Producing stainless steel jump rings at home?

[k29d]

Hi

I'm new to making jewelry and I particularly like making chainmail.

I make my own jump rings by hand out of aluminium wire and I'd like to work with stainless steel as well.

The problem is I don't have any tool that can cut cleanly through stainless steel wire leaving perfectly flush ends. For aluminium I have been using a jeweler's saw but that won't make a dent in the steel. I have a Knipex that can cut the steel wire but doesn't leave flush ends.

I looked online for a solution and the best I could find were the Durston jump ring makers that use the Foredom flex shaft but it even says that it cannot cut steel, just softer metals like aluminium, copper, etc.

What kind of machine would I need for cutting stainless steel jump rings? Is it just not realistic for a home setup?

I'd like to know what it would take even if it's an industrial machine, just out of curiosity.
Sorry if it's an obvious question, this is all very new to me.

Thanks in advance

[china]

Stainless is A PIA where jump rings are concerned, save yourself lots of bother and just buy them, I attempted this for chain mail a couple of years ago, trust me just buy them.

[k29d]

I believe you, and I probably will just buy them as you say. But I'd still like to know how they're cut if possible :) If you have any info to share from when you attempted it I'd be interested in what you found.

[Dennis]

Fibre reinforced cutting disks on your handpiece will do it.

[nicks creative stuff]

Buying jump rings would save a lot of time and effort and they would be nice and neat. However if you do really want to go down the route of making your own i’m sure it will be possible with aluminium oxide cutting discs. I work with stainless steel all the time at my job and the go to tool for cutting it is an angle grinder with a 1mm thick cutting disc.
This might be a bit heavy and cumbersome for jump rings and leaving a 1mm gap may give jump rings an oval finish when closed. I’m sure these discs come in a mini version for say Dremels and Air Tools and would be more like 22mm diameter and say 0.5 or 0.6mm thick … good luck with it … Nick

[china]

As Nick said small cutting disks will do it however the amount you will go through making chainmail is just not practical.

[k29d]

Thanks for the information everyone. I agree it doesn't sound practical. I think I will continue cutting them with my Knipex for now even though the cut isn't the best. I wish there was a flush cutter that could handle steel like the Knipex compact bolt cutter can. I've been using a flush cutter for aluminium rings and with spacing the coil out and flipping the cutter so the flush side cuts both ends of the ring you can get a pretty good cut. But trying those cutters on steel just tends to dent them.

[ps_bond]

The only way I'd attempt cutting serious numbers of stainless jump rings is with a carbide slitting saw in a lathe or a mill. Which is fine if you already have a lathe or a mill, but even then it's down to how you cost your time...

Abrasive discs will wear out too quickly and if you try using them in a jump ringer they're going to be stuck as soon as they wear shallower than the depth of cut.

[k29d]

The only way I'd attempt cutting serious numbers of stainless jump rings is with a carbide slitting saw in a lathe or a mill. Which is fine if you already have a lathe or a mill, but even then it's down to how you cost your time...

Abrasive discs will wear out too quickly and if you try using them in a jump ringer they're going to be stuck as soon as they wear shallower than the depth of cut.

Excellent, do you think that's the setup places that sell large quantities like The Ringlord and joshuadiliberto.com use?

[josef1]

https://www.joshuadiliberto.com/JD_newWebPages/SUPPLYANATOMYOFASAWCUTCHAINMAILLERING.php it tells you here how he does it

https://www.ringinator.com/ this is the machine

[ps_bond]

I like that... Similar to what I was thinking of with a slitting saw, but without needing a lathe.