Making eyebolts, some experiments

[Modeler12]

In an earlier thread we discussed making eye-bolts by twisting the wire using a thin brat held in a pinvise. 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/6185-in-need-of-very-thin-steel-wire-0010-inch-or-less/?hl=eyebolts#entry182571

 

That led me to try different types of wire and hooks. I wanted to see the results and which would be the best to use to make in large quantities. I also wanted to see what the eye size and shaft diameters were and see how that relates to actual full scale sizes. Can I make them consistently of an acceptable shape?

 

The wires I used were as follows: 

Soft steel at a diameter of 0.010 inches

Brass at a diameter of 0.013 inches

Soft steel at a diameter of 0.015 inches

Brass at a diameter of 0.016 inches

The brass was semi hard and I did not anneal them. They came from a craft store and probably had a polymer coating. The steel was bare and very malleable. 

 

I used hooks of three diameters: 0.022 inch, 0.035 inch and 0.047 inch.

I twisted about ten of each wire size around most of the hooks and measured the eye and shaft diameters. Some of them are shown in the pictures below.

 

However, here is a brief description of the results:
 

1. The shaft diameters were a few thousands of inch smaller than two times the wire diameter. For example, using the 0.010 inch wire, the shafts were all between 0.018 and 0.019 inches.

2. The eye diameters were a few thousands of inch larger than the hook diameter.

3. The thicker wires were more difficult to twist and not very uniform.

 

Let's consider the scale. For a model scaled at 1:64 the actual eye diameters would have been about 1.5 inches, 2.3 inches and 3.2 inches. The last one is getting pretty big.

The wires would scale to 0.6 inches, 0.8 inches, 1.0 inches and 1.0 inches rounded off. The first two seem reasonable.

 

Because of this and the relative sizes of wire and eye I will be making more using the thin steel wire with the small hook and the .013 inch brass using the medium size hook (0.035 inch). All of these will be blackened. Meanwhile I will also order some brass wire at a diameter of 0.0073 inches to make even smaller eye-bolts.