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 Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 4:45 pm |
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Tool Review: The Small Shop “The Wrangler”; price US$49.95
Advantages: can be used to bend handrails, rings or springs
interchangeably
Disadvantage: one of 17 options is partially unusable due to a pin
location
Rating: Highly Recommended
Recommendation: for anyone who has to bend metal wire or with some
care styrene rod
One chore I have always hated is bending handrails for models from
either wire or plastic. It is very difficult to get them precisely
identical, and if done by hand too often one leg is skewed in a fore-
and-aft direction with its opposite number.
Several companies have tried over the years to come up with a machine
or template cum guide to help in this endeavor. For years I use one I
got in the UK from Airwave which is a square of thick brass with holes
drilled at set differences around its inside and notches about its
outside with lines joining them. This works reasonably well with thin
wire, but does not like heavy wire and tends to snap styrene rod.
A few years back a device called the “Grab Handler” was produced,
looking something like a flat Christmas tree with a clamping screw at
its rear. This device was a good idea and offered a lot of
possibilities to get nice tight bends as it could hold the wire in
place, but $65 for a device which only did one thing seemed a bit dear
to me.
Now The Small Shop – who began their reputation as a tool maker with
the original “Hold ‘n’ Fold” for etched brass – offers the “Wrangler”
which performs three functions: it can clamp and assist in the
creation of handrails; it can be used to create wire loops or rings;
and it can be used to create short springs.
The device consists of two halves of machine aircraft-grade aluminum
with the now-common Small Shop screw lock with spring resistance at
one end and what looks like an escapee tree from the surrealistic film
“Last Year at Marienbad” at the other! Seriously, the device has
seventeen rings in ascending order from the tip down.
The rings (or cylinders, as they are split in the middle) are
approximately 1/8" (3.5mm) in breath and provide diameters of 0.095",
0.145", 0.195", 0.245", 0.295", 0.345", 0.395", 0.445", 0.495",
0.545", 0.595", 0.645", 0.695", 0.745", 0.795", 0.845", and 0.895".
But as noted, since the device is designed to maintain precise
alignment there is a steel pin underneath the 0.695" step and it may
cause some problems for making a handrail or step that width (24" in
1/35 scale, 56" in HO scale for model railroaders).
The device does deliver as advertised, but as the Small Shop notes
you have to use lightweight wire which is not tempered. This means
either brass or phosphor bronze being preferred and not piano wire or
it will “nick” the tool. Personal experimentation shows that some
styrene rod or strip may be bent if care is used (suggestion: rub the
styrene back and forth over the edge of a table a couple of times to
put some “flex” in them before bending).
The handrails/steps are easy to make. Kink one end of a wire, install
it in the Wrangler next to the size step you want to use, lock it in
place, and bend it and its opposite side down. Snip and done. Rings
are a bit tougher - you may wish to anneal the wire first by heating
it to get a better and smoother shape. As physics dictate you will get
a “split ring” out of it but this is fine if you are making “loop”
antennas or similar items as it gives you the prongs for
installation.
Making springs is limited to the length of the “layer” you select. If
you select the right tension wire the springs will work and be 8-10
coils in length, but they are going to be light duty ones.
Overall this is a handy tool and considering how many bending jobs I
run into will probably be a work surface tool and not a side cabinet
one!
Thanks to Julie from The Small Shop for the review sample.
Cookie Sewell |
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