On Tue, 20 Sep 2005 23:26:27 GMT, "Wayne G. Dengel"
wrote:

You got it, got the picture.

And, yes, one of the connections would have to have a left-handed thread.

Only if you wanted it to tighten. If you could establish tension by
other means, then just screw the RH coupler all the way on to one rod
before closing the frame, tension the frame, screw the coupler
halfway on to the other rod. Turning the coupler doesn't change the
tension but it does join the ends.

Or what? have not figured out how to assemble such a brass-rod rectangle.
This is not a trick question - just wish to "pull this off", some assembly
in some simple way. Are left-handed threads difficult to come by?

LH taps and dies are available.

Turn-buckles have one left and one right. If I could only find small,
brass turnbuckles! In fact, turnbuckles would be ideal - able to "pull the
brass rod rectangle" together, i.e. snug into rabbets milled into the
stain-glass outer wood frame.

As for the 'L'-shapped corner brackets, right now I am in the mood to simple
bend the rods at the corners. I can't help wonder if this will negatively
effect rod strength to the point where this whole design is unworthy.

A very sharp right-angle zero-radius bend will probably weaken or
break brass rod. I would make silver-brazed corners. They could be
mitered, or just buttbraze the end of one rod to the side of the
other and then clean it up with a file. For the closing joint, I
would mill or file flats on the joining pieces so they could overlap,
then tension it by other means: perhaps small visegrip on each rod,
pull them together with another clamp or wind up some string or
something. If you don't need a lot of tension, you might be able to
drill small crosswise holes in the rod and pull the ends together with
snapring pliers. You could soft-solder ears on the rods, pinch the
ears together with a clamp of some sort, solder the splice and then
remove the ears.

I'd then solder the overlapped splice with Harris Staybrite; the 430F
heat can be supplied by a soldering gun and won't harm the glass.

The result would be a frame with square corners and no "bumps".

If you don't mind a small bump, you could get some brass tubing that
just slides over the rod -- look at a hobby store. Tension the rod
by other means, solder the rod into the tube. Ordinary soft solder
would work here, but Staybrite might be better because it's very
fluid, would readily "wick" into the tube and around the rod.

Some welding stores sell a couple of oz of Staybrite in little
blister packs with flux, so you don't need to buy a whole pound of it.
(Pricey)

Brownells offers "Hi Force" (similar stuff, 96 tin 4 silver), $4.95
for one oz. http://tinyurl.com/bzg36 One oz is several feet of
1/16" wire, way plenty for your job.