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SHOP NOTE #1: Manufacturing Miniature Stainless Steel Shackles The catamaran models shown on the “Model Building” pages all required the manufacture of miniature “stainless steel” shackles. As in many cases the full-sized shackle only measures about an inch across, the miniature needs to be shrunk to 1/24 of an inch – or as close as possible. This shop note describes the method devised to make such miniature shackles, using a very simple jig, a pair of small needle-nosed pliers, and a nail clipper. The raw material is a single office staple.
This picture shows the jig – a small block of wood, into which a hole was drilled and a sewing pin firmly hammered in, with the head of the pin snipped off. Additional holes were drilled at a few distances from the fixed pin, to allow shackles of differing sizes (or several of the same size) to be made.
This picture shows the eight-step procedure to make a shackle: Step 1: One end of the staple is bent around the fixed pin. Step 2: The bending continues to make a loop. Step 3: The surplus end is clipped off. Step 4: The staple is put back into the jig, with a sewing pin through the looped end, into one of the holes additionally drilled, which will give the shackle its desired size. The other end of the staple is bent around the fixed pin. Step 5: The bending continues to make a loop. Step 6: The surplus end is clipped off. Step 7: Using the pliers, the shackle is bent into a horseshoe shape, and a sewing pin is inserted to become the screw in the shackle. Step 8: The surplus length of sewing pin is snipped off, and we have the completed shackle. Step 8 is usually taken only after the shackle is installed onto the model, and after a minute drop of super glue is applied to the head of the pin to keep it in place. | |||||||||||||||||||
