Sometimes neat wire rods are required that are not very long. How to align them quickly and perfectly without using a hammer? For such a case, there is a ready-made solution, which will be discussed in this video tutorial.
To make this self-made device, which will free you from the need to wrinkle the wire in your hands, trying to do the almost impossible, you will need a blank from the 70th corner, three bearings and bolts with nuts for fastening the bearings. Two bearing assemblies are fixedly installed, and one can change position. This bearing is used to press the wire against the other two during the broaching process. By changing the clearance between the bearings, you can gradually narrow the space in which the wire will be in this process.
How alignment is done.
A wire is inserted into the device, clamped in a vice, one end of which is clamped with a screwdriver. Moving the rotating wire between the rollers and gradually clamping it between them, it is pulled and aligned.
Discussion
Vladimir Skorobogatov
3 years ago
Alexander, I have been making fishing floats from the heart of a turnip for several years, they work great. For the river, it is better to put a wire on the keel, but it is difficult to straighten a thin vein from a steel cable, maybe you can advise something. If interested, the floats can be seen in classmates in the group: "homemade float and more."
Horwester
2 years ago
Cool watched the video and immediately straightened all the wire, with such success it was faster to take it to the jeweler for a broach. Since it will take much more time and money to make your adaptation. I would call the video “Wire straightening device” well, not like “how to quickly and easily straighten the wire”. For without such a device it is not quick and not easy, and the essence of the video is precisely in the device.
Sometimes, for household needs or in a workshop, it is required to use pieces of flat wire for work. But the question immediately arises: how to straighten the wire? After all, it is made in factories immediately packed in round bays. This shape is very convenient for storage and transportation. Therefore, in order to make the metal wire straight, it is necessary to spend not only certain efforts, but also apply a number of simple devices.
In production, for straightening almost all types of metal wire, specialized correctly cutting machines are used. The process is based on two main methods - these are:
- straightening by rolling through a system of 5-6 pairs of rollers, which are arranged sequentially in different planes so that each subsequent pair is perpendicular to the adjacent one;
- straightening by drawing through several specially made dies.
As a rule, such machines necessarily have a special device for automatic unwinding of wire from coils or spools.
To work with elastic wires and alloyed steel rods, the production technology provides for heating and tempering the steel structure of the workpieces using gas burners or high-frequency inductive heaters.
How an industrial straightening-cutting machine works can be seen in the video:
How to align wire without a machine
Unfortunately, making a good roller machine at home, capable of leveling wire with a diameter of more than 2 mm, is quite costly and time-consuming. Moreover, if the need for a straight wire rod is one-time. An example of one of these devices can be seen in the photo.
Therefore, in order to align the metal wire from the coil, it is worth using the most common method of force stretching, for this it is necessary to be guided by the following sequence:
- First, one end of the wire must be rigidly fixed in something massive and solid. To do this, you can wrap its end around the base of a power line support or a sturdy tree with a trunk diameter of at least 25 centimeters.
- Next, we manually unwind the bay along the ground and, if possible, stretch it as much as possible.
- At the second end of the unwound wire, we make a loop and fix it in a device capable of pulling it with effort, that is, moving a certain distance.
- The actual straightening process consists in slowly stretching the metal wire with great effort until it turns into an ideal string in shape. To fix the rectilinear shape, you can leave it in this taut state for a short time, about 5 to 30 minutes.
A sufficiently wide range of devices can be used as a tensioning device, depending on the size of the diameter of the metal wire. So, for a wire of 2-3 mm in diameter, steel scrap may be enough with the effort of two strong men or the use of a manual mechanical winch. But straightening the wire for a diameter of 5 mm and more will require much significant efforts and for this you will need to use either the towbar of a personal car, or the dynamic force of a tractor or truck.
It should be borne in mind that straightening a wire with a diameter of more than 5 mm, made of alloy steel, will require not only tension to the shape of a string, but stretching until the wire breaks. As a rule, the rupture occurs at the attachment point at one of the ends, while for safety reasons you should not be near the stretched wire.
How to align the wire with your own hands
If the wire rolled into coils can be considered conditionally flat, then in order for it to become straight, we just need to get rid of the curvature of a large radius. But how to straighten the wire in the form of crumpled residues and poorly stored waste? They represent not only turns, but various zigzags located in different directions from the axis. In this case, straightening the wire with the correct approach to the state of an ideal straight bar is quite achievable.
