Cutting Welding Rods made easy?

sublimekate · July 28, 2009, 01:33:09 PM

I'm sure lots of you make your own mandrels, I'm a prolific mandrel bender so had to find a cheaper way to supply myself with straight ones and started buying bulk welding rods a while back. only problem was I struggled to find something that would get through the damn things a) easily and b) without bending them in the process (slightly defeats the object

) I've tried loads of cutters/pliers from all the usual places and all not good enough.

Anyway I put my neighbour who's in the army on the case and he came back to me yesterday with a pair of Aircraft Safety Wire Twisters/Pliers, they are fantastic, gets through them in one easy squeeze, nice and clean no bending of the tip

I found the same thing on the wonderful bay today for anyone else that's looking for something http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Safety-Wire-Twister-Locking-8-Pliers-Aircraft-Tools_W0QQitemZ320395796702QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Hand_Tools_Equipment?hash=item4a9913e0de&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1683%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Happy Cutting Kate xxxx

GlassOcean · July 28, 2009, 02:02:10 PM

Nice one Kate.

Steampunkglass · July 28, 2009, 02:42:54 PM

Cool! Would be great for nipping off the ends of bent mandrels as well - does look a complicated bit of kit though!

garishglobes · July 28, 2009, 02:53:29 PM

They do look cool.

Now, where do you get 2mm 316L wire in the UK??

sublimekate · July 28, 2009, 03:25:20 PM

Quote from: Dendrobium on July 28, 2009, 02:42:54 PM
Cool! Would be great for nipping off the ends of bent mandrels as well - does look a complicated bit of kit though!

Glenn they're not at all, you don't need to use the twisty bit, just the pliers at the end, they just get through the rods so easily, my neighbour showed me what the other bit was for but it just washed over me tbh

something to do with stopping bits falling of aeroplanes

Quote from: garishglobes on July 28, 2009, 02:53:29 PM
They do look cool.
Now, where do you get 2mm 316L wire in the UK??

I get 308L from a local welding firm, I buy it in 5kg packs. Could you tell me Emma what the '_ _ _ L' means, is it the grade of the steel? I haven't had a problem with mine but I did wonder if I'd got the right ones $:-\$

Steampunkglass · July 28, 2009, 03:39:54 PM

Apparently the 308 is the same except

Quote308L has the same analysis as type 308 except the carbon
content has been held to a maximum of .03% to reduce the possibility of intergranular carbide
precipitation.

hope that mean something to you, as it's gibberish to me! http://www.weldcotemetals.com/dataFiles/specs/tech308L.pdf

sublimekate · July 28, 2009, 03:43:25 PM

Quote from: Dendrobium on July 28, 2009, 03:39:54 PM
Apparently the 308 is the same except
Quote308L has the same analysis as type 308 except the carbon
content has been held to a maximum of .03% to reduce the possibility of intergranular carbide
precipitation.
hope that mean something to you, as it's gibberish to me! http://www.weldcotemetals.com/dataFiles/specs/tech308L.pdf

Nope gibberish to me too

but thanks

garishglobes · July 28, 2009, 03:44:44 PM

I think 316L is stainless steel and probably lasts a bit longer without getting "fatigued", particularly given the stress we put it through. The intergranular carbide precipitation presumably makes the steel weaken quicker, but I thought it was the 316 bit that was more important, strength-wise. Dunno why.

Thats my ultra-technical metallurgist's answer

Ah, the benefit of an expensive university education

Steampunkglass · July 28, 2009, 03:48:49 PM

I just realised I manged to find the differences between 308 and 308l NOT 316L and 308L! Doh!

fionaess · July 28, 2009, 04:30:22 PM

The person I buy my 1.6mm SS rods from on Ebay cuts them for me.. he used a piano wire cutter for this dia..

dinah46 · July 28, 2009, 05:00:46 PM

All my mandrels are 316l stainless steel as that was what was recommended by all the threads I found when I started buying the rods. Can't help with why it's better though.

sarah t · July 28, 2009, 06:40:59 PM

i bought a pair of these ages ago for the twisting wire bit ...which did take me a while to work out but does twist wire very nicely
but now i can use them for the cutting bit too

Zeldazog · July 28, 2009, 09:16:53 PM

My brother is a welder and works with steel, so I thought I would ask him the difference - this is what he said:

"308 and 316 are different grades of stainless steel. They have different
amounts of Chromium and Nickel (and other stuff in less quantities). The Cr
makes it more resistant to corrosion. The Ni makes it easier to work with
and weld.

The L means low carbon in the rods.

308 rods are used to weld 304 stainless (this is the most common sort we
buy). 316 stainless is welded with 316 rods and this is used for food
preparation surfaces and surgical instruments."

Zeldazog · July 28, 2009, 09:19:37 PM

So, following on from this, I have been thinking about using mandrels to create a "hole" in fused glass - I know I can use fibre paper, thin-fire rolled up/round a cocktail stick, but I was looking for something quite minimal - really, just thick enough to get wire through

Is this all I need then (And bead release of course)

pixiewillow · July 28, 2009, 09:24:32 PM

many moons ago when I used to dabble in fusing I used to glue fibre paper around a mandrel for the hole....cleans off easier than bead release