Wire Forms

Wire form applications are utilized by the medical field, which uses wire baskets for safe and sterile storage; automotive and aerospace fields, for motor mounts and additional hardware used in power transmission applications; and construction and hardware fields, from simple wire parts such as pins, clips, springs and wire hooks to the more complex such as wire screens. Additional wire products include grills, coils, rings, guide-wires, wire-stents, tubes, carts and filters. Wire forms can be fabricated from a variety of materials, including stainless steel, aluminum, copper and brass; however, steel is the most common material used and works for most applications. In order to create customized wire fabrications, there are a variety of secondary services used to better-fit the wire form to the intended application; such as nickel plating, painting, anodizing and powder coating.

In order to achieve the variety of wire forms available, there are numerous different wire forming processes; the most common of which include coil making, roll forming, metal stamping and welding. Coil making, also referred to as spring making or coil winding, is the process of winding wires around mandrels, which are metal blanks, in order to create coils. As a less part-specific process, roll forming is used to produce flat, round and shaped wire parts. A continuous process, roll forming uses calenders and die punches to shape the wire. Another major wire forming process is metal stamping, in which wire is precisely shaped into various forms through the use of a stamping press. A couple different methods of metal stamping are used for wire forms including fourslide stamping and deep drawn stamping. In fourslide stamping, also referred to as multislide stamping, a press with four horizontal forming slides is used in order to allow for multiple forming in different directions. Deep drawing, on the other hand, enables a deeper depth to the wire form than is possible with other wire forming processes. Welding can also refer to various spot or seam welding processes, such as electric resistance welding (ERW), metal inert gas (MIG) welding or tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding. ERW utilizes an electric current and the application of mechanical pressure to weld wire. As types of ERW, MIG and TIG also utilize inert gases to reduce any contamination; while TIG welding is the most accurate type, it is much more complex and requires a very skilled operator as well as longer production times, so MIG welding is often used instead. Weaving may also be used in order to create wire forms such as screens, grids or guards.

While there are an extensive variety of wire forms, there are some forms that are much more often used than others. Some of these common wire forms include wire displays, wire hardware and wire guards. Wire displays can refer to many different wire forms including wire grids, wire racks, wire shelves and wire baskets. Wire grids, also referred to as wire grid panels, are frameworks of crisscrossed horizontal and vertical wires. Wire grids are very similar to both metal gratings and wire mesh; however, they are on a much larger scale than wire mesh and are formed from wire rather than metal bars as is typical with grating. Wire racks and wire shelves are very similar; unlike wire grids, they protrude from the wall in order to create a flat wire surface used for storage. Wire baskets, on the other hand, are external supporting wire cages that are useful for both display purposes as well as storage and protective devices. Wire hardware consists of a broad range of wire forms; however, ones with high usage include wire hooks and wire screens. Wire hooks are simple constructions of bent wire that can be shaped as s-hooks, c-hooks, j-hooks and more. More complex, wire screens consist of thin metal wires woven in a crisscrossed horizontal and vertical pattern that form open yet protective barriers to allow for limited material flow, for use as filters or protective barriers. Also used for protection, wire guards are a class of their own and are used for two main purposes: in order to protect the operator of potentially dangerous equipment or in order to protect fragile equipment from hazardous conditions. Wire guards can include fan guards, finger guards, window or flooring guards, face guards, fixture guards and more.  

Initially, wire was formed manually and still can be done manually today for small-scale production, although it is most typically done for jewelry making applications. The introduction of drawing techniques for wire forming was introduced in the second half of the 17th century. At this time, it is generally accepted that the first wire mill was established in Great Britain, with others soon to follow. From this time period, manufacturing processes continued to evolve, with more and more different ways to fabricate wire forms. A more recent development in wire forming processes is the use of computer numeric control (CNC) machines. By working in conjunction with current wire forming machines, CNC machines are able to program these machines in order to perform operations more automatically. For example, once programmed automated wire forming machines are capable of continuously fabricating wire parts or complete wire forms, depending on the complexity of the wire form design. In addition to increasing productivity, CNC machines also ensure a higher level of precision than with other wire forming machines, which are operated manually and left open to a higher level of error and contamination.

Wire Forms and Wire Form Manufacturers Image Provided by Merrill Manufacturing Corp.

Wire Form Types

• Coil is wire wound into rings or spirals.
  
• Flat springs are flat or curved pieces of steel shaped into a coil; flat springs have a nearly constant force.
  
• Medical wire forms are used primarily in orthopedic and prosthetic devices, and they provide a positive closure.
  
• S Hooks are wire hooks used to connect or hang components.
  
• Spring washers are springs that store the energy used to tighten the nut or bolt they are under.
  
• Springs are coiled material that deflect when load is applied. Removing the load will cause the spring to return to its previous position.
  
• Wire baskets are used in various industries to store and display products.
• Wire displays are often used to display books, food, clothing and various other products. Wire displays can be custom designed for manufacturer needs and desires.
• Wire fabrications include various forms of wire that can meet a wide range of needs.
• Wire forming refers to numerous processes that in some manner manipulate wire into various shapes, referred to as wire forms.
• Wire grids, also referred to as wire grid panels, are frameworks of crisscrossed horizontal and vertical wires. 
• Wire guards are protective equipment used to shield various parts and machinery from damage.
• Wire hooks are curved pieces of metal used to hold things.
• Wire parts commonly referred to as wire forms, are formed from wire that has been manipulated in some fashion into a specific shape or design. 
• Wire products comprise of a wide variety of shapes and items composed of wire.
• Wire racks are available in various materials and options, and are used in many retail situations, including those dealing with food and clothing.
• Wire screens are thin metal wires woven in a crisscrossed horizontal and vertical pattern to form open yet protective barriers.
• Wire shelves are produced for both industrial and consumer use because they are versatile and sturdy with a variety of load strengths and wire densities.

Wire Form Terms

Active Coils - Coils that freely deflect when under a load.

Closed Ends - The ends of the coils touch because the pitch end is reduced on a compression spring.

CNC (Computer Numerical Control) - Machines with a computer memory, often used in manufacturing and production of wire forms.

Deflection - During the application or removal of the burden, the motion of the spring arms or ends.

Elastic Limit - The strain and manipulation a material can endure without lasting set.

Fine Blanking - A technique of precision blanking in which the material is cut smoothly and accurately without needing secondary operations.

Free Angle - The slope between the torsion spring arms at the unloaded position for the spring wire form.

Gauge - The measurement of the thickness of a wire used in wire forms.

Helix - In open or closed forms, the spiral shape of the spring.

Hooks - The open ends of extension springs.

Hysteresis - Lost mechanical energy during a spring's cyclic loading and unloading.
Hysteresis is relative to the space among the loading and unloading deflection curves.

Load - Applied force that causes deflection with a spring.

Multislide Stamping - Stamping or forming from multiple directions in pieces and segments.

Pitch - In the wire of active coils, the measure of the distance from the center of one adjacent active coil to another.

Rate (R) - The modification in load for each unit deflection, typically expressed in pounds per inch (N/mm).

Set - Permanent deformation that happens from the stressing of a spring past the material's elastic limit.

Spring Index -The ratio of mean coil diameter to wire diameter.

Stress Relieve - Exposing a spring to a treatment of low heat, which results in the reduction of residual stresses.

Torque - Equation measurement of torsion spring's twisting action, relative to the distance from the axis of the spring body.

Wire Forming - The forming of wire forms.