koningbolo

This method of making rings for chain mail is an alternative to the "traditional" use of the mini bolt cutters and uses a simple electrical side cutter to not cut but score or mark the place the consequent break will occur. The 'Score and Break' method does not require a lot of force since no actual cutting is taking place. If well practised you can make your rings without very much effort and without straining your hands and forearms. The "cut" using the 'Score and Break' method is much more straight and clean and is much more suited for making butted chain mail. Where (bolt)cutting rings from the coils leaves a v-shaped cut the score and break method leaves a straight cut and makes for a flush seem between the butted ends of the rings. This results in a much more smooth operation chain mail garment with very little snagging on the gambeson or garment of choice underneath. I have ground down the beak/tip of the side cutter to be able to go further inside the coil to able to use less force while scoring. The closer the to be scored ring can be placed towards the pivot point of the cutter the less force is required to end up with a good and deep enough score or nick. The idea for the 'Score and Break' method is certainly not mine. I got the inspiration from a gentlemen know on Youtube as Insomn. The video to his explantation of his findings regarding ring separation techniques can be found among my chainmail video n my Rumble account page. Explaining what I am doing in this video: Firstly I insert the modified ground down beak of the side cutter into the coil, place the cutting surfaces closed against the edge of the previously created end of the coil. Next I press lightly to nick or score the coil. Then I place the top jaw of the cutter between the previous end and the new nick and the lower jaw between the last en next coil and press down on the jaws to twist the ring sideways. In most cases the ring will have broken away or is ready to be rotated away very easily but sometimes (if the score was not deep or pronounced enought it can be neccesary to rotate the coil and repeat the squeezing and breaking to free the ring from the coil. Practise will detemrine the amount of force will be required to be enough to have the ring break away on the first squezzing it sideways. In this video I show you the procedure (repeatedly) using the second squeeze (which you may find you are doing for the first few dozen or so rings) but as said, you may get a feel for how much force is needed to have the ring break free on the first sideways squeeze. In this video I use 1,6 mm wide SG2 mig welding wire (the kind everybody uses to weld your garden variety sheetmetal and light construction steel (box)sections and angle iron. The wire is the thickest available on spools, the larger wires (1,8 mm and up) are sold as rods of 3-5 feet which are not really suited for chainmail manufacture (in regard to making garments that is). Hopefully this text and the video will help you trying this method. best regards.

