Bending thick U/C wire?

[martin collins 1]

I have to bend some U/C wire for my 1/4 scale GeeBee and it is going to have to be heated to bend it, what is the proper way to go about this with a blow lamp and re temper as necessary?

[Nigel R]

I'd steer clear of heat treating it. Unless you're well versed in the dark arts of metallurgy you won't have a precisely controlled temperature of cooling process.

 

Cold form it on a wire bender - K&S mighty wire bender will go up to 6.5mm (4SWG?).

[martin collins 1]

6.5mm is right up there with this peice of wire, not sure if i will be bending any more this thick. Investing in a wire bender for two bends seems a bit extravagant if i can do it another way? 

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

It's not possible to heat treat piano wire as far as I'm aware.  Heating it will soften it and any attempt to re-temper it will leave it brittle enough to snap on a normal landing!

 

A heavy vice and a copper hammer is what I use for large diameter piano wire.

[martin collins 1]

Tried that and the wire snapped unfortunately ?

[Andy Stephenson]

It's all about the bend radius, the thicker the piano wire, the larger the bend radius needs to be to avoid breakage.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Have heated heavy gauge to bend it, don't quench using water, submerge in oil instead, slower cool, should be fine.

[martin collins 1]

Many thanks, i have plenty of old engine oil here ?

[Nigel R]

3 hours ago, martin collins 1 said:

Investing in a wire bender for two bends seems a bit extravagant if i can do it another way?

 

That's what I thought, about six or seven models ago.

 

Of course if you already have a big enough vice, you just need a former to bend it round using a hammer. The former will need to be pretty solid though.

 

Edited June 8, 2022 by Nigel R

[Brian Sweeting 1]

If you have two hammers then use the radius of one hammer head as a former.

 

Clamp wire and hammer head in vise and gently tap with incresing force until it starts to bend.

[kevin b]

Why not ask on the forum if there is anybody near you with a wire bender, or a small engineering company. It would only take them about 10 minutes.

Using 2 hammers and a vice sounds like a recipe for an accident to me, trying to bend a round thing around a round thing just using brute force !

Edited June 8, 2022 by kevin b

[Andrew Calcutt]

I use a local blacksmith,only costs a few quid.

[Nick Somerville]

There are some good videos on YouTube showing how to make simple wire benders.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Oh come on it's not rocket science, two pieces of round steel ( 10mm ? ) in a decent vice with the gap of the piano wire between them and if you haven't eaten your shreddies for breakfast a piece of tubing a an extension lever,,,,?

 

 do you need pictures or a video ?.?

[Nik Harrison]

Just buy a wire bender and get on with it.  Good tools are never wasted.

[Matt Carlton]

Some rather dismissive replies on this one it seems. I thought that the purpose of the forum was to offer guidance and advice rather than try to belittle people for asking for it. 

 

 

[i12fly]

Have only bent 4mm, but I found that a piece of wood (pine for this size) acted as a good former, the square edge it crushed to give me a nice but fairly tight radius without splitting the wire. Obviously a fresh position on the wood for each bend -it came out consistently.  

[Ron Gray]

15 hours ago, Matt Carlton said:

Some rather dismissive replies on this one it seems. I thought that the purpose of the forum was to offer guidance and advice rather than try to belittle people for asking for it. 

 

 

Not really, 9 responses offering advice and 1 slightly sarcastic one!

[EarlyBird]

14 minutes ago, Ron Gray said:

Not really, 9 responses offering advice and 1 slightly sarcastic one!

Unfortunately it does not take many sarcastic belittling posts to put people off posting a question or offering help. 

 

Steve

[Ron Gray]

I agree with you Steve, but my point was that ‘some rather dismissive replies’ was a bit of an exaggeration! 
 

Made my point, so I’ll move on.

[Peter Miller]

On 08/06/2022 at 11:32, Nigel R said:

I'd steer clear of heat treating it. Unless you're well versed in the dark arts of metallurgy you won't have a precisely controlled temperature of cooling process.

 

Cold form it on a wire bender - K&S mighty wire bender will go up to 6.5mm (4SWG?).

When I worked at a school in the Craft, Design and Technology dept a pupil was making an undercarriage for a camera plane (My design).

The teacher bent his under carriage up for him using red heat.The result was about as soft as wet spaghetti..

 

Look on Google for wire benders.There are masses there of all different types and also how to make your own.

 

 

[Matt Carlton]

I wonder if a suitably enterprising kind of person could make a sort of sideline out of a "wire bending service". 

 

Sometimes, for some people, the answer isn't as simple as "just go and buy the tool". 

 

 

 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

It's an easy tool to make, I made my own ( two one for bends and one for springs ) and do most of the clubs wire bending.

[Andy Stephenson]

The springiness of piano wire depends entirely on its heat treatment. Being fairly high carbon steel, cooling from red-heat slowly will soften it so it won't spring any longer and just bend and stay bent. Cooling it quickly such quenching it in water will result in it becoming glass-hard and it will shatter when stressed. During manufacture the heat treatment is a tightly controlled process so any attempt to do this at home will undoubtedly result in failure. 

Bend cold and solder, don't weld or braze.