Don Foreman wrote:

On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 10:14:51 -0800, Grant Erwin
wrote:



I have a sister who makes light fixtures as a cottage industry. She called me
just now wanting to know how to go about getting or making stainless wire rings,
spring tempered, made from something like 16 ga. wire. I don't see any people
who directly source rings in lampshade-sized dimensions (like 3" up) so now I'm
wondering about making them.

What kind of stainless wire can be spring-tempered?

Is it possible to make a spring-tempered stainless ring using only O/A
equipment? Or is TIG welding completely required?

Any bright ideas?

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington



O/A would be fine for silverbrazing, which works well on stainless.

A bandsaw blade welder would probably also work.


Buy music wire to form. A home made spring machine for loops as you
describe would be pretty easy to fabricate. Do NOT think you can get
good consistent results by wrapping them on a spindle. What you need to
do is force fee the wire against a die.

ASCII drawings suck but:

Wire moves-- --------------[ wire guide ]-/// --Die

The die is hardened material and can move up and down (in/out) for
different diameter coils. The wire is usually fed via pinch rollers.

You might be able to see it a little on http://www.nucoil.com/ I
couldn't run the video so don't know if it shows any details. Of course
these machines are CNC and do one heck of a lot more forming than you need

It'll TIG like a breeze if you're careful, run about 12 to 15 amps, and
have a high-freq start. There will probably be a small blob though. A
modified band saw welder might give better results if you want better
end to end welds. Gas shield it if you use the blade welder though.

There is a really neat friction welder for non-ferrous wires available.
It looks like a large pair of pliers that force the ends together and
rub them at the same time. Welds are beautiful and it's kind of amazing
that you can get such a good weld without any power but your hands.
Only works on copper and brass though.

Oh yea...make sure you reference the diameter instead of just saying 16
gauge. Many suppliers use the Non-ferrous ga. for stainless wire
instead of the US standard steel wire ga. Ya don't wanna be surprised
on the dia when you get the material.

Koz