SB: RE: Robert Pins Fabrication (was Re: SB: Thanks! and netting pins?)

[Valle Kincaid <vkincaid@TreanorArchitects.com>]

or you can purchase whatever you need from

http://www.buildingforhealth.com/strawbale.html

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert W. Tom [mailto:ArchiLogic@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2001 11:11 AM
To: Susan Frommer
Cc: strawbale@crest.org
Subject: SB: Robert Pins Fabrication (was Re: SB: Thanks! and netting
pins?)


8/28/01 12:01:05 AM, Susan Frommer <watrlady@cosmoaccess.net> wrote:

>>We've also used 14g galvanized "hanger rods"--stiff wires used for
>>installing hung ceilings. 

>We did the same thing.  Just bought several big bundles of ceiling wire and
>cut it into pins.  Size can vary depending on where you put them.  A good
>pair of wire cutters and in a short time one can have quite a pile of pins.

Here in Silly-con Valley North ,  a technique used in the hi-tech
hardware fabrication plants when the wires on small components have to be
bent manually, is to line a bunch of them up, clamped in the jaws of a vise
or needle-nosed pliers, with the ends all evened up, and then bend the whole

schmozzle at once.

The same thing could be done by baleheads when making their own 
Robert pins or any other steel wire component.

Simply lay  a bunch of pre-cut-to-length wires on a piece of 2x lumber 
or steel angle,  perpendicular to the length of the stick or angle,  
getting the ends even by butting them up against something flat 
... then lay another piece of wood or steel on top, aligned with the first, 
clamp the two together using  C-clamps or F-clamps 
... then bend all of the wires at once, using a short
length of wood or a rubber mallet to apply pressure.

To make a "U " of a specific breadth, one of the clamping jaws should 
be selected so the the thickness is equal to the breadth of the U" and 
after the first bend  (in the wires) is made, a second bend is made to 
wrap the "L"-shaped wires around the thickness of the clamping jaw. 
"Voila !" (That's francais for "There ya go, bub !")   
Identical, mass-produced, U-shaped wire pins with no fuss &  no muss.

To make barbs on the legs of the U,  one can beat them with a the sharp edge
of a 
hardened steel object (ie a geologist's hammer or  rock climber's pick or
axe or
old ploughshare etc) while they are still laid out on one of the jaws, using
the jaw
as a sort of anvil.  (Works better with steel jaws of course)

If a hung-ceiling components supplier isn't in the neighbourhood (as a
source
of wire)  a farm supply will most certainly carry coils of galvanised wire
stock, 
quite likely as heavy as 6 gauge wire if so desired.

Similar mass-fabrication techniques can be utilised to make sheet metal 
framing anchors from sheets of flat stock instead of buying them at Home 
Despot for a buck or more apiece. The use of framing anchors provides a 
better connection with less damage to the framing members and allows 
for easy modification (and error correction) and/or deconstruction .

For lazy Murricans who can't be bothered with such manual labour nonsense,
perhaps our friends in Xochitl Mexico could be convinced to start up a 
cottage industry making these theengs.

Speaking of small villages in need of housing, perhaps it's time to start 
thinking about what we want to do this year for a List Christmas
fund-raising 
project and where those funds could be directed.  Another music CD/booklet ?

T-shirts ? 

--- * ---
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
<ArchiLogic@yahoo.ca>

Please visit http://www.octopusbooks.ca/petition/
and sign the petition to oppose the U.S. Nuclear Missile Defence program



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