My etched pipe hangers finally arrived

[mmagliaro]

Thanks, Jason.   

Yes, my goal here was not to step on anybody's business of products.  Just to make something
a little more readily available and accessible.


Oh... and one more IMPORTANT tip I should mention about installing these.
It really helps if you sand or file a little point on the tip of your wire when you go to thread it through
these things.  Remember, these holes are TINY.
You may also find that it helps to twirl a #11 Xacto blade in the holes before you cut them from the
fret, just to open up and taper the hole a wee bit to make sliding the wire through there easier.
I speak from experience.


And to answer a few questions I've missed:

1. Lemo, yes, they could be done in stainless.  PMA has a lot of metal choices.  But stainless would not
be solderable, so I didn't want to go that route.

2. Bob, I think PMA were good folks.  After all, I am a really small fish for them, doing just a 1-sheet run.
But they spent time and worked with me.

[peteski]

Max,
I'm game for one sheet. I'll PM you.

Question:  The hanger in this photo looks like the top and bottom photomasks were slightly misaligned (the holes seem a bit skewed (not perpendicular to the metal surface of the piece).  Is that just an optical illusion?  It also looks like it was not fully etched. Did you have to ream out the hole to put the 0.008" wire through, or did if pass through the hole without any reaming?

[TrainCat2]

1. Lemo, yes, they could be done in stainless.  PMA has a lot of metal choices.  But stainless would not
be solderable, so I didn't want to go that route.

Max, SS is solderable to brass using Stay Brite silver solder. It comes as a kit with the special flux as well.

I use old blades that have the tips broken off. I resharpen the blade, but leave the broken tip. This makes for a more durable cutter. Removing the items from the carrier is easy. Just don't    fret    it.

[peteski]

I also use used (dulled, with tips missing) #11 blades for cutting photoetched items off the frets.  For cutting surface I use a piece of aluminum.  It is sturdy enough to support the piece I'm cutting (brass or stainless steel), but soft though no to further dull the knife blade.

While SS steel can be soldered, it still is much easier to solder brass.  I'm not sure why Lemosteam would prefer SS steel. Were the hangers on T1s and T4s chrome or nickel plated?

[mmagliaro]

Max,
I'm game for one sheet. I'll PM you.

Question:  The hanger in this photo looks like the top and bottom photomasks were slightly misaligned (the holes seem a bit skewed (not perpendicular to the metal surface of the piece).  Is that just an optical illusion?  It also looks like it was not fully etched. Did you have to ream out the hole to put the 0.008" wire through, or did if pass through the hole without any reaming?

Peteski,

Yes, a few of them did come out with some of the holes not completely opened up.  The one in the picture there still lets a .008" wire through, even though it's not a perfect hole.

Some of the sheets do have some holes that won't let a .008"
wire through without  a little opening-up with an Xacto.  I am holding those out and not
selling them.   All the ones people will get have the holes opened fine so that a .008" wire
goes through.   I am testing them with a wire before I send them out.

[peteski]

Thanks Max!

I've been thinking about this some more - I would like to have seen a more substantial mount on these hangers (this applies to both yours and Loren's version). Here is what I would like to have had for a mount. Maybe it is not prototypical but in N scale it would be much easier to glue/solder, and it would result in much stronger attachment point.

EDIT: this might have been easier to etch if 0.005" brass was used.  It would probably still be sturdy enough (just my speculation).

[Chris333]

About the offset. I think this is truly a case of your not going to see it in person. The photo has to be 8-10 times larger than real life. And weather it happens or not etching places want you to expect a 10% fail rate.

[TrainCat2]

EDIT: this might have been easier to etch if 0.005" brass was used.  It would probably still be sturdy enough (just my speculation).

You know what happens when you assume? Going to .005" is NOT recommended, go to .007" or .008" instead.

[peteski]

You know what happens when you assume? Going to .005" is NOT recommended, go to .007" or .008" instead.

Allrighty then, 0.007" it is! 

[up1950s]

I like the fact that they are thick . It adds to its strength of joint and sideways pressure resistability . Singularly clipped they also can be used as a fitting for a pipe on some apparati  , or as a union stand in to butt two ends of wire to continue a run . Backhead gauges , turret manifold , sandbox manifold , etc . The list is only limited by ones imagination . Thanks for sharing Max .

[mmagliaro]

I think if by some miracle I sell them all and have to run another sheet, I might do them in .008.

If there is a subsequent sheet, I'll talk it over with them and have them etch it for maybe another 10% of the time
and keep it at .010".

Remember, this is a sheet of brass in an etchant bath, and expecting a chemical to
etch every hole and line within a variation of less than .001" is pretty darn impossible.
They did the 12x18 sheet in 3 sections instead of doing it in one sheet,
to minimize variation across the surface of a large sheet. 
That's just one of the special things they did to accomodate me and try to make it work.

It's really hard getting parts this small to
work.   PPD told me flat-out that they wouldn't touch the job because of the narrow pieces.

As for a longer attachment... I can certainly do that.  I will take Peteski's comment under consideration
if I do this again, and make that tab a bit longer.  It won't show under a walkway anyway.

Chris is right.  None of that imperfection you saw in that photo can be seen. 
It's hard to visualize just how small these darn things are.  Peteski, since you are familiar with
Loren's, you know, but some folks here might not.   Remember, those holes are just a tad over .008"
in diameter.  To put that in perspective, a #80 drill bit is .013", so these holes are only 2/3rds the size
of a #80 bit.

[Lemosteam]

Petski, the reason I asked about the SS is mainly for the linkage and the single stachions.  The T1 and streamlined K4 had stainless or chrome handrails (not sure).  Does any body think the holes would remain if i sent the sheet out for chrome plating?

[superturbine]

Lemo,

If you need them I have them in nickel silver.....

[Lemosteam]

Lemo,

If you need them I have them in nickel silver.....

Jason, did you send yours out for plating then?  IF so did you enlarge the holes first?

[superturbine]

No they were etched out of Nickel Silver.