Looking for .081 music wire for ejector

[kweidner]

I found a place online that has .079 12 ga and then goes to 3/32. Any suggestions. Yes Yes I destroyed an ejection pin. I have a very tempermental .30 cal VLD point form at the moment.

[JWFilips]

How big of a piece do you need?
Years ago I ripped apart an old upright piano & saved most of the strings. I'm at work now but when I get home this evening I can mic some.... It should be in the pile somewhere.
Jim

[blaser.306]

I bought a roll of just this particular wire myself! I found it at Fastenall in the back section of the catalogue ( P/N 0991253 ,that is a 1 lb roll of 0.0808" ). I know that the "big guy's" want $10.00 ish for half a dozen 3 or 4" pieces and if I remember correctly a 25' roll wasn't much more than that.

[clodhopper]

Ejection pins are avalible by size, search the web for "ejection pin .081".
BTSniper tells me that's how he gets them.

[Cane_man]

i get mine on amazon, comes in straight 3' sections, avoid the rolls imo as it was hard to get the curve out and make it straight! I see it on ebay as well...

0.081" is an odd size, sounds like 2mm? if not I don't see why the 0.079 wont work

I know that McMaster has it as well but not in small quantities... you need ASTM 228

[kweidner]

Don't need much. Just a few 4" sections would be just fine.

[Steve Steven]

Get a #46 drill blank from one of the machine shop suppliers. It will be hardened and about 2 1/8" long, heres a link to one. Price $2.52.
http://www.mscdirect.com/browse/tn/H...m=Drill+Blanks

Steve

[bullet maker 57]

MSC sells straightened music wire. 1 foot pieces in a tube of 100.

[smokeywolf]

Steve Steven's suggestion is a good one I think; that's what I would do. Either a #45 or #46 drill blank should fill the bill.

smokeywolf

[kweidner]

Thanks guys. Blaser.306 gave me the hook up. Now to figure out why PF die is such a pain in the butt.

[rbt50]

I got mine in a hobby shop.

[rbt50]

I got mine in a hobby shop.

[aaronraad]

K&S Music wire stands up to the most abuse from my experience.

[SquirrelHollow]

Steve Steven's suggestion is a good one I think; that's what I would do. Either a #45 or #46 drill blank should fill the bill.

smokeywolf

Skip the drill blanks, and go for a full section of drill rod. It's more cost effective.

You can get it from many places, including McMaster Carr, Traverse Tool, MSC, Amazon, Speedy Metals, Online Metals, Fastenal, Brownells, and more.

For example..... Traverse has 3-foot sections of #45 (0.081") O-1 for $3.49. Throw a couple other tools or different sizes of drill rod on the order, and you pay less than $3 shipping for the drill rod. So, for about $6 (assuming you order more than one piece of drill rod), you get the equivalent of sexteen+ of the $2.57 drill blanks.


No matter what you're doing, drill rod is always useful to have around. I have 3 foot, 4 foot, 5 foot, and/or 6 foot sections of various sizes (fractional, metric, wire, and letter) ranging from 0.050" to 0.500"; and at least one 36" piece at, or just below, bore sizes that I commonly work with for bore slugging: .219", .297, .301", .304", .316", .346, .404", .427", etc. (And those sizes also work well for making tapered tools to open the mouths of squished brass, for sizing/swaging.)

[smokeywolf]

Skip the drill blanks, and go for a full section of drill rod. It's more cost effective.

You can get it from many places, including McMaster Carr, Traverse Tool, MSC, Amazon, Speedy Metals, Online Metals, Fastenal, Brownells, and more.

For example..... Traverse has 3-foot sections of #45 (0.081") O-1 for $3.49. Throw a couple other tools or different sizes of drill rod on the order, and you pay less than $3 shipping for the drill rod. So, for about $6 (assuming you order more than one piece of drill rod), you get the equivalent of sexteen+ of the $2.57 drill blanks.


No matter what you're doing, drill rod is always useful to have around. I have 3 foot, 4 foot, 5 foot, and/or 6 foot sections of various sizes (fractional, metric, wire, and letter) ranging from 0.050" to 0.500"; and at least one 36" piece at, or just below, bore sizes that I commonly work with for bore slugging: .219", .297, .301", .304", .316", .346, .404", .427", etc. (And those sizes also work well for making tapered tools to open the mouths of squished brass, for sizing/swaging.)

Drill rod (O-1 tool steel) is indeed very handy for many applications and may well work for this one. However, at diameters this small, without accurate heat treating, O-1, W-1, A-2 and most of the high carbon steels will bend quite easily. That's why I opined that drill blanks (high speed steel) would be my choice.

smokeywolf

[Cane_man]

^^^ what he said

you need a material that has a high compressive strength (resists buckling and bending), here are the materials i have used and their corresponding properties:

O1 60,000 psi
1144 130,000 psi
ASTM 228 (music wire) 350,000 psi

O1 always failed when i used it, the 1144 works well for punches, and the music wire is outstanding for the pointing die eject punch as you can see it resists buckling/bending almost 6 times better than O1

[jimbull34]

Cane Man, where do you get the 228astm at? I've been using drill blanks for years and have never broke one using my hydraulic press, but the idea of something better is always a good thing. Never though of using drill rod, guess its the same as blanks except not cut! Going to use that next time I have to buy, thanks for the info. I know a lot of people who make dies and such commerically will not share info on on their suppliers and I'm thank full for you guys sharing, it does make it a lot easier...

[Cane_man]

you can find it on ebay or amazon and is sold as "K&S Music Wire"

[smokeywolf]

Cane Man, where do you get the 228astm at? I've been using drill blanks for years and have never broke one using my hydraulic press, but the idea of something better is always a good thing. Never though of using drill rod, guess its the same as blanks except not cut! Going to use that next time I have to buy, thanks for the info. I know a lot of people who make dies and such commerically will not share info on on their suppliers and I'm thank full for you guys sharing, it does make it a lot easier...

Drill blanks and reamer blanks are made of "high speed steel". Drill rod is a high carbon "tool steel". They are quite different from one another.

smokeywolf