Wireforms11 min read
Welded wire assemblies: design, fixturing and inspection
A welded wire assembly is made by the fixture as much as by the welder. Here are the joint types, the design rules and the checks that keep a cage or frame square.
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Sourcing notes for custom parts
Drawings, tooling, quality and landed cost, from the team that runs the programmes.
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Wireforms9 min read
Wire cages and guards: open area, stiffness and finish
How mesh geometry sets airflow, visibility and strength in a welded wire guard, and where the coating changes the design.
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Wireforms11 min read
CNC wire forming vs four-slide: volume, complexity and cost
Both processes bend wire, but they buy volume in different ways. A worked comparison of tooling, cycle time and geometry limits, and the volume where the answer changes.
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Stamping9 min read
Coil fed vs blank fed stamping: which feed suits the part
How the choice of feed changes tooling, cycle time, material yield and the parts that are practical to stamp.
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Wireforms8 min read
Phosphor bronze springs: conductivity, corrosion and fatigue
Phosphor bronze carries current and springs at the same time. Here is where it beats stainless and steel, and where its conductivity and temperature limits make it the wrong choice.
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Wireforms10 min read
Spring fatigue: stress ratio, cycles and material choice
How the stress ratio and the cycle count decide whether a spring survives, and how the material, the surface and the process route change the answer.
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Wireforms9 min read
Springback in wire forming: why the first bend is never the final angle
How elastic recovery changes the angle and the radius of a wire bend, how to estimate it, and how to set an overbend that holds across a production lot.
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Wireforms9 min read
Wire handles, hooks and loops: load paths and bend design
A design note on the formed wire features that carry a hand, a load or a tie, and the bends that decide whether they hold.
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Wireforms8 min read
302 vs 316 stainless spring wire: which grade for which environment
Both grades are austenitic stainless, and both are used for springs. The choice comes down to chlorides, strength after cold work, cost and how the part is finished.
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Wireforms10 min read
Minimum bend radius for wire: a practical table by material and temper
Starting radii for music wire, stainless, phosphor bronze, beryllium copper and copper alloys, with the strain calculation behind the numbers.
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Wireforms11 min read
Sourcing wireforms from India: capability, tooling and logistics
What the Indian wireforming base can make, how long tooling and first article take, and where the freight and quality risks sit in a programme.
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Wireforms9 min read
Spring rate calculation: the formula and the limits
The compression spring rate formula, a worked example, and the points where a calculated rate drifts away from a measured one.
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