If you find yourself in need of chain link fencing, you’d probably just head down to the hardware store. However, [The Q] has shown us that you can make your own at home with a simple machine.
The build starts with a length of pipe, into which spiral slots are cut with an angle grinder. This pipe is the forming tool which shapes the wire into the familiar chain-link design. The pipe is then welded onto a backing plate, and fitted with a removable handcrank that turns a flat bar. Feed wire into the spiral groove, turn the crank, and out comes wire in the shape required. Mesh Reinforcement Mesh Welding Machine
From there, formed lengths of wire can be linked up into a fence of any desired size. Of course, fastening each end of the fence is left as an exercise for the reader, and the ends are sharp and unfinished. However, if you don’t like the chain link fencing on sale at your local hardware store, or you want to weave your own in some fancy type of wire, this machine could be just the thing you need.
We’ve seen similar designs before too, but on more of a doll-house scale. Video after the break.
Woah. I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never taken a second to think about how chain link fence is made. That’s pretty cool, and deceptively simple-looking.
Here are 282 seconds to think about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIaif7IBeZA
Absolutely fantastic movie! It’s stunningly apparent when people are good at and passionate about their craft — I’m talking about the movie rather than the fence-making in this case, but the fence making machine is cool too.
Their sound recording and engineering was probably the best I’ve heard on a video like this in years.
The sound recording would have been pretty close to the quality of David Attenborough shows of 1998, and I imagine used a lot of the same techniques and technology.
That was quite fascinating. Being someone who’s previously worked in a machine shop, there’s so much room for error if even one small step of that process goes wrong. I think the most interesting part was the “boiling” of the wire.
It’s simple looking when you see the video, but trying to actually make one isn’t so simple. Having the right power tools, a drill press, a welder and knowing how to weld are a big setback for me. I’ll admit I have the power tools and maybe even some scrap metal, but the drill press I have is still unassembled in the box due to lack of space and I don’t know the first thing about welding, let alone, actually having a welder.
Drill press? Just set it up and get drilling! Once you get the stand dialed in at exactly 90°, you’ll feel bad about all the wonky holes you’ve drilled by hand in your life.
There’s some nuance to putting the hole exactly where you want it. Good lighting, look from X and Y, small bits first, then progressively bigger if the material is tough.
But the drill press is the one machine tool that I could not live without. A lot of people say that about a lathe, and I wish I had space for one, but really. Drill press. Most utility / ft^2. Set it up!
i can make wonky holes with a drill press. I tried to make some recently through stainless steel pipe and later discovered just how terrible at it I am.
About that drill press. I’m quite computer savvy with building and repairing them, but not so much when it comes to assembling a drill press. The last time I attempted it was when I worked at Sears and had to setup a display model. Got it done for the display purpose, but it wasn’t quite functional. Also, I literally do not have the room to set it up or try assembling it, at the moment. Haven’t had any crucial hole-drilling projects, yet, but I’m sure that will change once I actually do have a drill press.
What was the tool from which he removed the crank? Asking for a friend.
It looks like a type of breast drill, but I have not seen one that hefty or with enclosed gearing.
I think I found one. Now to find one I can add to my collection. https://www.tooltique.co.uk/shop/vintage-stanley-continental-no-748a-breast-drill-clean-condition/
Well, if you can weld, you could fashion one out of an old dual end box wrench, I suppose.
I found a number of such breast drills on Etsy. But most of them are the eggbeater type…
https://www.etsy.com/search?q=breast%20drill
A vintage tool destroyed for its handle when all he needed was another strip of metal with a bolt through a wooden cylinder as the handle and a spigot at the hub end.
I noticed that, too. What the HECK, man? That’s a crime.
Kind of like the one video I watched with someone testing wrenches and they bought a used USA Craftsman wrench off ebay just to end up destroying it in the end. Interestingly, that USA made Craftsman wrench came in around 3rd, I believe, out of about 10 or 15 wrenches tested, including some high-end brands costing over $50 that fell towards the end of the scale and failed miserably. When Craftsman was made in the USA, it was still god quality, but now it’s just Chinese junk cranked out like 90% of all other brands. Honestly, I think they’re all made in the same factory, there, and just adding different brand names to them.
This would be an excellent way to make a one off fish net or barrier to let the smaller fish through and only catch the large ones in a river pool.
There’s a word for that! B^)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/seine
Definition of seine (Entry 1 of 3) : a large net with sinkers on one edge and floats on the other that hangs vertically in the water and is used to enclose and catch fish when its ends are pulled together or are drawn ashore Definition of seine (Entry 1 of 3) : a large net with sinkers on one edge and floats on the other that hangs vertically in the water and is used to enclose and catch fish when its ends are pulled together or are drawn ashore
I think it should also work, to wind the wire in tight windings tight over some flat steel bar of slightly smaller width, then remove the bar and stretch the coil to the desired length.
You can buy those link folding assemblies pre-made online in different sizes.[1] They plug into chain-link fence making machines that finish the job automatically by weaving the folded links.[2]
1. Chain link fence machine cylinders, USD $250.00
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165012498198
2. Full Automatic chain link fence machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX_GeQ718WM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX_GeQ718WM
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