I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick (0.5mm)

I want to sell it by the foot. It is rather hard and I want some
creative ideas on how to cut it without ruining the cutting
implement.

Thanks

i

"Ignoramus10295" wrote in message
...
I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick (0.5mm)

I want to sell it by the foot. It is rather hard and I want some
creative ideas on how to cut it without ruining the cutting
implement.

Thanks

i

Diamond cut-off wheel.

Best Regards
Tom.

On Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:21:16 -0500, Ignoramus10295
wrote:

I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick (0.5mm)

I want to sell it by the foot. It is rather hard and I want some
creative ideas on how to cut it without ruining the cutting
implement.


Pliers with carbide edges are available, but they're very expensive.
Cheap diagonal pliers may be most economical if you consider them
disposable. Tungsten wire is fibrous, brittle at room temp, and
abrasive, but really not that hard.

I've built many devices, both manual and automatic, for cutting
tungsten wire. Most used standard carbide tool inserts as shear
blades. One cut over 1200 short pieces of wire per minute. The trick
to minimizing fracturing the ends is to heat the wire to 400 degrees
or so (above tungsten's brittle to ductile transition temperature)
when cutting.

--
Ned Simmons

On 2012-06-15, Howard Beal wrote:

"Ignoramus10295" wrote in message
...
I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick (0.5mm)

I want to sell it by the foot. It is rather hard and I want some
creative ideas on how to cut it without ruining the cutting
implement.

Thanks

i

Diamond cut-off wheel.


Great idea, just what I will do.

i

"Howard Beal" wrote in message
...

"Ignoramus10295" wrote in message
...
I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick (0.5mm)

I want to sell it by the foot. It is rather hard and I want some
creative ideas on how to cut it without ruining the cutting
implement.

Thanks

i

Diamond cut-off wheel.

Best Regards
Tom.


Not an answer but a question. What is tungsten / rhenium wire used for? TIG
electrodes?

On 2012-06-15, Dennis wrote:

"Howard Beal" wrote in message
...

"Ignoramus10295" wrote in message
...
I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick (0.5mm)

I want to sell it by the foot. It is rather hard and I want some
creative ideas on how to cut it without ruining the cutting
implement.

Thanks

i

Diamond cut-off wheel.

Best Regards
Tom.


Not an answer but a question. What is tungsten / rhenium wire used for? TIG
electrodes?



It is very fancy stuff, rhenium is a very expensive metal, four times
more expensive than silver.

It is used to prevent high temperature sag of tungsten wire and
improve its ductility.

i

On Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:21:16 -0500, Ignoramus10295
wrote:

I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick (0.5mm)

I want to sell it by the foot. It is rather hard and I want some
creative ideas on how to cut it without ruining the cutting
implement.

Abrasive wheel in a die grinder or plasma cutter?
Or perhaps a shear?

I wonder if a $9 investment in a HF tinsnip trio would cut it.
(double entendre intentional) $2.99 straight cut/single
http://tinyurl.com/cvpmzcm

--
Doctors prescribe medicine of which they know little,
to cure diseases of which they know less,
in human beings of which they know nothing.
--Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire, about 250 years ago

"Ignoramus10295" wrote in message
...
On 2012-06-15, Dennis wrote:

"Howard Beal" wrote in message
...

"Ignoramus10295" wrote in message
...
I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick
(0.5mm)

I want to sell it by the foot. It is rather hard and I want some
creative ideas on how to cut it without ruining the cutting
implement.

Thanks

i

Diamond cut-off wheel.

Best Regards
Tom.


Not an answer but a question. What is tungsten / rhenium wire used for?
TIG
electrodes?



It is very fancy stuff, rhenium is a very expensive metal, four times
more expensive than silver.

It is used to prevent high temperature sag of tungsten wire and
improve its ductility.

i


Ok thanks.

When I was working with (pure) tungsten wire, I used carbide-jaw
diagonal cutters. My wire was about half as thick as yours, though
that shouldn't make much difference. Prior to getting the carbide
tools, I used regular, better quality, cutters. They did wear faster
than normal, but not too bad. My customer supplied the carbide
cutters; if it had been my money, I would have bought a few pairs of
Kleins (or similar) and saved a bundle.

Joe

On Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:21:16 -0500, Ignoramus10295
wrote:

I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick (0.5mm)

I want to sell it by the foot. It is rather hard and I want some
creative ideas on how to cut it without ruining the cutting
implement.

Thanks

i

Improving ductility would be a plus. The pure W I used was
phenomenally expensive (in my opinion): we paid a little over a grand
for 300 meters (about 4 lbs). That was way above the standard cost per
pound of W. I suppose a lot of that cost was the PITA of drawing
something that hard (but I guess they did it while hot). OTOH, another
supplier that we used sometimes - Luma from Sweden - charged less than
$800 for the same stuff - that was with shipping from Europe.

Joe


On Thu, 14 Jun 2012 23:31:10 -0500, Ignoramus10295
wrote:


Not an answer but a question. What is tungsten / rhenium wire used for? TIG
electrodes?



It is very fancy stuff, rhenium is a very expensive metal, four times
more expensive than silver.

It is used to prevent high temperature sag of tungsten wire and
improve its ductility.

i

On Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:21:16 -0500, Ignoramus10295
wrote:

I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick (0.5m

Ig, that's fairly thin, pretty hard stuff.

