Making the Ringbolts - an introduction to metalsmith works

For those in Australia, this website has silver solder paste in syringes (size not given) - very easy, easy, medium and hard. Cost is $18.35 plus $4.95 postage. The supplier appears to be local. I've not dealt with them, nor do I have any interest in them.

silversmithingtools.com.au

Silver Solder Paste Syringe Extra Easy Medium Hard Soldering Jewellery Sterling - SILVERSMITHING TOOLS

For 925 Sterling Silver, 999 Fine Silver, White metals
silversmithingtools.com.au silversmithingtools.com.au

Another one https://www.gemcuts.com.au/euro-tools-silver-solder-paste. More expensive at $33.50, size is given as 7.75gms.

Cheers
Richard
 
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John, support has not given me an answer yet, I find it annoying that I can't enter country and city when I register delivery address.
Jim, what does your account look like with this provider, you registered, New York USA, when you registered.
Just wondering-
 
Norway said:
Jim, what does your account look like with this provider, you registered, New York USA, when you registered.
Just wondering-
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Hello Knut, I bought 'as the guest' (didn't register). I dig a bit more pretending that I want to register, and found, that they don't ship internationally. Only to the countries below:

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Jim, exactly the same as when I signed up.
I thought I had to be registered to book on this site, I will try to book as a guest as you did.
Thanks-
 
Norway said:
Jim, exactly the same as when I signed up.
I thought I had to be registered to book on this site, I will try to book as a guest as you did.
Thanks-
Click to expand...
Hello Knut, I am afraid, this online store will not ship their goods to Norway, even if you will try to purchase as the guest. The attached counties list - is where they will ship to.
 
Jim, support has responded, and they say they will come back with a response later, well, I was at least heard, we'll see what happens.
 
Hi Jimsky, excellent tutorial, thanks a lot.

I think that in one way or the other we all use the same process with small variations.

I use iron (black iron) instead of steel, much easier to work with, harder than brass but at the same time soft enough to bend easily

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This wire is by far the best I found to make bolts, but they only have it on .5mm 1mm e 1.2mm.

But I have a good supply of brass and iron wire that I collected along the time and is now brought to good use

Regards

JL
 
hello JL (@Dicas) Thank you for the nice comments. And yes, you are correct, we are technically doing the same way, but with different approach. I'd like to try this wire. Can you suggest online portal where you bought this iron wire?
 
On annealing steel and brass -

In the case of ferrous metals, such as steel, annealing is performed by heating the material (generally until glowing) for a while and then slowly letting it cool to room temperature in still air. Copper, silver and brass can be either cooled slowly in air, or quickly by quenching in water.[1] In this fashion, the metal is softened and prepared for further work such as shaping, stamping, or forming.

EJ
 
Jimsky said:
A bolt fitted with a ring through its eye, used for securing, running, rigging, etc. - called Ringbolt

Greetings folks. This type of ship element freely available thru many different model builder suppliers, and included with every kit. For the most part, they are OK to use 'as is', but... some could be oversized\undersized for the given scale. This dilemma can be easily overcome by fabricating our own, from scratch! It is not that difficult and doesn't require power tools. So...
There many ways to make ringbolts and each of us has its own taste and preference. I will show one of the ways I like most. IMHO they look pretty authentic on the model and doesn't require a lot of effort. But you are the ones to judge... Without any fuss or delay, let's start

Depending on the scale and desk position, I use two types of wires when making ringbolts: steel and brass. Each material has its own cons and pross.
- Steele: my favorite, very strong and doesn't require blackening. The only drawback, I can NOT manage to solder it (any suggestion Welcome!!!). Because of this, I use this only as decorations and don't use for functional rigging where you need to put some pressure.
- Brass: very soft to use, can be soldered with hard solder (silver-based) but require a blackened solution to make black. Yet, I didn't archive 100% satisfaction with a blackening solution.

Today we will talk about steel ringbolts. What do we need for this exercise? Steel wire 0.50mmø for eye ring and 0.60mmø for the ring. This is inexpensive\utility wire I bought in a hardware store. It is anodized and looks bright.

We will also need two types of pliers: Flat and round nose


We also will need a soldering torch and drill bit. The wire MUST be softened using the soldering torch. Once it is cool down, we start forming an eye bolt. The picture might not be as sharp as I wanted, but this is something I will have to learn (hopefully in this world) ;)

PART1: an eye bolt

Put the 0.50mmø wire between the end tips of the round nose. Generally, this should be dictated by the inside diameter of the eyebolt. The closer to the end, the smaller the inside diameter will be.

View attachment 136045

While holding pliers and wire tight, turn the pliers (either way) to form a loop. Try to do it as a single path, so it
has not left marks. Also, make sure there is a minimum gap between the and point.

View attachment 136046

You should have similar to this

View attachment 136047

For the next step, hold the pliers close to the end loop like on the picture below. It is important pount to hold in that place, else it will not form round eye.

View attachment 136048

While holding the wire close to the loop, turn the pliers opposite direction of the loop forming

View attachment 136049

This should do it! But...if you still have a large gap and the eye-head is not round, twist opposite to close the gap. It should look like this

Hey...We just finished one of the elements of the ringbolt - an eyebolt. When it comes to repetitive work, you have to think about a process to simplify it. Hence, I cut about 10 pieces of wires by 50mm each and form an eye-bolt from both ends. I don't cut an eyebolt until the entire ringbolt completed.

View attachment 136053
​
PART 2 - Rings

Using 0.60mmø wire we form the rings. Recall, We must anneal the wire in order to make it easier to work with. Using the drill bit like the former twist (like spring) the wire.

View attachment 136056

While twisting the wire, it gets harder again. So the heat will needed to make it softer. We use a soldering torch for this

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Once it is completely cool down, it is time to cut rings. In my opinion, this is the trickiest part. While some of us prefer to use cutters, I use jewelers saw. You have to be really careful and patient. If you cut it wrong, then the ring will not form well. So what is the trick? Use the thinnest blade you have, I use 8/0 by Contenty brand. The thinnest blade, the invisible gap will be. Cut the wire spring along, releasing few rings in time. Use a toothpick dowel to hold the spring while cutting.

View attachment 136068 View attachment 136069

The results are beautiful rings the same size and most importantly clean cut. This cut is a MUST if we want to archive a nice closed-loop without the much visible gap.


Below picture just so you know what size of ringbolts we are making.

View attachment 136085

Finally, we have to pass the ring through the hole in the eyebolt and carefully close the ring. As you see on the left magnifying picture the gap is not much visible, but we can completely hide it by turning the cut into the eyebolt head (right picture)

We are almost done. The next step is to blacken it. We use heat and oil. Using the torch I heat the entire ringbolt and while it is hot put is in the oil. The result is black\metalish look


View attachment 136089 View attachment 136090

I must mention @janos for the tip using the graphite on guns. I use the graphite rub on top of the ringbolts to made them look truly metallic. But you are only the judges!!!

View attachment 136092

I hope this will be informative and help you in the future. Many thanks for the interest . Next time we will make ringbolts from brass wire, so stay tuned
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Thank you, makes it clear cut
 
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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