I'm examining my Smith & Wesson 100 handcuffs and wondering how the main plates are held together. There are several indented holes on each side of the cuffs but nothing anywhere that looks like a rivet. I can't imagine they're held together by the bows. are the holes rivets?
Thanks,
Paul
The plates of the cuff have sandwiched between them very thin slices of another metal. When stong current is run through the parts this compound melts and acts as a weld that fuses all the body plates together.And man is it strong.
Examining the parting line with a 10X loupe, I can see the layer of metal you refer to. It's probably a silver braze (AKA silver solder) compound. Given that there is plenty of surface area on the flats of those stampings, the joint would be strong indeed.
The indentations appear to be recessed cross pins. The insides of the holes show longitudinal striations left by the punch. I can see traces of a second metal at the bottoms of some of the pin holes. This may be the silver braze wicking up the gap between the pin and the hole. While the brazed in pins would add strength, they are probably there more as alignment pins, and as a "belt and suspenders" fastener. I'd judge that the brazing on the flats was the primary strength element.
The same effect could possibly be achieved with an adhesive. They do a lot of that in aircraft construction.
Q: What kind of glue do you use to fasten aircraft parts?
A: Airplane glue.
[WHACK] Owwww!
