On Tue, 06 May 2014 13:47:28 -0500, Jon Elson wrote:

Eli the Bearded wrote:

Is there an easy way to take wire off a spool and get it straight? I'm
working with 12ga galvinized steel here, in lengths of about two feet.

I know the jewelry people use nylon tipped pliers (squeeze tight and
pull through, repeat as needed), which seems fine for very small soft
wire, but I don't think that's going to work on this heavy stuff.
My trick is to put it between two 2x4's and roll the wire between them.
This gets them pretty straight. If you have a lot of this to do, you
can build a wire straightener with pegs or rollers made from cheap ball
bearings. You bend it first against the original curve, then back the
other way, but less bend, then back the first way, again less bend. You
can pull many feet through the straightener at one time,
then cut to she shorter lengths. I think they actually make commercial
machines that do this, so you may be able to see photos of how they
work.

That's my understanding of how they work. A friend of my dad's owned a
freelance tool and die shop (Pofco, in Clackamas): I remember once when
he was building just such a tool, as part of a larger production line for
something built out of wire.

I suspect they need to be fiddled with to get the wire perfectly straight.

As an alternative, if you take a piece of bent up wire and you pull on it
hard enough that it yields a bit all along its length, it'll be straight
when you're done. I've used this in the past to straighten copper wire
and I can attest to it working like a charm. I haven't had occasion to
try it on anything harder.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com