Help me buy the tiniest Pad Eye (or Strap Eye) hardware

March 30, 2021 10:44 AM

I am looking for the tiniest hardware: pad eyes or strap eyes (for a loom modification). The smallest I can find in marine hardware circles is about 1.7” at the widest part of the base, but I am looking for a part that is a maximum of 1”/25mm across the base. Preferably 316 stainless, and smooth enough for soft yarns (ie a round profile vs a stamped strap). Help me, shoppers! I suspect this part exists in tiny-land but maybe under another name.
posted by janell to Shopping (8 answers total)

Would an eye-bolt do the trick?
posted by cardboard at 11:01 AM on March 30, 2021

McMaster Carr has some rope guides that might work.
posted by adamrice at 11:37 AM on March 30, 2021

I spent some time on AliExpress but didn't find anything that small. I found some at 35mm, but that's still a good bit bigger than you're looking for.

I do have two ideas: Could you place the pad eyes so that one one screw goes through two pad eye's mounting holes, so every other pad eye would sit on top of its neighbors reducing space between the pad eyes. Or would it be possible to offset the pad eyes slightly so that there were two rows of pad eyes next to each other but offset by the width of a pad eye?

sorry for the crude drawings!
posted by gregr at 1:06 PM on March 30, 2021

I don't know if this would be smooth enough.
posted by sardonyx at 1:42 PM on March 30, 2021

Response by poster: I should have explained that I would be mounting this (probably with glue) on the sidewalk of a shuttle like this one, so the real-estate limitation is firm.
Rotating one to fit might actually work, if nothing else emerges.
posted by janell at 1:44 PM on March 30, 2021

You could probably mount a tiny eye bolt by cutting off the bolt part with a hacksaw and gluing it on. Or cut the bolt down to a short stub, drill a matching hole in the part of the shuttle you're mounting it to, and glue that stub into the hole. Or use a small eye nut? I don't see much in the way of dimensions on that site, but I'm sure they can be found somewhere.

Or glue on a large stainless steel bead or a small, thick stainless steel ring. Epoxy would probably hold one just fine, but you could also file one side of the bead flat for more contact.

Or get some heavy stainless wire, bend it into a U, drill holes where you want the ends anchored to the shuttle, and glue them into place. Or do the same with a cut-down U-bolt.

Or use the heavy stainless wire as above, but with the ends of the U bent out in opposite directions perpendicular to the U, and glue them to the surface of the wood; no need for drilling holes. (Apologies for the not-so-clear description; I'd include a sketch but I'm short on time.)
posted by sibilatorix at 4:25 PM on March 30, 2021

Would miniature marine hardware for scale models be too small?
posted by yeahlikethat at 8:22 AM on March 31, 2021

Response by poster: Yes!!!!!! Those look pretty promising.
posted by janell at 4:37 PM on March 31, 2021