On Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:26:20 +0100, David Billington
wrote:

wrote:
On Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:02:57 -0500, DougC
wrote:


I am looking at a use for some spring-temper 304 stainless wire, .009"
dia. It comes round, but it would be better suited for this use if it
was square-section. Can I run it (cold) through a couple pairs of
rollers to form it into a square, without altering the other properties?

Alternately does anyone sell smaller quantities of such wire (~1-lb
spools). I see there is flattened wire (about a 2:1 height/width ratio)
but it appears to be once-rolled with the ends rounded from forming, and
I want a (roughly) square cross-section with fairly sharp edges.

I haven't seen 304 spring wire but have seen and used 302. And I know
the way 302 is made into a spring is just through drawing. So the soft
wire is work hardened. If you draw 304 wire through a die I imagine it
would work harden too, considering that you can apparently buy the
round stuff. Jewelry suppliers sell dies for round and oval wire
drawing but I have not seen any for square. .009 round wire and .008
square have virtually the same cross sectional area so maybe you could
set up some bearings (like you suggested above) but instead roll the
soft stuff into hard. Run it through several times to work it a lot.
Eric

Drawplates for square wire are readily available in the UK so I would
expect them to be in the US also. The company I know that do various
shapes is
http://www.suttontools.co.uk/acatalo...enches_87.html
Thanks for the posted link Dave. The smallest square hole listed in .5
mm, and while that's too large for the original poster the drawplate
does have sizes I'm interested in for silver wire.
Eric