Trade Supplier Of Nickel Silver Section

[Dog Star]

Anyone any ideas as to a supplier of 1.4mm Nickel Silver rod? This is required for piston valve spindles in 7mm.
thanks, Graham

 

[lancer1027]

I guess this is a silly answer but have you tried Eileens Emporium and Metalsmiths ?

 

[Dog Star]

Thank you for asking... I have tried Eileen's, Metalsmith, Finney & Smith, Hobby Holidays and several model engineering suppliers. Where a firm offers N/S wire / rod the range often includes 1.2mm and 1.6mm, just not 1.4mm.

 

[Simon Dunkley]

I use the shanks of broken drills for this sort of thing: slightly smaller size for S (circa 1mm), but the principle is the same. I often buy sets of drills from 0.5mm to 2.0mm, and usually have some spare kicking about, even if they are not broken.
OK, so not N/S, straight, strong and stay shiny!

 

[JimG]

Thank you for asking... I have tried Eileen's, Metalsmith, Finney & Smith, Hobby Holidays and several model engineering suppliers. Where a firm offers N/S wire / rod the range often includes 1.2mm and 1.6mm, just not 1.4mm.

Graham,

You might try looking for Imperial sozes - 1.4mm is 1/16". (Model in S scale - you will be forever converting between Imperial and Metric. )

Jim.

 

[Dog Star]

Unless a S-scale calculator has a funny translation algorithm, 1/16" is 1.58mm and rod / wire of that diameter is not going to fit.

The job in hand is some piston valve spindles for a 7mm kit... where the kit supplies brass wire. There are several castings involved - ok I can drill larger holes - and half-etch components to form the connecting forks at either end of the spindles... I think that going above 1.4mm is going to introduce more problems than is worth the effort.

 

[JimG]

Unless a S-scale calculator has a funny translation algorithm, 1/16" is 1.58mm and rod / wire of that diameter is not going to fit.

Apologies - I hit the wrong button when using the calculator - the penny should have dropped. But Simon's suggestion about using drill shanks might be the best bet, especially if you can get carbon steel ones which will be easier to work with. 1.4mm is one thou under 17swg so you might find some success in locating plated brass pins of this diameter.

Jim

 

[JimG]

Graham,

As a follow up, I did a quick search on "pins", "17swg" and "1.4mm" on Google and found that there are steel panel pins and brass escutcheon pins of this diameter and usually about 20mm in length and not costing an arm and a leg. The pins might not be as accurately round as silver steel or precision ground steel, but should be OK to represent a valve spindle.

Apparently stainless steel liver biopsy needles are 17swg.

Jim.

 

[Simon Dunkley]

Unfortunately, my liver is not made of stainless steel!