Hi all I'm after short lengths (a few metres) of non-ferrous, malleable wire - say 2-3mm dia. Copper would be too weak, piano wire not malleable enough (as well as rusting). Have you seen those 'street traders' that bend some sort of alloy wire into people's names, ornamental patterns, and so on? That sort of stuff. Any idea where to get hold of some from?
Thanks J^n
How about craft wire;
Alec Tiranti. They stock sculptors' supply. The link is for aluminium armature wire. They also do mail order.
iron garden wire is good.
aint that ferrous though????
Sorry. read that as 'ferrous' Not 'non ferrous', since he mentioned he had tried piano wire..
Some form of brass wire would seem to be optimal..
There are also 2 commonish types of resistance wire, nichrome and constantan. Whether they suit you I've no idea. Both non ferrous, and available from electronic component suppliers.
NT
2 or 3 mm in dia?
I think the street vendors use an aliuminium wire. Craft or maybe flower arranging suppliers is the place to look but expect a 500%+ markup over the price from an industrial supplier.
Brass I think would work harden very quickly and fracture. The OP has ruled out copper as "too weak", 2 or 3mm dia single copper (3mm dia is more or less 7mm^2) is quite tough stuff, easy to anneal to bend and work hardens nicely. Ali wire is softer and weaker than copper.
I think we need to know more about the application if copper is too weak.
Expensive and very springy. Not malleable.
Whats wrong with coat hangars?
galvanised..
BTW model shops do brass rod, often.
Esp. model railway shops.
blowlamp.
The OP has
Hi All Thanks for the suggestions...
Craft shops are clearly worth a look. There is plenty of 'craft wire' on eBay, but I'm not sure of the strength/malleability. I'll see what I can learn from poking around a shop.
Flower shop wire tends to be ferrous, I think.
Something with the strength of brass, but 'Aluminium' in colour, would be good. I want to bend something useful out of it, a bit like the street-seller stuff but more functional, he said coyly.
Is there an easy source of 'coat-hanger wire' which isn't pre-bent into the shape of a coat hanger? Strength-wise it would be fine, but I need to start off with a decent length of straight.
The sculptor's supply link is a great resource anyway - thanks!
J^n
PS: Just remembered that my dad (ex-British Leyland, man & boy) used to make *everything* out of welding wire of the appropriate diameter ...
J
If the OP can make the form he wants with it hot in the flame... I got the impression that he wanted to cold from what ever it is but that could be a bad assumption.
OK. that would be something agricultural. Used in fencing. Galvanised iron wire.
The easiest way to straighten it is to get a length and put one end in a vice or some sort of rigid clamp, and then wind the other round a pole and pull bloody hard. It stretches, work hardens and straightens.
It takes many years for fence wire to rust. You should be ok with galvanised. And a spray coat of clear lacquer will help as well.
annealing is not hot working. Its heating and slow cooling.
True, but I think brass would work harden very quickly after annealling, much faster than copper say.
Yes, but that ain't gonna be particularly maleable, which was in your original spec.
I use aluminium wire frequently, as an armature for soft-bodied porcelain dolls. It's easily set into shape and is strong enough not to fracture with use.
Brass wire is available as hard, semi-hard and soft. I'd have though that semi-hard would be about right in this case. Last time I bought some was from a place in Biggleswade.
Ian
Again - they're ferrous :-)
Fencing wire?
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