michigan, USA
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| Posted on Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:06 pm |
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It also depends on the wire gauge and temper of the wire you're coiling. Some people use various coiling rigs or try and power wind the coil. When I've used stainless I've just hand coiled and it can be quite difficult depending on the wire's temper. If you choose to power wind, be careful not to get your face whip-lashed by the wire or your fingers stuck in the coil.
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losthelm
 [ Grand Master Speaker ]
Joined: July 25, 2008
Posts: 603
Submissions: 0
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| Posted on Thu Apr 05, 2012 4:38 pm |
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stainless has a lot more springback, so the rings can be a little oversized expecialy on AR sensative weaves like JPL.
power winding can be a little perilous if you have not addressed the safty concerns.
guiding the wire by hand is a bad idea,
lots of tension can build up in the coil,
the end of the wire can whip around once your at the end of your wire
This is expecialy true if your useing a drill without speed control.
The peril can be minamized with a few jigs and fictures.
cutting stainless is also hard the cutting tools. |
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Konstantin the Red
[ Ancient Forge ]
Joined: March 27, 2002
Posts: 2900
Submissions: 1
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| Posted on Thu Apr 12, 2012 6:00 am |
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In that wire thickness and mandrel diameter, you won't experience problems winding SS wire. You will get stiffer, greater springback as Lostie said, which will slightly enlarge your links' ID.
The experience of it will be quite different from the near-leadlike softness of aluminum wire, but you will soon be used to that. If you are hand-winding, don't let go of your crank handle or it will swat you hard. Take off spring tension under control.
'The Minstrel Boy to the War is gone...' |
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ldemrys
 [ Ringlet ]
Joined: November 01, 2006
Posts: 11
Submissions: 4
Location: Texas, Arizona, California
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Joined: December 22, 2007
Posts: 3600
Submissions: 99
Location: Hampton, Virginia USA
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| Posted on Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:14 am |
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I hand-wind all my rings, including stainless steel. Yes, you have to expect stainless to have more springback than other wires, but it can be done if you are careful.
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Crimmy
 [ Ringlet ]
Joined: April 17, 2012
Posts: 9
Submissions: 0
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| Posted on Sun Apr 29, 2012 11:32 pm |
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| Hand wind stainless too myself, make sure your wearing a glove and protect your eyes if your cutting with pliers, if you accidentally cut all the way through the ring will ping off in any direction at some speed |
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Dinwar
[ Major Voice ]
Joined: September 26, 2009
Posts: 403
Submissions: 0
Location: Meridies
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| Posted on Sun May 06, 2012 5:28 pm |
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I use Harbor Freight's stainless, and haven't had too many problems with it. Burned through the first container just to get the feel for it--I knew I wasn't going to make anything impressive, or even all that good, with it, so I just played around until my hands learned how to handle the material. There's a learning curve, to be sure, but it's not that bad.
Though I do tend to stab myself a bit more often than I like. But that's just me--as my dad puts it, my family bleeds well. As long as you watch where your hands are, you should be fine. |
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WhizzleWorks
[ Ringlet ]
Joined: May 30, 2012
Posts: 10
Submissions: 0
Location: Harbor City, Ca.
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| Posted on Thu May 31, 2012 7:32 am |
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I use a drill motor with the size madrel I need and hold the tension with my left hand while my right hand controls the drill.
I have this chunk of wood with a couple of small holes drilled through it to help feed the last foot or so of wire so my hand doesn't get pecked by the wire when it un-springs.
Most of the time though I feed off a spool so I don't even bother with the wood chunk. |
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Joined: May 07, 2008
Posts: 3490
Submissions: 147
Location: Germany, Herxheim
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| Posted on Thu May 31, 2012 12:51 pm |
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WhizzleWorks: Principally I use your method as well - BUT I'd never omit a rig, that protects my hands, and produces consistent results. WHAT I use my left hand for, is sometimes giving the wire a bit extra tension, by using a scrap leather strip (but NOT a glove), that can be released if it should get snagged - that did not yet happen, but I'm prepared for that possibility. My basic rule when working with rotating power tools is to avoid gloves, long loose sleeves, dangling jewellery, long hair in the possible vicinity of rotating parts. I have seen already so many accidents (and had such one myself, long before I became a mailler), that I have become very cautious. When coiling steel I tend to omit the left-hand-tensioning at all - my wire feed spools have a spring-loaded tensioning brake...
