On 8/10/2013 1:26 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
In another group I read joining two round pieces of stainless wire often comes up in conversation. End to end, side by side, and end to side are all done or desired from time to time. The wire sizes range from 0.03" to 0.06" give or take. I would be curious what approach some of you guys might take to do these processes quickly and efficiently.

Mostly the join would be of the same size wire to itself, but occassionally it might be joining a lighter wire to a heavier wire. The resulting joint needs to be corrosion resistant, but not to an extreme. It is not exposed to strong acids. Hard or sal****er at worst. Life in use does not need to be infinite, but over a lifetime it might see several hundred hours of immersion with thousands of dunking cycles.

If the resulting joint is 75% as strong as the original wire or better that would probably be satisfactory. The wire is most likely a 308-316 spring wire, but others might be used.

The exact application is not really important. Its not a secret, but I often find that when you express an application people begin to critique the why and how of the end, rather than focus on the now problem. If you know or guess the application please keep it to yourself until the specific task has been thought about for atleast a few days. Its not a secret. I just would like to see some pure thought on specific process ideas first. If nobody has blurted it out I will be glad to share in a few days.

Bob



The wire mills use a process similar to a bandsaw blade welder.