Wire Forming: The Ultimate Guide

The short answer to this question is: it depends.

Every client has unique needs. Because of this, any given customer may need vastly different wire forms for their particular washing and parts handling baskets. From selecting the appropriate grade of steel, welding techniques, coatings, and specific shaping requirements for a given parts washing basket, the permutations for a washing basket’s design can be endless.

In some jobs, getting the bend in the metal just right could be the most difficult aspect of making a wire form, while making the necessary welds might be the hardest thing to do in others.

It could be said that getting the right design for a wire form to meet the needs of a specific process is the most challenging aspect of the process. However, with the right machines and a skilled, well-trained operator who knows how to program them behind the controls, this is a challenge that can be overcome consistently.

For example, piercing steel wire is one of the more difficult operations in wire forming. The process involves creating a small opening in a piece of steel wire so that another object can be run through it. This can be especially seen in steel wire baskets meant to be mounted on a corkboard or peg wall, some of the wires may need to be pierced so that nails, screws, or other fastening devices can be used to attach the basket to the other surface.

Since the steel wire to be pierced is generally very hard and small, it requires great force to penetrate and careful preparation, or else the steel wire can be deformed. Marlin Steel overcomes this wire forming challenge by using a high-tonnage steel press to puncture steel wire without having to heat it up first. The result? A perfectly shaped hole in the metal without the risk of post-punch deformities from the superheating process. 

Wire forming costs depend on the components that go into manufacturing the product and its application. Factors, such as wire materials, labor, volume of wire, use of machines, and shipping costs of formed wire, all contribute to the overall price of wire forming products.

Different types of materials also vary in cost. For example, some materials will be more expensive than others since they can withstand high temperatures. Inconel® is capable of withstanding the most extreme temperatures, but is one of the most costly wire forming materials as a result.

When determining how much your wire forms will cost, it’s important to discuss with an expert. They can help you determine what the best materials are for your product based on its application and environment, and then give you an accurate estimate of the overall cost.

Marlin Steel set itself apart from the competition by providing “Quality, Engineered Quick®” by using a combination of talented and trained employees and advanced factory automation. Some of the wire forming machines used by Marlin Steels’ degreed engineers include: 

Rouselle 8SS40 Double Crank Straight Side Press

This automated equipment is used to flatten, swage, pierce, and coin stainless steel wires for various applications, including wire forms. For instance, a wire can be flattened to make a weld joint larger, allowing it to easily join two wires securely.

The Rouselle 8SS40 can complete 75 strokes per minute at peak speed -  which means Marlin’s production team can manufacture up to 4,500 special wire shapes an hour with this one machine alone. Besides increased efficiency, the side press is capable of producing results more predictable and consistent than by manual labor. 

The Ultimat UMW-100

Both a welding and a wire forming machine, the Ultimat UMW-100 quickly assembles custom wire forms straight from the coil. This process is not only fast, but especially efficient; it bypasses any extra processes and handling that would be required for doing the wire bending and welding separately.

Besides being capable of producing wire forms quickly, Marlin Steel frequently uses this welding and wire forming machine to make the larger frame pieces for Marlin’s stainless steel wire baskets and trays. Watch this video on the Ultimat page to witness the machine at work creating both round and rectangular frames for baskets - all within seconds!

The IDEAL MFDC Welder

For manufacturing complicated final assemblies, Marlin Steel uses the IDEAL welding tool. This welding machine can complete a weld in stainless steel in 2/1,000 of a second. This speed minimizes the chances of spatter, blistering, and other welding deformities caused by excessive heat and weld time.

Marlin Steel’s engineering team prefers to use the IDEAL welder to complete custom wire baskets welding instead of the Ultimat wire shaping machine due to its 3D welding capabilities. Since the welding arm can move along the X, Y, and Z axes for full three-dimensional movement, it allows the welder to combine complex shapes independently without operator assistance. 

Wire Bending Robotics 

Marlin Steel uses a variety of specialized wire bending robots for wire forming capabilities. For instance, some of these wire forming machines are robotic arms that bend one piece of wire one bend at a time. Other wire forming machines, such as CNC press brakes, bend already-welded wires one basket edge at a time to speed up final assembly. Additionally, these wire bending robots can produce wire forming products with consistency and speed unmatched by human labor since they cannot be worn out or tired by repetitive movements. 

Choosing the right wire forming products can increase efficiency, decrease costs from damaged equipment, and reduce chances of employee injury. 

