I hope everyone is having a nice and successful summer.
Has anyone ever seen square drawplates made of Delrin available for
purchase? I have seen only round wire Delrin drawplates in my
searches.
Hello Richard,
Not sure if Delrin has the density/hardness to draw crisp square
wire.
Chris
HI Richard,
Err. what would you want square delrin drawplates for?
I could make you some, but (A) they’d be an incredible PITA to make,
and (B) they probably wouldn’t hold up long. Or © do what you
want.
You see round plates because they’re easy to make, and Delrin
smoothing plates are sort of the cheap way out, rather than buying
massively expensive large steel ones, if all you’re doing is
smoothing down chain.
To do square, you’d first have to make up a set of square broaching
cutters, which would be expensive. (or a set of square drillbits,
which is almost as much fun.) (Really, you can drill a square hole.
Google it.) Then you’d have to make the plates, relieve the holes,
etc. And they still wouldn’t be hard enough to do more than smooth
woven wire or chain. The center sections would wear preferentially,
and there’s no guarantee that woven wire would even notice the
corners, while I can pretty much guarantee that chain wouldn’t care.
Which explains why nobody makes them commercially.
What were you thinking to do with them?
Regards,
Brian
Yes, I was only interested in square drawplates for drawing down
chains that would be annealed as much as possible. I thought the
Delrin would be better for the finish on the chains. I guess I should
just go ahead and invest in steel square drawplates. Appreciate the
advice, everyone.
I just use a wood draw plate for most chains. If it’s square, I’ll
close down my rolling mill with the chain in the groves for bar stock
til it just barely fits and then pull it back and forth through to
burnish and smooth it.
Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
Jo Haemer
timothywgreen.com