To those who have large Macaws - Regarding S/S Toys

[Jan]

I have a Blue & Gold, she does not play hard with destruction in mind with my S/S toys. I can give her toys with the 1.6mm S/S chain and she will not harm it in any way. She is not a good tester.

So for those who have any of the large Macaws and especially including the GW's and the Hy's ... have any of your Macaws destroyed or mess up the 2.0mm chain? The 2.0mm chain is a little larger than the 1.6mm chain. Don't know if the 2.0mm chain could be a weak link of a toy. If everything on a toy was hefty enough for a large Macaw but the chain can be broke easily then the toy is worthless. Don't know if most birds invest their time in trying to destroy the chain or not. I know full well that all bird play differently. I know where one Hy might be out for full destruction while another Hy plays very easy and won't destroy a s/s toy.

I am trying to decide if I really need to buy/use a heavier s/s chain for specific larger birds. However, with using a heavier chain then most of my S/S Parts will not go onto the chain so that would be a problem.

Also, do Hy's or GW's really need the welded oring larger than the 3.4mm thickness ... how many out there crush orings?

Thanks!

 

[Mizzely]

Wish I had some answers for you, but here's a bump

 

[HolliDaze]

@faislaq

 

[Nikomania]

Mine tinker with the chain, but don't destroy it. What they do destroy are the open o rings many toy manufacturers use to keep everything on the chain. I need a solution to that, as toys get taken down very quickly because they open them within a short period of time.
Which of your ss toys are for macaws?

 

[faislaq]

@faislaq

Sorry, I'm not much help. Buzzard is pretty gentle. @Macawnutz and @Jan come to mind.

 

[Jan]

Mine tinker with the chain, but don't destroy it. What they do destroy are the open o rings many toy manufacturers use to keep everything on the chain. I need a solution to that, as toys get taken down very quickly because they open them within a short period of time.
Which of your ss toys are for macaws?

On my Stainless toys we do WELD the orings CLOSED!!! Hearts in the Balance toy, Bell Tower toy, Masterpiece toy should be good for Macaw worthy and a few others are suitable if not out to destroy. In fact the other day we welded a total of 98 orings total on the 13 toys we did.

 

[HolliDaze]

Sorry, I'm not much help. Buzzard is pretty gentle. @Macawnutz and @Jan come to mind.

“Gentle”

 

[Rain Bow]

@Karen , @expressmailtome , @Hankmacaw ,

To add a few others & give this a little

 

[Rain Bow]

@Karen , @expressmailtome , @Hankmacaw ,

To add a few others & give this a little

 

[Shezbug]

Just wondering if it would be worth your while just using the size you originally planned to but also offering the option of the bigger stronger upgrade for those with the more destructive birds and altering the price to suit the bigger size size chain and oring and possible slight alteration to the actual toy?

Some orings and chain Burt goes out of his way to try and bend (same with any toys threaded on SS wire) but others he is not bothered with and I can not work out the reason for this. He has managed to slightly bend one of his thicker quick links which has rather surprised me as the thinner ones he has not bothered with other than to undo them or do them up so tight I need pliers to undo them.

Just a thought but I am sure your customers would be happy to wait a little longer to get exactly what they know will suit their birds destructive style, I know I would be for a life long toy as creative and beautiful as the ones you produce

 

[expressmailtome]

I am sorry but Michael, a blue-throated macaw, is not rough with stainless steel. He will bang it around, but not apply much pressure to it.

 

[Macawnutz]

Here is a picture from one of my customer's Jan. This is a 3.5mm wide jaw in NP.
I have been slowly switching my toy line to SS when this email came in. This is one of my favorite toy box customers.
Her Camelot is slightly destructive.
Pulled out side by side comparisons of O rings and quick links and started doing strength tests.
3.0mm O ring / Nickel plated is stronger than the stainless.
3.5mm Quick Link / Nickel plated stronger than the stainless.

Needless to say if I'm switching my big toys to stainless I have to go MUCH heavier than 3.5mm.
I would stick to your big chain if you cater to large birds but every bird is different.

 

[Jan]

Just wondering if it would be worth your while just using the size you originally planned to but also offering the option of the bigger stronger upgrade for those with the more destructive birds and altering the price to suit the bigger size size chain and oring and possible slight alteration to the actual toy?

Some orings and chain Burt goes out of his way to try and bend (same with any toys threaded on SS wire) but others he is not bothered with and I can not work out the reason for this. He has managed to slightly bend one of his thicker quick links which has rather surprised me as the thinner ones he has not bothered with other than to undo them or do them up so tight I need pliers to undo them.