This is me butt welding a test ring with a DIY Butt/Flash welder made from microwave oven parts. The wire used in this video is a 1,2 mm diameter SG-2 MIG Welding wire) This gauge of wire is just for the welding device's proof of concept in conjunction with the use of welding wire as the main material for chain mail (jump)rings. The welding machine is made largely from microwave oven parts. It uses a rewired Microwave Oven Transformer (MOT) as a low voltage high current power source of about 1150 W. The primairy coil is unchanged and is (as in the microwave oven) powered by 220V 50/60 Hz AC straight from the wall outlet. The original high voltage secondary coil of the MOT was removed (cut, shissled and bashed out) and replaced by a 1,5 turn 50 mm2 copper coil (insulated wire used is of an automotive origin) which delivers a 1,7 V 50/60 Hz AC open terminal voltage at about 680 A short circuit current. This current can not be measured by me but the value is a theoretical amount and should be about right. The current which will flow if a steel ring is applied is much less (in the 450/500 A range) because steel has a much higher electrical resistance about 20 times as much as copper wire of the same thickness. The device is essentially an AC resistance welder in which principle the welding heat is generated by means of running an extremely high current across a resistance area, in this case the steel wire pushed against the terminals. A welding principle similar to spot welding. The body of the machine is made with water resistant 3/4 inch plywood. The terminal mounts are heavy duty central heating radiator supports. The terminals are MIG contact tips with a v-groove filled into the tip. The cable lugs and the terminal mounts are made of copper water pipe (5/8 and 1/2 inch diameter) The device is actuated with a foot pedal and uses electronics (specifically a relay and a micro switch) salvaged from the same microwave oven. Same goes for the fan, the fuse and filter PCB and the wiring. How to use this welding machine in regards to welding rings for chain mail: First of all it is important to have open rings which are manipulated with pliers so that they are flat, the butted join/seam is closed and straight (the best you can) and the cut's surfaces are as flat as possible. This can be done by cutting the rings of the coil (with a saw or a rotating cutting disk) or by "breaking" away the rings from the coil by means of the "score, twist and break" method. I made a short video on how to do this, look for it in my Rumble accountpage. This latter method of liberating rings from a wound coil, leaves the ring with a surprisingly smooth and flat edge. The resulting seam is smoother and can be butt welded more easily and without any rings self destructing while applying the welding current. Open, uneven or pinch cut (when using a mini bolt cutter or the like) joins tend to arc (and spark) and as a consequence suffer from meld-throughs and possibly pose a fire hazard. The resulting weld: The ring welded in this video has a very smooth and even weld area, hardly any burrs or spots. Thought the ring has lost it's protective copper coating (which coating is standard for SG-2 MIG welding wire) the ring is welded very strong. Tests will be performed to determine the strength of both the butted (unwelded) rings and there welded counterparts. These tests will be carried out with the 1,6 mm diameter SG-2 MIG welding wire which is on order. Eventually I intend to use the larger diameter 1,6 mm SG-2 MIG welding wire for my chain mail garments. 1,6 mm is the largest diameter MIG welding wire which comes on spools. Any larger and the wire is only available as 3-4 feet long rods. The chain mail pieces I like to be making in the near future are: first of all a coif (a headpiece which extents over the shoulders), followed by a hauberk (long sleeved chain mail shirt which reaches to around or slightly above the knees) and lastly a pair of leg pieces. I expect to be needing two spools of 15 kg Sg2 MIG welding wire, maybe a bit more. The rings I intend to make for my chain mail should end up having a internal diameter (ID) of about 8,5-9,0 mm (I am guessing here because I have a digital calliper on request at Santa's Hardware Store) Hope you enjoy the video. Any questions? Please do not hesitate and ask them in the comments...

Here I am showing you my little gadget which I use to make my coils of wire. The wire used is 1,6 mm (14 AWG) SG-2 MIG Welding wire (your box standard / garden variety welding wire for welding low alloy steels) I use this wire, which is the same diameter and roughly the same properties as the (in home chain mail making) commonly used electric fencing wire. This wire is the thickest available on a spool, in this case a 15 kg (about 32 lbs). Yes I DID cut myself on a piece of wire which protruded from the jig. You have to be VERY careful of what you are doing with wire spools and cut ends flapping about or rotating in the jig because wire will mess you up in a second. I cut my thumb and I believe I was lucky this time and I could get away with a large band aid and some disinfectant. Luckily I have all my shots in order... I recommend you have some system in place in which the spool (large or small) of wire can be held and it's perks kept in check because wire spools tend to unwind violently if not mounted/handled correctly. I will place my spool in a crate or a strong enclosure and I will most likely have to add some sort of wire break (just a piece of left over oak with a hole drilled into it) to prevent unwinding when the tension is released when the coil are removed from the rod and a new coil is being started. This coiling aid and the power drill makes a 1 foot long coil in about 20-30 second, provided the spool is rotating freely and no messy unwinding of the main spool is going on. The coil contains about 210 rings which weigh in at about 104 grams. The wire comes in the tool (from the spool, which has it's own anti recoil brake on it (two piece of wood which get pressed together by two springs) and has to pas throught the handle of the tool. The wire passes through one drilled hole, exits on the top of the tool and enters into the tool again at a slight angle (maybe 20-25 degrees) The wire exits the tool again facing the coiling die, which is a 8 mm steel rod salvaged from an old printer. The wire is fed through a hole drilled into the rod and is guided by a cut open large fender washer onto the die. The washer ensures pressure is exerted laterally to the coils edge to make sure the coil is wound neat and tight, ensuring a nice an even coil which in turn make very nice rings. I recommend you use either a powerful drill (maybe a drill press which let's you change the speed and torque) or a small lathe if you are doing this coiling in large quantities. The stresses on the power tool are quite significant and most likely cheaper or the more lighter power tools will get very hot very fast and most likely will fail (burn out or simply develop a mechanical issue) Best option would most likely be to make a coiling machine purposely for the job. Hope you enjoy the (short) video.