Making the Ringbolts - an introduction to metalsmith works

Roger Pellett said:
Here’s a post for an alternate method for making TINY ringbolts:

The main deck of the Lake Freighter model that I am building is pierced by six hatches. Each hatch is covered with 12 wooden hatch covers and each hatch cover has two ringbolts for handling by the deckhands. That’s a total of 144 ringbolts. Adding a few to be sacrificed to the floor gods means that over 150 are required. The original builder’s shows that the diameter of the ringbolt’s ring to be 6”. Or to scale, 1/16.” After sourcing materials, I settled on a ring of 1/32” internal diameter made from .010” diameter steel wire resulting in an outside diameter of .052” or .010” under scale. Close enough!

Here’s my system for making these:

I made a jig from Aluminum bar stock. (First Photo). Solder does not bond to Aluminum. A slot in one end guides the wire feeding from a spool. The spool is fastened to a block of wood with a screw that can be tightened to provide some resistance. There are three drilled holes in the bar- the first holds a mandrel made from a piece of 1/32” MIG Aluminum welding wire. The second, a piece of small diameter wire and the third, a tapered plug. To use, a piece of wire is pulled from the spool, wrapped around the mandrel, threaded behind the second, pulled snug, and secured by the tapered plug in the hole. (Second Photo).

With the ring still on the mandrel, it is soldered. For this I used .010” diameter soft solder and a small electric soldering iron. The ringbolts was then cut from the jig and trimmed with a flush wire cutter. The ring and its tail was bent to its final shape with ordinary pliers, The third photo shows the finished product. At this scale there was no need to make a separate ring and eyebolt.

To use, the ringbolt was inserted into a drilled hole in the hatch cover. The ring was bent against the cover, and the tail against the backside of the cover. The bent tail was secured with a blob of Duco Cement. Fourth Photo.

Roger

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Thank you. I'm using something similar suggested by @Jimsky
 
At then1:96 scale that I am working to, the 6”:diameter ring scales to 1/16”. Too small for using Jimsky’s system. These hatch ringbolts often appear way overscale, especially on kit built models.

Roger
 
Ted Robinson said:
Beautiful work. I'm looking for a reasonable source for silver solder paste.
All the reviews I found say the tube is 90% empty new.
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Greetings, Ted. Silver solder paste is sold by weight. If you buy only 1/4 troy ounce (a common measurement) then it is true that the tube is mostly empty. You get precisely the amount you paid for.
 
Ted Robinson said:
Beautiful work. I'm looking for a reasonable source for silver solder paste.
All the reviews I found say the tube is 90% empty new.
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Paul beat me on the responding post. ;)

The silver tubes (syringes) came new more than half empty. This is normal, this is the way they sell silver paste everywhere. This is because the product is quite expensive and a full syringe would cost more than $100. Also if don't use it for a long time it will be dry. The paste comes in three major hardness: Easy - will melt very fast, Medium, and Hard (you will need more heat to start melting this solder.
 
Just getting a chance to read this post from way back when on the metal work.

A lot of the soldering info I knew from my work on electronics in the past, but metal work is different is many ways.

All my soldering work in past has been with electric stick soldering irons, trying this new flame method will take some practice for sure.

Jim in your copied statement below, would this be from first hand experience that you tell us.

"Fanny that the above article didn't mention jewelry manufacturing, only electronics, and plumbing. Before we will get to the actual soldering process, a word of caution: Make sure you fully understand you will deal with an open flame. Please remove all parts from the table which may accidentally cause a fire."
 
Kurt Konrath said:
Jim in your copied statement below, would this be from first hand experience that you tell us.

"Fanny that the above article didn't mention jewelry manufacturing, only electronics, and plumbing. Before we will get to the actual soldering process, a word of caution: Make sure you fully understand you will deal with an open flame. Please remove all parts from the table which may accidentally cause a fire."
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Nope, this is not my first hand, I used to work as a jeweler (a long time ago), and safety precautions we've learned before learning the torch. A butane torch is something I used first, as jewelers, we use oxygen/propane torches. I do like it more as you have more flame control for soldering different parts. However, at the complex where I live, it will be dangerous to keep compressed oxygen, also... it is PINA to have to replace the tank with oxygen once it is empty.

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Kurt Konrath said:
Just getting a chance to read this post from way back when on the metal work.

A lot of the soldering info I knew from my work on electronics in the past, but metal work is different is many ways.

All my soldering work in past has been with electric stick soldering irons, trying this new flame method will take some practice for sure.

Jim in your copied statement below, would this be from first hand experience that you tell us.

"Fanny that the above article didn't mention jewelry manufacturing, only electronics, and plumbing. Before we will get to the actual soldering process, a word of caution: Make sure you fully understand you will deal with an open flame. Please remove all parts from the table which may accidentally cause a fire."
Click to expand...
That's right, I was anealing some wire and noticed I signed my table edge
 
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