Brass buckle clips for leather straps on an anglo ( Lachenal / Dipper )

[Ciaran OGrady]

I have a few students with lachenal concertinas in range of conditions. A frequent problem is the brass buckle strap (Proper name?) that keeps the leather strap secured to the wooden hand rails (but allows the strap to pass through so that it can be adjusted) is frequently defective (either too large/too tight/replaced by inferior metal/misshapen and uncomfortable). You know the ones. I would also like to refresh a a buckle strap on a Colin&Rosalie Dipper concertina which has thicker handrails than the Lachenal.

 

I have researched small square-mandrel forming pliers ( wubbers/Beadsmith).  Not cheap!

 

Am I on the right track? What size would you recommend? Anyone got any suggestions on best approach to forming the 4x 90degree angles ( other than dont crack the brass!)?

 

Cheers

Ciaran, Melbourne

 

 

 

Edited January 23 by Ciaran OGrady

[MeezStephanie]

I"m afraid when one broke on my Lachenal i just used black electrical wire. but if you find a source I'd be interested!

 

[alex_holden]

I don't think you need a particularly fancy pair of pliers. Preferably use a pair with smooth jaws so you don't get serration marks. Something similar to these would work:

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jewellery-Miniature-Hobbies-Creativity-Crafting/dp/B0BMZPK1C2/

 

I like to round over the corners of the jaws slightly with a diamond file so they don't dig in so much.

 

Hold the wire firmly in the pliers and rotate them while pushing the free end against a hard surface (e.g. a workbench). The difficult part is putting the bends in the right places so it ends up the right size and the ends meet up. You might need a few attempts so buy more wire than you think you will need. I usually cut the wire a bit too long and then trim it after bending.

 

I think brass wire is usually supplied "half hard": that ought to be soft enough to take a 90 degree bend without breaking. If you find it is too hard, you can anneal it by heating in a flame until it's a dull red and then quenching in water.

[Theo]

Sifbronze brazing rod works quite well for this.  It comes in two thicknesses, you want the thinner one.

[Clive Thorne]

I have just this week made a replacement on of these from some brass wire. In my case the reason was that the original had very square corners that would dig into the base of my thumb and got quite uncomfortable.

 

The new one I made has the appropriate corner quite rounded, formed by bending it around a suitable bit of bar. The other three corners remain "sharp".  It has transformed it from comfort point of view.  May do the same to the left hand strap as well, although that one has be been less of a problem.

 

Is your location of "Melborne" the big one in Australia, or the small one in Derbyshire, UK?  If the UK one I could drop some wire in the post for you. If the Austrialian one then it's probably not worth it!

 

 

[Jake Middleton-Metcalfe]

I just used 2mm brass wire - you can usually get it from model making shops for small quantities. A pair of pliers and some patience. Be prepared to mess a few up before you get it exactly the right size but the wire is cheap.

 

I usually first bend the first 90 to form the bit that goes under the hand rest, then put the hand strap where it will be and use a Sharpie to mark the point  of the next bend on the wire - that defines how much wiggle room the bracket will have once the strap is in there. Keep doing this, mark up, bend , mark up, bend until done. You might need two pairs of pliers for some of it. To be honest it's deceptively hard to get right.

 

If it does not fit in the little notch on the underside of the hand rest (if the original wire was thinner) you could either find thinner wire or otherwise file out that little notch a bit until the wire fits. The key thing is as you mentioned it's got to be the right size for the strap, so it's not too loose not too tight. Tricky.

 

I hope this helps

Edited January 23 by Jake Middleton-Metcalfe

[wschruba]

Nothing really to add to what previous posters have already said except that you can get very simple forming tools called "bending jigs" that are fairly inexpensive and make it slightly easier to manage complex shapes.  The wires in that size typically tolerate being bent once, but if you need to undo a bend, you'll need to heat it with a torch to relieve the stress.

 

I use wire bending (round-nose) pliers made by Knipex, personally.  Round dies are harder to get the position right, as mentioned above--grab a piece of coat hanger, and practice making bends.  Mark where you want it bent, then place it in the jaws, and bend it; mark it where it actually bent, then practice getting the two marks on top of each other.  At that point, it's just a matter of measuring the expected width/height of the rectangle, and bending.

 

I braze mine together afterwards, then polish them..

[Ciaran OGrady]

I am extremely grateful for all the very good advice and experience here. I will make a start this weekend. Coat hangers first! As much as the specific techniques and tools recommended, discussing it certainly adds belief!

 

Cheers