Round brass for Em cage

[Marc Sova]

Where do you get proper diameter round brass stock for cages. Specifically Emerson S wire which I’ve measured at like 7/64ths diameter. Just a schosh under 1/8. 
  The 1/8” brass stock I bought at a hardware store is a bit too thick. I put a piece in a drill and use some 80 grit Emery to whittle it down a bit. Managed to thin it out a little bit, but not the full 64th it needed.  
   Also, is there a specific quality of brass that I’m looking for? Or is brass basically brass? Thanks. 

[Bill Dunlap]

You can probably find what you need at McMaster-Carr. Small diameter brass rod is nearly always 260 brass which is soft and formable. Larger diameters, like 3/16 may be 360 brass which is meant for machining. There are other grades as well, but usually not available in the sizes we use for our projects.

Cheers,

Bill

[Paul Carmody]

I bought some from Zoro EBay The 3/16 is 13.50 for 6ft .I bought that and 1/8 a while back and they had flat rate $5.00 no matter how many in the order.I bought 4 ,6ft ft rods.Check McMaster I’m not sure of their pricing?At the time Zoro was the best deal.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225835318955?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=1OF02YvTQAW&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=WpF9cMo-TO6&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[Marc Sova]

21 minutes ago, Paul Carmody said:

I bought some from Zoro EBay The 3/16 is 13.50 for 6ft .I bought that and 1/8 a while back and they had flat rate $5.00 no matter how many in the order.I bought 4 ,6ft ft rods.Check McMaster I’m not sure of their pricing?At the time Zoro was the best deal.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225835318955?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=1OF02YvTQAW&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=WpF9cMo-TO6&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Thanks. Well….it ideally It needs to be skinnier than 1/8th though. Unless that’s just what everybody does? I measured it at 7/64 if I’m reading my caliper right and I’m sure I am. The 1/8 I bought is just a tad fat. If doing the wintire cage guess it’s fine. But onlY replacing a couple….its noticeable. Also…I have to wonder about the quality. Wonder if the 1/8 I got is 260 brass as bulk mentioned above

[Edward Kowalke]

K&S, a hobby supplier has a .114 Dia. 260 brass rod sold in 12" lengths. A number of years ago when I made an Emerson P1 cage I used onlinemetals.com.

.10, .125, .187 (approx.) are the 3 sizes I bought and used.

Edited September 23, 2024 by Edward Kowalke
add info

[Bill Dunlap]

I do buy K&S brass sometimes. It comes in 260 grade brass, but only in 12 inch lengths which is fine for 12 inch guards, but a bit short for many 16 inch guards. Good luck finding .109 brass, though. .114 is what I would use as it's easily available and is very close in size. Also, as an aside, good luck finding .100 brass which was used on loads of Emerson guards and some others. You'll find 2.5mm rod (same dimension as .100), but understand that they're going to send you 3/32 (.093) which is noticeably thinner to some folks. 

I would buy from onlinemetals, but they only ship UPS which is stupid expensive out here.

Cheers,

Bill