There are several of the most effective ways to align the wire. Depending on the choice, they will have slightly different results in terms of quality.
So, from simple to complex:
If you know your original way of how to align the wire with your own hands, then please share it with us in the comment block.
If you decide to make any product from any kind of wire, you need to straighten it before starting work. To get even material, follow these steps.
Ways to straighten wire at home
The first and most effective way: first, carefully straighten the wire with your hands, place it on a flat and hard surface, for example, on a table, then place a metal bar or other even and hard object on it. Roll it on the table so that the wire moves, pressed down by the bar. After several such passes, a very good result can be achieved.
To straighten a soft wire, insert one end of it in a vice and clamp, and insert the other into the chuck of a hand drill. Rotate the drill a few turns and the wire will straighten quickly.
You can use a simple home-made device: drive a few nails into a small board at such a distance that the wire can hardly pass through them. Then pull the wire between the nails several times. You will quickly get the desired effect.
Traditional method. Place the short pieces of wire on a hard, preferably metal surface and tap the folds with a hammer, then pull the wire underneath. Iron or aluminum wire should be straightened with a metal hammer, and softer, such as copper, with a mallet.
Alternatively, you can try this method: tie one end of a long wire to the door handle, then pull it firmly with your pliers. After that, cut off the desired, most straightened segment. Do not tie the wire to loosely fixed objects such as a battery.
You can also take a tube that is long enough, slightly larger than the piece of wire, and then carefully pull it through it. If you don't have a suitable tube at hand, drill a hole of the correct diameter in a thick piece of wood and pull the wire through it.
In wire art, flat wire is often required.
Beating a few meters with a hammer on a flaheisen is a chore, and in this case, micro-rollers can help.
Details:
Materials:
- a pair of identical bearings with an outer diameter of 2.5 to 4 cm;
- mounting stud (threaded rod), not less than 20 cm long;
- a piece of iron or steel pipe with a diameter equal to the bearing bore diameter or 0.1-0.2 mm larger;
- several identical nuts with a thread equal to the thread on the stud;
- metal plate with dimensions from 40x40 mm.
Instruments:
- drill;
- drill with a diameter of 3 or 3.5 mm;
- a drill with a diameter equal to the diameter of the stud or more by 0.5 ... 1 mm;
- a hacksaw for metal or a "grinder" with a cutting disc for metal;
- vice;
- hammer;
- a wrench for the existing nuts.
Preparation.
We take a suitable steel pipe. The diameter should be 0.1-0.2 mm larger than the diameter of the bearing bore or "very close-up" - then you may need to jam something, for example, a small piece of thin steel wire.
Saw off two pieces from it, each 50..60 mm long. It can be smaller, the device will be more compact, but it will be more difficult to drill.
I bought a kitchen rail, from which I cut off suitable pieces.
Since the rail was 2 mm larger in diameter than the bearing bore, it was necessary to make a wide cut along the entire length and "finish" to the required diameter. If you have a "grinder", the operation is quite easy, but you will have to tinker with a hand hacksaw.
We put bearings on the segments, placing them on the center of the segment. The bearings must be slipped on very tightly, even to the point of hammering them in with a mallet.
If there is a workbench with a small hole (slightly larger than the diameter of the axle), then it is much more convenient to drive the axle into the bearing, and not vice versa.
We take a hairpin with a diameter of 6..8 mm and cut off two pieces 10..11 cm long from it.
We fix the axle with the bearing in a vice and drill two holes with a diameter of 0.5..1 mm larger than the diameter of the pin. Small diameter drills usually run in increments of 0.5 - so there shouldn't be any problems.
To drill accurately, I recommend that you first drill the future hole with a core (a nail for concrete or a regular screw is also suitable), then drill it with a thin drill (3 mm). Holding the drill vertically, you can immediately make a hole with the same drill in the opposite part of the axis.
When drilling, it is necessary to observe as precisely as possible
a) parallelism of the holes to each other;
b) the same distance between the holes in both axes.
Why? Because if "a" is violated, then the pins will not stand in the same plane, which will prevent the installation of the second axis. And if "b" is violated, then the studs will not be parallel to each other and it will also be difficult to install the second axis.
I got caught on this and had to finish the hole in the right direction with a file.
We take a metal plate that will serve as a clamp and drill holes in it. The distance between the holes should be as close as possible to the distance between the holes in the axis.