-ZiLi-
Maille Code V2.0 T6.5 R5.6 Ep Fper Mfe.s Ws$ Cpbsw$ G0.4-3.5 I1.6-16.0 N28.25 Pj Dacdejst Xagtw S08 Hi
Human societies are like chain mail.
A single link will be worth nothing.
A chain is of use, but will break at the weakest link.
A weak weave will have the need to replace weak links.
A strong weave will survive even with weak links included.
-'me |
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WhizzleWorks
[ Ringlet ]
Joined: May 30, 2012
Posts: 10
Submissions: 0
Location: Harbor City, Ca.
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| Posted on Thu May 31, 2012 4:25 pm |
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| I forgot to say that I do coil my wire at about 5-8 sec. an inch. I take my time, the bad things tend to happen when I go way too fast. |
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Joined: May 07, 2008
Posts: 3490
Submissions: 147
Location: Germany, Herxheim
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| Posted on Thu May 31, 2012 4:37 pm |
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Speed doesn't matter much, imho - Bad things happen also if you go slow, just MAYBE a bit less likely. I prefer inherent setup safety. And I'd like to remind you to read MAIL's disclaimer - just scroll down to the page's bottom.
But in short it's 'Better safe than sorry'.
-ZiLi-
Maille Code V2.0 T6.5 R5.6 Ep Fper Mfe.s Ws$ Cpbsw$ G0.4-3.5 I1.6-16.0 N28.25 Pj Dacdejst Xagtw S08 Hi
Human societies are like chain mail.
A single link will be worth nothing.
A chain is of use, but will break at the weakest link.
A weak weave will have the need to replace weak links.
A strong weave will survive even with weak links included.
-'me |
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WhizzleWorks
[ Ringlet ]
Joined: May 30, 2012
Posts: 10
Submissions: 0
Location: Harbor City, Ca.
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| Posted on Fri Jun 01, 2012 6:27 am |
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I think when you are winding coils at 400 rpms on the drill motor as opposed to 50 rpms, things just happen a lot faster and there isn't enough time to pull your finger away.
The same reason that you don't use gloves is the same reason I stopped using leather scrap. The scrap got sucked into the weave a few times and at that point it wasn't worth it to have my fingers follow it.
When I work in heavier gauge stainless and galvy wire I do use a chunk of hardwood to tension and guide the wire and that keeps my digits well away from harm. |
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Joined: May 07, 2008
Posts: 3490
Submissions: 147
Location: Germany, Herxheim
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| Posted on Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:46 am |
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WhizzleWorks: Sorry that I have to oppose your opinion. I know for sure, that only an inherently safe setup allows to work safe.
My type of coiler setup provides that inherent safety, as far as possible - Leather (that is only sometimes used by me, but most times not at all) cannot be sucked onto the coil there, and I CAN let it loose if it should get snagged by an open wire end, a kink in the wire or so. And yes, I had already such potentially threatening wire ends, even on factory delivered spools, where two wire lengths were drilled together. And I had cases where wire broke at a kink, producing a scalpel-sharp hook. A glove cannot provide sufficient safety for these cases. And wire whip should also be dealt with by use of a setup that can stand the beating but protects the hands - and not by use of gloves, that might protect the hands from the worst impact. See that my coiler is a solid chunk of steel, providing mandrel support, wire guiding, and protection by its ability to stand abuse.
I know only, that during the last four years I power-coiled around a quarter to half metric ton of different wire types from soft copper to full-hard spring steel wire into coils - and had not the slightest injury; not a single drop of blood, and not even the slightest bruise. That should be proof enough.
Please, NEVER sacrifice safety for convenience or the need for a minimal investment in proper tools. Do yourself a favor, and invest into a proper coiler setup - and btw: as welcome side effect your coil diameter consistency will also be increased.
-ZiLi-
Maille Code V2.0 T6.5 R5.6 Ep Fper Mfe.s Ws$ Cpbsw$ G0.4-3.5 I1.6-16.0 N28.25 Pj Dacdejst Xagtw S08 Hi
Human societies are like chain mail.
A single link will be worth nothing.
A chain is of use, but will break at the weakest link.
A weak weave will have the need to replace weak links.
A strong weave will survive even with weak links included.
-'me |
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