NEW MEMBER: advice on wire forming

[A_yates]

Hi all!

I'm writing on here for the first time because i'm looking for some advice on how/if the a wire part i have designed is suitable for automated CNC wire bending/forming?

There are two ways that i can make the part for which i have attached PDFs showing the dimensions. The part would need to be in marine grade stainless steel. I need it to be CNC automated i think because i'd be looking at a batch of 2,000+

CNC wire bending is something i have absolutely no knowledge of! So if the parts are manufacturable then great, but if not, any advice on why not would be much appreciated!

Kind regards,

Alex

[Clive S]

Hi Alex and welcome to the forum. I am pretty sure that they could be cnc'd I have seen butterfly brick ties made with automatic wire forming machines. but apart from that I cannot help. To justify making a machine from scratch I would think you would have to do a lot more than 2000 parts to make it pay. Have you thought about farming the job out as there must be companies that could do this for you.

[JAZZCNC]

Not sure what your asking here.?

Are you asking the part is suitable for CNC manufacture.? if so Then Yes very much so.

Or are you asking is it possible to make CNC wire bender to make this part.? . . Again answer is yes but quite complex to achieve and not something I'd recommend taking on for someone with no experience.
I've never made one but can 100% say that with all my experience of CNC I'd have to sit down think long and hard on how to achive this. It's not just or really the mechanical design either.? It's software side and how to program the bending that will thrash the brain.!!

So which or what is it your asking.?

Here's good example of Diy CNC bender but look at the complexity and what happening.!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgyKPa0QT2w#t=121.867891

[Clive S]

I find them fascinating https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2xuLz6XObA and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDoSDiiZx6U

[A_yates]

Thanks for your replies guys, I could watch those videos all day!

For clarity, yes i was planning on outsourcing them, as there's no way i'd be able to manufacture them myself...

I was really wondering whether the general shape might be unachievable using CNC manufacture, for which the answer seems to be yes. It would seem those machines can do almost anything, but having said that i haven't seen anything that doubles back on itself fully like my "wire 1" part.

Do you guys have any guesses at what i'd be looking at cost wise if i outsourced this to a wire bending specialist?

[JAZZCNC]

Do you guys have any guesses at what i'd be looking at cost wise if i outsourced this to a wire bending specialist?

No sorry can't help with that.!

[cropwell]

Fascinating video, but not one decent paper clip among 'em :witless:

[mekanik]

Hi
send your file here
http://jtpearcesprings.co.uk/wire-forms.aspx?gclid=CLirm5z9n88CFYYy0wod2WgDKw
for a quote, they do upto 0.625" in round wire.
Regards
Mike