Dougie Swan | 10/04/2019 15:38:56 |
269 forum posts 73 photos | As the title says I need to anneal some piano wire to drill a 1/16" hole through it Its 5/32" dia and I have tried heating to cherry red and holding it there for a bit then cooling slowly This isnt having much effect, iI have blunted all of my drills so far Any advice? Dougie |
herbert punter | 10/04/2019 16:25:41 |
128 forum posts 1 photos | The problem with annealing piano wire is that hardening it again is pretty much impossible. I know of people who have spark eroded holes in it but it’s too much hassle for most people Bert |
Dougie Swan | 10/04/2019 16:42:51 |
269 forum posts 73 photos | I dont need to re harden it, its just at the ends for a split pin to hold the wheels on I've ordered more drills !! Dougie |
Clive Foster | 10/04/2019 16:48:23 |
3630 forum posts 128 photos | Allegedly 450 degrees for 4 hours softens it enough to be quite easily workable. American forum source which doesn't say whether °F or °C. Probably C as 450°F is very low although numerically plausible. Trouble is you will never get it back to anything like the original strength and hardness. Piano wire is cold drawn. Its properties come from the elongated crystal structure produced by drawing process not heat treatment. But I see you don't need to reharden. Clive Edited By Clive Foster on 10/04/2019 16:50:03 |
Emgee | 10/04/2019 17:06:49 |
2610 forum posts 312 photos | Dougie, another method would be to use a Dremel type tool with a grinding disc to cut a shallow groove around the wire close to the end and use an E clip. Emgee |
JohnF | 10/04/2019 17:29:43 |
![]() 1243 forum posts 202 photos | Dougie -- maybe I'm missing something or not understanding what you are doing but why piano wire ? why not use silver steel ? easy to drill and harden afterwards if you wish. John |
Bazyle | 10/04/2019 17:40:01 |
![]() 6956 forum posts 229 photos | Washer and a bit of soft solder. You could saw it with a junior hacksaw down the end, m maybe file a bit to make the slot wider, then place the broken drill in the bottom of the slot to hold it open and hammer the end shut, or solder a slither of steel in to fill the gap. |
Emgee | 10/04/2019 17:48:55 |
2610 forum posts 312 photos | Bazle, the junior hacksaw blades you have are much better than I have ever been able to buy, mine usually just skid off piano wire rather than cut. Emgee |
Dougie Swan | 10/04/2019 18:45:51 |
269 forum posts 73 photos | Emgee Your dremel suggestion was going to be my next option. I have a lot of clips that would work in a grove as you suggest but as this is an axle for a model aeroplane I'm worried about side forces moving the clip, my few experiments have shown a little side force can release the clip Thanks for all the replies, i'm going to persist in trying to get it soft enough to drill Thanks for the info on the manufacture of piano wire Clive, now it makes sense that my heat reatment has only limited succsess but with enough drills and enough time it wont beat me Dougie |
Brian Oldford | 10/04/2019 19:28:35 |
![]() 686 forum posts 18 photos | Grind a groove and use a miniature circlip or similar.
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JasonB | 10/04/2019 19:37:48 |
![]() 25215 forum posts 3105 photos 1 articles | Can you not make a small collar to fit over the stub of the axle and retain with a grub screw in cross hole. Several of the RC suppliers sell them off the shelf such as these if you don't want to make Biggest risk with any annealing is that you may soften more than needed and loose the spring in your undercarrage! Edited By JasonB on 10/04/2019 19:39:19 |
duncan webster | 10/04/2019 21:21:56 |
5307 forum posts 83 photos | Loctite a collar on? |
speelwerk | 10/04/2019 21:28:37 |
464 forum posts 2 photos | You can use a carbide drill, like these**LINK** Niko |
Tim Rowe | 11/04/2019 08:35:13 |
33 forum posts 4 photos | I build a lot of model aircraft and here is my solution: This is a small electric plane but the method scales up.
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Emgee | 11/04/2019 10:33:51 |
2610 forum posts 312 photos | Any modellers who started building model aircraft with the Keil Kraft flying scale rubber powered models will be aware that the simplest method to retain wheels on an axle is by soldering a cup washer each side of the wheel, If the axle is cut to the correct length it makes for a very neat job, also best use pieces of paper as washers each side of the wheel before soldering to prevent any flux or solder tracking to the wheel, paper removed after soldering. Bazyle did suggest similar earlier. Emgee
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Ian S C | 12/04/2019 12:02:56 |
![]() 7468 forum posts 230 photos | My first soldering job was on a friends model aeroplane, I was 9 years old, and the method was to put the wheel on then wrap a turn of copper wire around the end of the axle, then a touch with soldering iron on the tinned wire, never did get paid for that one, but the plane flew ok, it was a control line trainer, don't remember much about it, can't even remember the friend's name. I had built a crystal set, and a few other bits and pieces with dad a radio technician supervising. Ian S C |
Bazyle | 12/04/2019 12:52:10 |
![]() 6956 forum posts 229 photos | Tim has certainly raised the stakes on quality. I haven't tried a junior hacksaw on actual piano wire recently but they always seemed to be much harder temper than regular and more expensive proper hacksaw blades. I still use them fro preference on anything I think is going to be harder than normal but I am using old stock blades. |
Fowlers Fury | 12/04/2019 13:10:58 |
![]() 446 forum posts 88 photos | This will work but it depends if you're on friendly terms with your dentist.
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larry phelan 1 | 13/04/2019 17:41:06 |
1346 forum posts 15 photos | I always thought piano wire was something used in piano making,seems like I was wrong.. Can anyone tell me what exactly is it and what is it used for ? [apart from pianos ] 5/32" seems very thick for wire ? One learns something new every day,no doubt about it ! |
Fowlers Fury | 13/04/2019 18:12:17 |
![]() 446 forum posts 88 photos | You're not wrong about it being used in pianos. If you put it to Google you'll get plenty of information. Here's the link to the Wikipedia article:- **LINK** It's tough, very tough and will mark your wire cutters if you attempt to cut it. I was dissuaded from trying to anneal it by numerous articles describing how difficult it was to restore its original strength. A high speed mini drill is the best tool for working it e.g. grinding disc to cut it, diamond burr to drill it. <Edit typo> Edited By Fowlers Fury on 13/04/2019 18:14:26 |
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