Compressed air tank and Wire tie pliers

[Paul99]

With the Jeep finally out of the workshop I've had some room to make a few bits that have been needed for some time.

A compressed air tank that I can drag from the shed to the car to pump tires up etc:

Not sure I've seen a Propane pigtail used for this job before but luckily it was a simple solution one 3/8ths male / male adapter and a PCL coupling and job done. It occured to me it would be just as useful put on a 47kg bottle and simply coupled up to the airline to provide more capacity.

With that done in less than an hour I got onto making a wire tie pliers. I'm sure many will have come across this on youtube before:

It looked useful and I assumed you could probably buy something from China for a few £ - I failed to find any so made some up:

A simple / quick job again and works better than I expected it to though Mig wire (0.6 or 0.8mm) isn't much use as it snaps on twisting. With some stronger SS wire or perhaps some rebar tie wire I'm sure it'll get a lot of use.

 

[Paul.]

With some stronger SS wire or perhaps some rebar tie wire I'm sure it'll get a lot of use.

Stainless is too brittle, what you need is some soft iron binding wire. steel stock holders use it for tying bundles of flats etc, some even sell it, it comes in 1kg rolls for about a fiver.

 

[Paul99]

Stainless is too brittle, what you need is some soft iron binding wire. steel stock holders use it for tying bundles of flats etc, some even sell it, it comes in 1kg rolls for about a fiver.

I swear it was SS wire my brother got hold of to fasten rubber handle bar grips on his MX bike - that stuff you could keep twisting and get it seriously tight where everything else we tried snapped long before it got tight enough - that's what I was thinking of TBH. Soft Iron wire is a good shout though and it'll be much cheaper too.

 

[Paul.]

There is a stainless binding wire available but I've never bought any, seen it used when working on fire brigade hose fittings, its a very ductile grade of stainless, not a clue what the grade is though, it can be twisted and bent about and wont work harden and break like mig wire or tig rods.

 

[wyn]

I used to use this sort of stuff on my MX bikes to hold bolts on.

 

[Paul99]

There is a stainless binding wire available but I've never bought any, seen it used when working on fire brigade hose fittings, its a very ductile grade of stainless, not a clue what the grade is though, it can be twisted and bent about and wont work harden and break like mig wire or tig rods.

That makes sense. I found the stuff I think my brother had:
https://www.catalyst-findit.co.uk/i...6c273aae&vat=ex&dest=prod&p=85&pid=00-395.ORO
I'll see if he has a bit left to try it before shelling out for any though.

I also just remembered that potato bag wire ties also worked OK - I'm guessing that will be soft iron too. I'll give them a go if I can find any about (unlikely given we last used them for 15yrs or so).

 

[Jules-Beds]

Monel seizing wire is fantastic & doesn't tend to work harden quickly (fracture) I use it all the time for wire locking on gas-turbines - always but from here too as it seems to be the easiest place to get it (ebay not the individual supplier): http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YACHT-RIG...re-reel-NEW-/201340179771?hash=item2ee0cf553b

 

[normspanners]

I swear it was SS wire my brother got hold of to fasten rubber handle bar grips on his MX bike - that stuff you could keep twisting and get it seriously tight where everything else we tried snapped long before it got tight enough - that's what I was thinking of TBH. Soft Iron wire is a good shout though and it'll be much cheaper too.

That is standard competition locking wire http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GOODRIDGE...WIRE-LWD597-/171796043753?hash=item27ffd797e9 available at loads of places

 

[mpats]

you are probably sorted by now, but .032 wire locking can take a decent amount of force, and is stainless. http://www.e-aircraftsupply.com/aircraft_products/file/aircraft-lockwire.aspx or go for thicker stuff, you'll struggle to snap it, we don't use anything thicker now as it was pulling through gearbox casings.
i was going to suggest a pair of wire locking pliers, but what you've made should suit your purposes perfectly.


Edit-just looked at what norm posted, same stuff.

 

[Paul99]

Thanks for the suggestions I've ordered some normal 0.8mm SS locking wire as has been mentioned a few times. That Monel wire looks interesting but probably overkill for what I'm likely to use it for. I'll certainly remember the name if the standard SS wire fails though.

It's amazing just how tight the pliers can pull the wire - standard 0.8mm mild steel mig wire snaps under tension alone (before getting to the twist) with very little effort and well before the handles are halfway through their travel if that makes sense.