Just a thought but I am sure your customers would be happy to wait a little longer to get exactly what they know will suit their birds destructive style, I know I would be for a life long toy as creative and beautiful as the ones you produce

If I was to increase the chain size to the 3.0mm or 3.5mm, all the stainless beads I have would not fit onto the chain. The bead hole size is 8mm which is a 5/16" hole size. Once I go extremely large most of the toys will not accommodate the things I currently have and will look my hardware like. Not to mention cutting heavy chain is hard to do, would need another tool for that!

I need to find out the widths of heavier 3.0 or 3.5mm chains to look for beads that might fit onto it, in which I do not believe there is much out there.

Here is a picture from one of my customer's Jan. This is a 3.5mm wide jaw in NP.
I have been slowly switching my toy line to SS when this email came in. This is one of my favorite toy box customers.
Her Camelot is slightly destructive.
Pulled out side by side comparisons of O rings and quick links and started doing strength tests.
3.0mm O ring / Nickel plated is stronger than the stainless.
3.5mm Quick Link / Nickel plated stronger than the stainless.

Needless to say if I'm switching my big toys to stainless I have to go MUCH heavier than 3.5mm.
I would stick to your big chain if you cater to large birds but every bird is different.

View attachment 314955

Well crap ... but yah, I could see a large Macaw doing that to these type of quick links, that only happened because it was opened which. I know back when I had nickel plated orings, they were easier to open than my stainless orings.

Sarah, what about the chain, what do any of your big guys destroy or mess up and what is the size?

 

[webchirp]

Here is a picture from one of my customer's Jan. This is a 3.5mm wide jaw in NP.
I have been slowly switching my toy line to SS when this email came in. This is one of my favorite toy box customers.
Her Camelot is slightly destructive.
Pulled out side by side comparisons of O rings and quick links and started doing strength tests.
3.0mm O ring / Nickel plated is stronger than the stainless.
3.5mm Quick Link / Nickel plated stronger than the stainless.

Needless to say if I'm switching my big toys to stainless I have to go MUCH heavier than 3.5mm.
I would stick to your big chain if you cater to large birds but every bird is different.

View attachment 314955

 

[Macawnutz]

If I was to increase the chain size to the 3.0mm or 3.5mm, all the stainless beads I have would not fit onto the chain. The bead hole size is 8mm which is a 5/16" hole size. Once I go extremely large most of the toys will not accommodate the things I currently have and will look my hardware like. Not to mention cutting heavy chain is hard to do, would need another tool for that!

I need to find out the widths of heavier 3.0 or 3.5mm chains to look for beads that might fit onto it, in which I do not believe there is much out there.




Well crap ... but yah, I could see a large Macaw doing that to these type of quick links, that only happened because it was opened which. I know back when I had nickel plated orings, they were easier to open than my stainless orings.

Sarah, what about the chain, what do any of your big guys destroy or mess up and what is the size?

Yah Jan, they break/bend/cripple small chain. Not every macaw but many of them do. Sam, Volar and Tiko need 3.0 welded and above. Sakie and Maui will open 2.0 and smaller if it's unwelded.

What I'm saying is.... my nickel plated pieces are double the strength of my SS! That's an issue here. I know we use the same supplier for SS. Had that quick link in the picture been a SS quick link... that bird would have bent it and twisted it closed again.

Laughing at that quick link picture but Joe tested that! That was hard to bend! That was pulling strength not biting strength. Think about the ridiculous about of strength that took without leverage!

 

[Hankmacaw]

Jasper is a wuss and opens quick links and now and then bends something. Hank broke and bent anything he felt like which meant almost everything. Both are GWs- what are you going to do - it's a conudrum.

 

[Karen]

No help here. No doubt Kady is a bigger wuss than Jasper. He’s never opened anything or bent anything metal. He has really chewed up some plastic straws though.

 

[Macawnutz]

Jasper is a wuss and opens quick links and now and then bends something. Hank broke and bent anything he felt like which meant almost everything. Both are GWs- what are you going to do - it's a conudrum.

I was pretty unhappy with our strength tests. My 3mm NP O rings are damn hard to open. I can only do a few before I'm asking Joe to close them for me. The 3mm SS ones are so soft. I'd need double the thickness to compensate.

With large bird wood toys you just hope the toy itself is interesting enough that they don't get bored and bend the quick links... lol. With SS toys I would think they need to be as indestructible as possible. IMO

 

[Macawnutz]

No help here. No doubt Kady is a bigger wuss than Jasper. He’s never opened anything or bent anything metal. He has really chewed up some plastic straws though.

Man you guys are lucky! Once a month I have to have Joe remove all the bent on/closed quick links from Tiko and Sam's cages... Rosie too when she was with us. Lol

 

[Nikomania]

Every O ring and fastener is bent within the first half hour. It's so frustrating, and I feel really badly for them as I can't keep them adequately entertained with indestructible toys. The only thing working right now are those SS hoop thingies that I can thread wood and other items onto. But even those get unfastened over time.