30 odd lengths of 316 stainless, cut to length and then a section of texture added with the angle grinder....
... and half a dozen deep notches added to the end of the shaft to provide maximum adhesion for the glue without compromising the strength of the rest of the bolt.
The bender, in all its junkyard glory. The square table thingy pivots on some big bearings, and the thick bit of steel rod in the middle is the former around which the rings bend.
The finished product. All of the bending is done cold, and there is quite a bit of spring in the steel, which means it is impossible to close the ring up completely, so once all the bending...
...is done and all of the rings are ready for welding...
...they go into the next step, which is a little hydraulic press made from an old car jack I found at the rubbish dump. The ring goes into a little slot and then after a few pumps on the jack handle, the ring closes up enough to weld.
Tack weld done in the hydraulic press holds the ring shut until I can do the full pass...
with the TIG welder and some 316 filler rod. There is one final step - to pickle the rings in an acid solution to remove the oxide scale and restore their corrosion resistance. It's hideously toxic though and I'll wait until I've finished the whole process before I do it. But that's the process in a nutshell.
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