Oh Toasted One,

By way of an experiment you could make up a couple of these rings put them in an envelope and mail them to me and I'll see what I can do as far as fusing them together with a TIG welder to see if that might be a viable option. I'm not saying for sure it will work but if you're willing to risk a couple of rings being destroyed it won't take me but around 5 minutes to figure out if it's doable or not. Plus then if it does work I can send them back and you can check the weld quality by doing some destructive testing on them.

 

Tig welding them with a high frequency start should be no problem. Just have to make sure to hold them still.

 

Good to know!

HT2 - That would be great! I don't mind sending you some rings. Strength testing them is pretty simple. The wire I'm using is soft, so a good way to test is to simply bend the ring to see if the weld breaks. If the ring bends instead of the weld snapping apart, it's definitely strong enough for what I'll be using it for. Just PM me your address, and I'll send them your way tomorrow.

 

I cut 15,000 rings yesterday, so if anyone else wants to run some tests, I would be happy to send some rings your way! Just let me know

 

So 15,000 links would make a piece of chainmail covering bow big by how big? And what would that weigh?

 

Did some looking into chain mail welding and learned some stuff.

Looks like there's two main ways they go at it. Either resistance or pulsed arc (which is a specialized form of TIG).

http://theringlord.com/cart/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=164&cat=Welders

This manual on the "resistance welding of butted rings" was enlightening.

http://theringlord.com/Instructions/ResistanceWeldingofButtedRings.pdf

This manual on the pulsed arc welder helps explain how it works.

http://theringlord.com/instructions/JewelryWelderManual.pdf

 

Those aren't the only two ways. I have chain mail butchers gloves that are plasma arc welded.

 

That would make for an interesting factory tour to see their set up for doing it that way. I'd also have to guess that if you could throw enough money at it they could be laser welded (at high production volumes) also.

 

It's important to take the chainmail off BEFORE you attempt to weld the links....:nono:

 

Toasted One,

After looking around the Interweb some more for information on this subject I'm coming to the conclusion that resistance welding is probably going to be your best option for what you're trying to do. My original thought of using a manual tig torch to fuse tack each link would be really slow and cumbersome. It looks to me like you need to have both hands free to manipulate and weave the rings together as you go.

If you'll post some pictures of your resistance welder and how your work station is set up I could probably give you some ideas on how to make it more user friendly.

 

My original thought of using a manual tig torch to fuse tack each link would be really slow and cumbersome.

Any chance you could give a brief description on how to do this?

I think this is where you set the current to a high value and mash the pedal but 20 ga steel wire is only .035 diameter. How do you get it repeatable.

 

How did they do it in the old days? Are you going for an authentic look?

 

Ends hammered flat, hole punched and riveted together

is one way.



You can use solid rings for half



The way that makes sense to me is silver solder

 

Toasted One,

Got your envelope with the rings in them yesterday. It'll be Monday or Tuesday until I get a chance to see what I can do with them.

 

your answer is probably here, somewhere- " (I welded about 400 rings before things starting getting consistently hairy, so I'm not sure exactly what was suddenly causing problems.)".

So it worked, then it didn't. Have you contacted the welder supplier for their input?
Is the material the same batch?
Was there surface contamination to cause a resistance between the electrode and ring?
one thing that struck me as odd about that set up was the electrode ends ought to have a small groove to keep the ring from sliding when pushed into the electrode. And that a timer would give a lot better control than a switch.

 

Holy cow

Is that $173 for a switch, some wire and a connector? http://store.cyberweld.com/rmonco.html

Is this, some solder and a switch an option? (Pins A B) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Male-14-Pin-Plug-136961-141162-for-Miller-Hobart-Thermal-Arc-TIG-MIG-Welding/221744840311?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D40130%26meid%3D2c3401f0d5f2412aac390aafb2f75868%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dlo%26sd%3D170592483089

EDIT: Is there some way to use just the RFCS-14

 

I figured it out.

You have to scroll through the whole sequence menu and then I think you have to press the A button twice to set the weld time.
Step on the pedal and it delivers a burst. pretty cool

Does this sound stupid and risk injury? put alligator clips on the two wires connected to ground, push the wires together, hold them up near the torch and step on the pedal. I think I need a little pressure to get good fusion.

 

Not stupid. You using the spot timer. I do it when tacking parts with a high burst of current.

 

Not the original poster just curious.
I was playing with this 1/16th inch wire just to see how it worked. I forgot your recommended settings and somehow arrived at 30 Amps 1/2 second (little too hot?). I slightly squeezed them with a pliers which the ground clamp was attached to.
At about 30 seconds each it will take you 125 hours to weld 15,000 of them.