The Armour Archive

Alright, impatient ones Here's the link to CBA's Winding/Cutting Rig:
http://www.geocities.com/podpix/jig.html

Its fairly graphic intensive. Clicking on the pictures will get a larger version of that pic to come up.

Thanks go to CBA for all his hard work and thorough explanations.

If anyone wants a HUGE pic of one of these pictures, go to http://www.geocities.com/podpix/rig and click on each one. I left them fairly large in file size but not humongous in physical size so you can take it into a photo-editing program and zoom in with some clarity on certain parts.

I think a pic of the actual ring when it is cut with a saw would be nice, but there are plenty of those available online, so I'll can it CBA, does it really take you 8 minutes to cut through a coil that size? How fast is your drill (RPMs)? Is it just because the rings are a bear to cut or is it because of the speed of the drill.

Enjoy!

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Keep the Faith

I've made up something similar. The major difference: Instead of a side mounted drill for cutting, I used a circular saw riding on top of the mandrel-box. Built right, the mandrel IS the cutting jig. Another note - when cutting, I found it useful to have a slot cut into the winding dowel (Easier on your cut-off wheel). Drill a couple holes and make a lockpin to set that slot vertical when cutting. And finally, I never did decide whether it was better to relax the spring before cutting or not. Both ways have their bonuses.
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Brennan

Wouldn't the spring be in a relaxed state after the first cut anyway?

I have a similar thing, but only use 2 blocks on either end of the rod, with c-clamps to hold them on the bench, then I can use whatever length of mandrel I want.



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Peter Cauchy

Interesting.

It has given me some ideas to fiddle with.


Sasha
Riverforge

how well does that cutting disk work? how much use do you get out of it before it is useless? Can we see a pic of the links after they are cut, because I'd like to see the gap that the disk makes in an individual link...thanks =)

the cutoff disk makes a pretty small slit... not as good as cutting with pliers, but still good.

PoD, you should put a name on there, of some sort... we all know who did it, but joe maillemaker stumbing accross it won't...
--tom

Good point Garridan. I have done so

I don't have photo's, but: I switched to the cutoff wheel to get a better cut (speed and ease being nice boni). I had used the mini-bolt cutters, and they deformed my rings too greatly. It really depends on the wheel you get. The thinner the wheel, the thinner the cut, but the sooner the wheel will wear. I believe I ended up with a 1/16" wheel, but you can get 1/32" wheels for air cutoff tools. Those adapt better to a drill than a circular saw. My wheels held up fairly well, cetainly thousands of rings cut. Cutting the links with a slitted dowel made all the difference. You cut completely through the rings with no lip left, and no risk of grinding into the dowel each cut.
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Brennan

On my setup at home, I've got the 1/32" cut off wheel ready to cut through some rings. Haven't had wire (but will this weekend) but once I try it out and it works, I'll take a couple small orders (coifs, mantles). I'll post my results before anything is official though...

hail, PoD! Nice Job!
And Death to the Magic Cat's Ass!!!

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Magmaforge
"To Armour is to live"

wow, that looks so much easier than my method.
i've got the ultimate in lo-tech going, i drilled a hole in a piece of steel dowel, i clamp the dowel in the vice, stick the end of my wire through it, and and start to wind by hand, then i cut it with a hacksaw, i figure i can make about 100 linksan hour, it's pretty sad. maybe i should invest in a new hacksaw blade. or better yet,, make myself one of those thingys.

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What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:

PoD..
You are a most Righteous Bro' for Hosting this.

As I've mentioned before, this was Built by my father, but no need to add his name to the site, as it is also Richard Croteau

( Real original guy my dad . He can design and build this in two days but when it came to naming me he had to look at his drivers license. HAHA)

ALL of the other variations discussed in other peoples posts were kicked around by Us but we were going for a combination of the following

1) Effectiveness,
2) Simplicity
3) Safety.. ( My 14 year old son, NOT named Rich, is also using it on weekends when he visits.
4) Low Cost
5) Ease of replacing parts.

PoD, I can't beleive you already built one.
No, on second thought, I told you you could knock one out in an hour or two.

Let us know how it works for you. ( It'd be nice to get some "validation"

Everyone.. Don't forget to drill the brackets to the diameter of the rod you'll be using.
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Brennan
New Member posted 02-15-2001 01:55 PM

I found it useful to have a slot cut into the winding dowel (Easier on your cut-off wheel).

......................................

Brennan, No Sh*t?! There's one we missed,
Time to get the old man working on the Mark II Version.

Brennan You should also post pictures of your set up.

Well, Thanks all, Hope some people get some use.

Again, thanks to PoD for helping me finally post something of substance.

[CBA, does it really take you 8 minutes to cut through a coil that size? How fast is your drill (RPMs)? Is it just because the rings are a bear to cut or is it because of the speed of the drill.



[/B][/QUOTE]

PoD,

1) They're 14 gage Galvy
2) The Drill is a $40 1200 rpm Black n Decker

3) It takes less than 8 minutes NOW , like all equipment , even something as simple as this, you need a week or 2 to "get into the zone"
I'd estimate maybe 5 min.

4) Like I said, anyone wanting to do 16 gage at a 3/8 or 5/16 ID will have a lotta "fun"

I ran about 50' of 16 gu brass wire on this one, just to see how it would work, and to paraphrase George C Scott in Patton,

" It goes through 16 ga like shit through a goose!"

Got any guesses on how many 16ga rings it'll cut in an hour.

I'm currently at about 6000-8000/hour while watching tv. And getting // cuts with no curf.

Something elce you might consider is winding 2 wires at once. This way you end up with all preopened rings that are opened exactly the right amount to be put together.

Also on your winding rig you've got all the parts to make the sideways controll of the wire while coiling automatic. You just gotta add something to the dowel the cutting drill goes onto.

Also for those who don't want to buy two drills (I use a $300 drill but it'll wind a quarter mile of wire in under an hour.)use pipe clamps (the screw on kind) to attach the drill. That way you can just undo the clamp and switch places. Obviously you wouldn't switch on a coil by coil basis. Wind for an hour and cut for two type of thing.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

[This message has been edited by Mad Matt (edited 02-16-2001).]

Also the addition of a sewing machine foot pedal to the winding drill allows the person guiding the wire to also controll the drill.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Matt, I don't get it?

How could you put all of thoses "technical advancements" into it without creating a mess or being a Mechanical Engineer ?

Well, I spent all yesterday making maille at a neaby towns 'festivale', feeling like a total fraud when a local blacksmith told me it was good to see people keeping these 'skills' alive.
Turned on the net today, and there's this!
I rang both the other maille makers I know and told them all about it, while jumping up and down in excitement.
Must have been the hours I spent with the cutters the other day that make this seem like a gift from heaven.