# BENDING BRASS WIRE



## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

You know the round brass sections you can find at Hobby shops? They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes 

If I were building a Fire Excape for the side of a buildihng and I wanted to use the Brass rounds. Do you think it would be best to heat up the brass before bending it?

JJ


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

It couldn't hurt if it's relatively large. Much depends upon the diameter of wire you intend to use.


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## lvmosher (Jan 2, 2008)

JJ I use a torch at the bending point to bend rod. The spout on this tank is made from just one piece of 1/4" solid brass rod.


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi J.J. 
We are about the same temp. as your are most of the time here in our state. so ya...... We , when going to do a project, put out some off our brass stock out on a cement pad in the sun for awhile.. It sure helps when ready to bend most stock in shapes needed.. most of ours not over 1/32" thro. in dia. 
We also leave out a roll spool of brass small wire out to heat up when we are patching or adding another power pole lighting for our building in on the layout. 
Most of our cabins and building are power off of over head poles.. Kind of like in the old days. One insulator over top of the other on one pole with not cross buck. Then just soldered in a small min. plug at pole to plug in to.. Works great for us and the Wire keep from sagging when pre- heated up by the sun.. 
Question whats your project your are doing??? 
Like to see it.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I got a smoking deal on a SD -45. the guy I got it from was painting it his own colors. He lost the hand rails and I am going to try ane make hand rails fro it. I am also thinking of hand rails for steps on loading docks and sucn.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

A 1" diameter handrail in 1:29 is 0.032" (1/32) brass rod. A 3/4" diameter handrail is 0.025" rod. You won't need to anneal stuff this small, and in fact wouldn't want to, first off because you can accidentally melt it too easily, and second because once annealed, it stays annealed, and that would make your handrails very easy to accidentally deform. They will deform easily enough as it is. You might instead consider using music wire (also available at hobby shops). While harder to work with, for this application it's going to be one helluva lot more robust.


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Dwight Ennis on 19 Aug 2010 12:56 PM 
A 1" diameter handrail in 1:29 is 0.032" (1/32) brass rod. A 3/4" diameter handrail is 0.025" rod. You won't need to anneal stuff this small, and in fact wouldn't want to, first off because you can accidentally melt it too easily, and second because once annealed, it stays annealed, and that would make your handrails very easy to accidentally deform. They will deform easily enough as it is. You might instead consider using music wire (also available at hobby shops). While harder to work with, for this application it's going to be one helluva lot more robust. Like Dwight said.. Handrails on our Eng's keep getting hit by just picking them up. We done some Music wire on some cars and one Eng. and alway hold it shape even after bending it or hitting by accident. Its stiff stuff but not sure how you can make music wire eyes for them in to stanchions for the rails. Maybe soldered them on the hand railings


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I figured I would use the same round wire for the stantions. Or I have some smalll squar bras tubing to use for stations too. Maybe brass tuve for stantions and Misic wire for the railiings. 

Can Music wire be soldered?


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Larry, nice pipe. How did you make it look like a pipe fitting (joints) since it's one piece?


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## armorsmith (Jun 1, 2008)

Consider for the stanchion: 

A short piece of .062 ID brass tube for the railing to go through (say .09 lg). Drill a .062 hole in one side. Hard (silver) solder the tube (through the hole) to a piece of .062 brass wire/round bar (your preferred terminology). Clean out the hole in the tube to be sure your wire/round bar will clear through. Now soft solder a piece of the same tube over the wire, leaving a small gap at the handrail end. The solder will make soft edges and look good after the handrail is installed. The hand rail can be either soft soldered or ACC'd in place. 

Bob Cope


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

JJ, from my old Model Airplane days, music wire is easy to solder with some acid flux like "Staybrite." Use a hard solder and a jig, and you should have some durable railings.

I used to use Dad's 350w slobbering iron to solder 1/8th inch stuff for model airplane landing gear. Had to wear gloves as even the cork handle got HOT. Dad teased me, "What? Can't handle that thing?"


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

JJ, 
For most of those brass rods they also have brass tubing that is a slip fit. Solder a short length of tubing on top of your stancheons and slide the rod through. 
Bending; Experiment, if it cracks aneal, otherwise you shouldn't have any problem with it. 
You can 'un-aneal' by work hardening; bending, hammering and shaping by force....etc... 

Warning I tried reshaping an Aristocraft hand rail and it cracked and crumbled unlike any brass I had ever seen... 

John


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## chaingun (Jan 4, 2008)

Hey John,
Here is a hand rail I built for a U-Boat I got off evilbay and kit bashed into a road slug. I used heat on a couple of tight bends and cold bent the rest. I used welding rod.

Best, Ted


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Ted 
You used Welding Rod to make the hand rails?


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## chaingun (Jan 4, 2008)

Ya JJ, 
I just took a piece or railing down to the Ace and went through thier gas welding / brazing rod rack until I found something that was about the right diameter. I found without annealing it - if I went slow it didn't brake. On the more complex bends I heated it with a torch and bent it when I could handle it without cussing too much. 
Ted


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## lvmosher (Jan 2, 2008)

Jim, Everywhere that I want to simulate a pipe joint I wrap the rod with a bit of copper wire and then solder it. You can see it better in this pic.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Will Heating take the spring out of music wire?


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## armorsmith (Jun 1, 2008)

John, 

Yes, provided you get to a 'cherry red' state. 

Bob C.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I have given up on the Music wire for hand rails.....It can't be soldered.. I am now goint to try just brass stock. The stuff you fine in hobby shops. I have found a good supply here in Phoenix fabracating shop that sells off thier scrap. This place is great it has all kinds of standerd shapes. They also make  stuff for fences and gates.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Lotsa luck! It will NOT hold it's shape with handling. Don't say we didn't warn you.


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## Dick Friedman (Aug 19, 2008)

Not to get off topic, but to offer another option. I've been replacing plastic hand rails, railings, etc. on several of my passenger cars and cabooses. I started by using piano wire, but found it hard to bend without breaking.

I never considered brass. May have to try that.

But I did try 1/16th inch aluminum rod. It bends easily and holds its shape. I didn't try to solder it, but used super glue to make joints. I hammered the end of a rail flat, then bent it around the attaching rail and super glued them together. Where one rail crossed another, I beat a 1/16th inch drill part way into the aluminum rod. Then I glued the rod to the attaching rail. I think there are some photos of it in the photo section on my bobber caboose modifications.


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