I So, I saw Dr Wayne’s post on the DIY grab iron jig he made from styrene- but, as he says, it’s for soft wire, not harder brass or steel piano wire ( I presume it would deform and lose accuracy after one or two bends of harder material).
The metal Micro-Mark grab iron tool seems decent (it is made of metal) but it’s a bit pricey.
Some have suggested " just drill some holes in a metal block" and you’re all set.
I went out to the garage and looked at my drill bit box- the smallest HSS bit I have is 1/16 inch. Using my bench top drill press, I have “qualms” about drilling into metal with this.
If anyone has made a grab iron jig using a piece of drilled metal, please tell me what metal, what thickness, what drill bit, etc. (pictures would be greatly appreciated as well).
Otherwise, I may have to ask for an advance on my allowance from my CFO and get the Micro Mark one…[:'(]
Cedarwoodron
You don’t really have to have a jig made of steel, a brass one will do. I have bent hundreds of steel grabs using brass jigs which were a lot easier to dril
Being a cheap skate I use an old pair of needle nose pliers which gives me the range of 9 HO scale inches up to 2 ½ HO scale feet. More fiddly than, I suspect, using the Micro-Mark tool.
As for drilling into steel with a 1/16” drill bit, apart from the fact that it doesn’t do much for the bits sharpness, it isn’t much problem as long as the right drill speed and lubrication is used. To be fair though I do, for work, buy 1/16” drill bits in packets of 10!! Aluminium would be more forgiving, as would MDF, though if I was to make a specific jig for a great number of the same grab irons, and using 0.0125 brass wire, I’d be using a #78, or thereabouts, drill bit for my locating holes.
Cheers, the Bear.
Yeah, either brass or aluminum is hard enough for making a grabiron bending jig, yet still easy enough to drill. The holes should be the same size or only slightly larger than the diameter of the wire being used - for HO grabs, I use .0125" wire or, very occasionally, .010".
I no longer use the plastic jig mentioned by Ron, other than to make drop-style grabs out of straight ones.
If I need only a dozen-or-so for a car, it’s easy enough to bend them with pliers, or, if you need a bunch, use a cutoff disc to cut slots in one side of the plier’s jaws, to a depth suitable for the necessary width of grabiron.
Wayne
I use styrene jigs ala doctorwayne, but instead of using the jig to bend the wire I simply use it for measuring purposes. The actual bending is done with flat jawed and round jawed needle nose pliers. I usually use .015" phosphor bronze wire which is a bit stiff to bend in the styrene jig.
One advantage to doing it this way is you can model more complex patterns reasonably consistently, like these caboose end railings. I did eight cabooses at once:
Dave
Aluminum! That’s the ticket! I have drilled 1/8 inch thick stock aluminum before- should have thought about that before I originally posted- I blame my late middle age [:D] for the oversight.
Thanks to all for the input!
Cedarwoodron
Welcome to that club, too, Ron! It has a large membership—and I’m not sure age has anything to do with it. (They talk about “Senior Moments,” but I’ve had "Senior Weeks!")
Deano