Everything, the details of the machine are ready.
Assembly procedure.
1. A nut is screwed onto each stud up to 1/3 of the distance. This will be the bottom axle stopper.
Which of your axes will be lower and which will be upper is never important if the rules "a" and "b" are observed.
If not observed, again it does not matter, because assembling the structure simply will not work :)
2. The lower axle is put on the stud and secured with a second nut. The nut turns tightly, but it is not attracted by "gritting teeth from straining" - otherwise you can push the axle. To prevent it from loosening, a counter nut is screwed on. I didn’t have reverse thread nuts, I did the usual one.
3. The upper axle is put on the stud, after which the clamping nuts are screwed on. The most convenient thing would be to use wing nuts with a long shank, but there were no such at hand. The hold-down nuts do not need to be tightened before starting to work with the wire.
4. From the side of the lower axle, a clamping pad is put on the studs and screwed on with nuts. These nuts are st O It should be tightened more firmly, but still without fanaticism, so as not to break the thread. You can, by the way, put a grover washer under them, but this is from the area of "superfinishing".
That's it, the device is ready.
How to work with it:
- unscrew the clamping nuts,
- raise the upper axle,
- we push the tail of the wire, about 2 centimeters,
- we lower the upper axis onto the wire,
- pull the clamping nuts by 2-3-4 "quarter-turn",
- controlling the wire feed with your left hand, pull it towards you with your right hand using pliers, pliers or pliers; the wire will run harder the more you flatten it. If it doesn’t go at all, then it’s overkill, it’s pressed too hard.
- we stretch the entire required length of the wire, if necessary, intercepting it with pliers (if necessary, close the jaws of the tool with a soft material so as not to make scars on the wire).
For one "pull" you can pull out 20-30 cm of flat wire. With a certain skill in 5 minutes, you can "roll" about 3 m.
For me personally, stretching is not yet very convenient, I have to control the feed at the same time as the pull, which limits the possibilities. To get rid of this, I will install "cheeks" on the pins (so that the wire cannot jump out to the side of the bearing), and / or I will make something like a mouth in the back that will guide the wire.
Hopefully this little trick story will help hand-makers enrich the workshop with a small but very useful tool!
Good luck with your creativity and inspiration!
A device for aligning steel wire with a diameter of 6-10 mm and a strip of 20x3 30-4 mm with a manual drive. Serves for straightening galvanized steel wire with a diameter of 6-10 mm, as well as galvanized steel strip measuring 20x3 mm, 30x4 mm. Round and flat conductors are supplied in coils of 40-50 kg.
In order to efficiently carry out the installation of an air terminal "mesh" made of steel wire on a flat roof, it is necessary to lay the wire in the holders and connect the nodes using the terminals. The wire is laid in cells of 6x6 m, 10x10, 12x12 m in size. In order to evenly lay the conductor of the "mesh", it must be straightened from the twisted state. Galvanized steel wire 8 and 10 mm is difficult to straighten by hand, especially steel with a diameter of 10 mm, and in the straightened state there will be irregularities from uneven straightening.
For laying down conductors from lightning rods on the roof, chimneys and other structures of buildings and structures, installing conductors in holders, it is required to lay it as evenly as possible without bending. The reason for this is the aesthetic appearance, as well as irregularities, as a result of which, the wire may come loose from the holders or the holder fastening itself can be damaged.
For ease of installation, our company offers this device for straightening conductors from nine rollers, which will allow you to save time on installing lightning protection "nets", as well as mount down conductors as soon as possible without fear of dismantling uneven sections of wire and strip.
The design of the wire straightening machine allows you to install it at a height of 0.5 m from the roof or floor on any structure made of wood or metal, adjust the pressure of the rollers on the conductor and achieve the evenness of the wire or steel strip.
For example:
Installation on wooden pallets - 5 minutes;
Driving screws into wood - 2 minutes;
Adjustment of pressure rollers for a guide from 5 to 15 minutes;
Unwinding a standard coil 115 m 5-7 minutes
Cut to required lengths from 5 to 20 minutes
In total, on average, up to 1 hour, you can unwind and prepare galvanized steel wire with a diameter of 8 mm for installation. For a building with a flat roof measuring 50x20 m and a height of 10 m, approximately 3 coils of wire may be required, which means that in 3 hours you can prepare the conductor for laying on the roof and down conductors, without spending a working day on it.