build light

I have spent some time reading posts regarding bending wire and everything is to me large diameter wire.

I need help bending smaller wire. 1/8" Dia. wire and under. This may seem silly to some but I have had trouble making anything more complex than a simple "L" shape.

I use a pair of Vise Grips or for even smaller a pair of hemostats.

My problem is mostly alignment and angles other than 90 degrees.

Help please!

Robert

mikegordon10

practice makes perfect

foodstick

Buy a set of the wire benders on tower the Harry Higley bender. you won't ever regret it, if you are doing scratch building, rebuilding or your own designs you will love this thing. You can even do coiled landing gear ....worth the price of admission !

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXGFW4&P=ML

build light

Indeed practice makes perfect and as I heard an instructor say one day, "When you practice and do it wrong every time, you will get better and better at doing it wrong! You must do it right occasionally to make a difference!"
We were all having a bad day that day.

I do need more practice and yes it is for scratch building but the Higley benders need to be chucked up in a vise! I must say that I live in a small apartment and have no workbench and use my table to build on. A vise would really be a nice thing to have. For those of you who have one, think how life would be without!

Perhaps I need something like this: http://www.ncsl.co.uk/wirebender/ but smaller. K&S has something similar. The Mighty bender is much like the other one but they also have a mini bender both of which are at Tower. I do like the one in the UK.
I have never seen one in person to know how any work and most are capable of much larger wire than I need.

Robert

crossman

If you don't have a vise, you can hold the higley bender in a socket or a crescent wrench. It just takes a little more practice to work with it.

jib

I always build my bent wire linkages first using a more flexible wire, like safety wire or copper wire. This gives me something to follow, as music wire is less forgiving and can't be rebent as well or often.

Jack

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

How about something like dental pliers designed for bending wire?? The two on the bottom are my own that I used for bending wire for retainers, they work on much larger wire and they come in different sizes and prices. The bottom left is a three tang and used for bending Ls and circles plus very tight little bends. Problem is they run about $150.00 a piece. The single on top is what students use in school, bigger and cheaper, about $5.00 a pair. Just find any JC with a Dental Lab Tech class or dental supply place.
You really are better off looking at the wire bending pliers sold through places like K&S or the Higley stuff. Try closing you eyes and think about walking into Harbor freight, go to where the vises are and pick up that real cheap one that clamps to any table, it's designed for apt. dwellers that have no shop. Go buy one!! Shazam!!!! Now you can use a Higley wire bender almost any place you want. Even clamps onto the kitchen table without leaving a mark.

Laird SS

Have you considered mounting a vise on a piece of 3/4" plywood and then clamping the plywood to a counter? That way it's removable and can be stored (under the bed?) when not in use.

gittarpikk

I own a set of old z bend pliers...can;t remember who made them but they were the most popular ones in the 70's and 80's.. nice chrome metal, red handles, well made,...but used a different type of bending method . The wire was pushed through to where you wanted to bend it, and the handles compressed, walla, a perfect z bend.Seems like they would only do 1/8 inch or less wire.I have not been able to get a pict from the net...so they may be discontinued.

wattmeter

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...rs&search=Go:D
wattmeter

gittarpikk

Ones I have are way older than that design...I'll get a pic of them soon and put it here....just for "Nostalgia"

pdillon

Hi I bend tubing as a pipefitter.simply put,to bend an offset,you need to know how much.This is known as H = height,2xH=the lenght of offset. Bend(wire tubing or metal)@30* next measure the 2xH & bend to 30*again. Done. Now as the man said Practice. GOOD LUCK phil

gyrocptr

How about this one?
http://www.micromark.com/VISE-MOUNTE...NDER,7044.html

Lnewqban

Additional information:

http://www.airfieldmodels.com/inform...nd_z-bends.htm