Use a high-speed, small thickness cutoff wheel.

Lloyd

I don't know for certain how it would work with your fancy stuff, but on
the low-end of the price range jewelry suppliers sell "hard wire
cutters" for cutting what is essentially plated spring-temper piano-wire
(memory wire) for not too much money. Not stuff I'd want to feed into my
"good" normal wire cutters (intended for copper wire, seen plenty with
"serrations" from someone abusing them with hard wire, which is one
reason they don't get loaned out.)

Looking at those, I'd guess they have a small carbide blade brazed in
place - no edge damage visible. Without looking up the invoice I'd guess
$15 3 years ago. Quite possibly they vary, as with most mass-market
things. I paid a bit more to get USA made ones. Xuron 2193, made in
Saco, Maine.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Please don't feed the trolls. Killfile and ignore them so they will go away.

Dennis wrote:

Not an answer but a question. What is tungsten / rhenium wire used for? TIG
electrodes?

Tungsten with tungsten/rhenium is used for a high temp thermocouple pair
in non-oxidizing environments.

bob prohaska

Clamp it in a vise and shear it with a cold chisel?

Joe wrote in
:

When I was working with (pure) tungsten wire, I used carbide-jaw
diagonal cutters. My wire was about half as thick as yours, though
that shouldn't make much difference. Prior to getting the carbide
tools, I used regular, better quality, cutters. They did wear faster
than normal, but not too bad. My customer supplied the carbide
cutters; if it had been my money, I would have bought a few pairs of
Kleins (or similar) and saved a bundle.

Lindstrom (and others) make "hard wire cutters" that might do the trick.
They would certainly last longer than regular ones. I use Lindstroms at
work to cut berylium copper pins on RF connectors, and they work fine. Any
other cutter is toast after one shot.

Doug White

replying to Ignoramus10295 , Metal man wrote:
ignoramus10295 wrote:

I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick (0.5mm)
I want to sell it by the foot. It is rather hard and I want some
creative ideas on how to cut it without ruining the cutting
implement.
Thanks
i


You would need carbide tip cutters . I have a couple suppliers that I use
What price do you sell this material at?

--

On Thursday, June 14, 2012 10:21:16 PM UTC-4, Ignoramus10295 wrote:
I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick (0.5mm)


Thanks



i


Before I bought anything to cut the wire, I would try bending it back and forth a couple of times using ordinary gas pliers. And if that did not work use an abrasive cut off wheel. Should work. Aluminum oxide grinding wheel is what you use to sharpen TIG electrodes.

Dan

On 2013-11-23, Metal man wrote:
replying to Ignoramus10295 , Metal man wrote:
ignoramus10295 wrote:

I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick (0.5mm)
I want to sell it by the foot. It is rather hard and I want some
creative ideas on how to cut it without ruining the cutting
implement.
Thanks
i


You would need carbide tip cutters . I have a couple suppliers that I use
What price do you sell this material at?


Regular cutters seem to work also. I sell it for $3 per linear
foot. Sold a lot already.

i

On 2013-11-23, BQ340 wrote:
On 11/23/2013 1:48 PM, wrote:

Aluminum oxide grinding wheel is what you use to sharpen TIG electrodes.

Dan


I thought Silicon Carbide wheels?

Regular wheels work just fine.

i

replying to Ignoramus32387 , Metal man wrote:
ignoramus32387 wrote:

Regular cutters seem to work also. I sell it for $3 per linear
foot. Sold a lot already.
i



The problem with standard cutters is that it shocks the material sending a
split or a fracture through the length of the wire . Where do you sell the
wire at . I may be intersted in making flat wire out if it .

--

On 2013-11-24, Metal man wrote:
replying to Ignoramus32387 , Metal man wrote:
ignoramus32387 wrote:

Regular cutters seem to work also. I sell it for $3 per linear
foot. Sold a lot already.
i



The problem with standard cutters is that it shocks the material sending a
split or a fracture through the length of the wire . Where do you sell the
wire at . I may be intersted in making flat wire out if it .


email ichudov AT gmail DOT com

On Sat, 23 Nov 2013 21:29:20 -0600, Ignoramus32387
wrote:

On 2013-11-23, BQ340 wrote:
On 11/23/2013 1:48 PM, wrote:

Aluminum oxide grinding wheel is what you use to sharpen TIG electrodes.

Dan


I thought Silicon Carbide wheels?

Regular wheels work just fine.

1" Zirconia sanding belts seem to work fine, too.

--
The business of America is not business. Neither is it war. The business
of America is justice and securing the blessings of liberty.
-- George F. Will

On 11/23/2013 2:15 PM, Ignoramus32387 wrote:
On 2013-11-23, Metal man wrote:
replying to Ignoramus10295 , Metal man wrote:
ignoramus10295 wrote:

I have some tungsten/rhenium wire. 20% rhenium. 0.020 inches thick (0.5mm)
I want to sell it by the foot. It is rather hard and I want some
creative ideas on how to cut it without ruining the cutting
implement.
Thanks
i


You would need carbide tip cutters . I have a couple suppliers that I use
What price do you sell this material at?


Regular cutters seem to work also. I sell it for $3 per linear
foot. Sold a lot already.

i



Maybe I could make a knot-type wire wheel for you, make a hell of a brush!