Wire bender for making small chain links for model traction engine steering chains

[thehomeengineer]

Hi All
After seeing this thread by kess (supporting member) Wire Bender I had a moment and thought about adapting this style of bender to make chain links for my 1" scale traction engine.

I decided to use a M8 (5/16") nut and bolt to make the bender as the links are only 6mm x 4mm (1/4" x 5/32") made from 1mm (0.040") copper wire. The following photos show the first few test links and the method used to form links.


Bender made from M8 nut and bolt


Copper cut to length ready for forming

First Bend Second bend

Closing link with a piece of aluminium

Link removed from bender

First few test links

The links will be silver soldered at each joint. As there are quite a few links needed I am in the process of designing and making a guillotine to cut the wire to a constant length.

I hope this thread will be helpful to anyone considering making chain for their model.

Thank you for taking the time to view
The Home Engineer

[DIYer]

Thanks thehomeengineer! We've added your Small Wire Bender to our Model Making category,
as well as to your builder page: thehomeengineer's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Small Wire Bender by thehomeengineer

tags: bender

[bobs409]

Neat!

[kess]

Very nice build.
Well done.

[thehomeengineer]

Please find link to updated post on bending chain links below:
Re-think on wire bender for making chain links
Many thanks
The Home Engineer

[Scrounga]

That works really well. With your guillotine, if you make the blade shear instead of cut you will get nice square ends on the links.