Increase Efficiency 

High-quality wire forming products can provide manufacturing facilities with the right tools to complete operations quickly and efficiently, bolstering productivity. 

An example of how expertly crafted wire forming products can effectively increase operational efficiency are the Marlin Steel custom-designed IV poles. Marlin’s degreed engineers crafted these IV poles with additional features for easier facilitation of medical operations. With heavy-duty sheet metal bases with high-quality castors and custom laptop and monitor stands, Marlin Steel IV poles are manufactured to facilitate easy transportation between operations so the IV poles can be wheeled to where they’re needed most as quickly as possible.

Decreased Costs

High-quality wire forms are manufactured to last years of repeated use without risk of breaking. Broken products result in downtime, which can increase costs and damage goods. Not only would you have to wait for a replacement, but your manufacturing downtime could extend for days - impacting your productivity. High-quality products reduce the risk of increased costs due to faulty manufacturing.   

Improve Employee Safety 

The right wire forming products can help improve employee safety. Cheaper products can break, damaging surrounding equipment and injuring employees. By purchasing high-quality wire forming products, you can rely on their structural integrity to withstand released stresses. 

Marlin Steel prides itself on providing “Quality Engineered Quick®” products through automated equipment that can produce results far more regularly and predictably than what could be achieved manually.

Choosing custom wire forming products allows degreed engineers to manufacture wire forms to fit your unique specifications. While stock wire forms are mass produced and therefore not constructed to accommodate your specific needs, custom wire forming products can feature designs that are carefully optimized to your applications, such as meeting your parts finishing processes. Custom wire forms can be designed specifically with specialized inserts, wires, or other design features depending on your need.  

Additionally, custom wire forms are often built to withstand the stresses of multiple types of parts finishing operations and so offer increased longevity compared to stock wire forms. The right custom wire forms can save your manufacturing business time, money, material, and labor on your production processes when compared to a stock product.

Generally speaking, the hardest shape to make with consistency is a wire form with a compound bend.

A compound bend is “a feature within the wire form that has two adjacent bends or generation with no straight length tangent to the beginning and end of those radii.” To put in more simplified terms, a compound bend involves making two bends so closely to one another that there is no point at which the wire is perfectly straight in between them.

These kinds of bends are difficult because the wire shaping process is done progressively, with a wire being constantly fed through a machine without stopping. Compound bends are doubly difficult near the start of a length of wire because a portion of straight wire is typically required to begin the shaping process.

In most cases, the length of wire needed to start a bend should be 1 to 1.5 times the width of the wire being shaped. This means that a wire that is 0.2” thick would need 0.2-0.3” of space to begin a bend. The 1.5x rule isn’t always the case, but it is a good general rule of thumb for making wire forms.

It takes a skilled operator who knows the capabilities of the machinery being used to reliably create such difficult shapes.

The major difference between wire forming regular steel and stainless steel is that in stainless steel, there are a great many variables that can affect the forming behavior of different grades of stainless steel. These variables include things such as:

• Surface finish.
• Elongation properties.
• Residual drawing compounds.

These are just a few of the factors that can affect the shaping of stainless steel. Of these factors, surface finish is one of the most noticeable differences between shaping stainless steel and ordinary steel.

When forming wire from stainless steel, tool polishing is a critical process in order to make sure that the surface of the steel is free of marks that may be accrued during the shaping of the metal. If this is not done properly, imperfections can be left on the surface of the stainless steel, which can ruin the qualities of the material.

The latest innovations in wire forming manufacturing have been in software, forming head configurations, ease of use, and the speed with which automated manufacturing machines can shape steel wire.

The improvements in the software and the configuration of the machines now allow manufacturers to make much more than the basic square and circle shapes of yesteryear. Thanks to the increased sophistication of the wire shaping machines of today and the software that is used to run them, much more exotic wire shapes are now possible to meet the needs of every industry, from automobile manufacturing and design to health care applications.

This allows for more custom wire forming designs to be manufactured in less time. Technological advancements in wire form machines allow for even more precise manufacturing at greater speeds - drastically increasing efficiency. As wire forming technology continues to evolve, the more the wire forming process will be fine-tuned for productivity and efficacy. 

Multiple factors impact how long it takes to get a custom-made metal form. These include:

• Supplier. Your supplier's location, shipping methods, current workload, production capacity, and use of automation all impact how quickly they can complete your order. For example, a domestic supplier leveraging automated equipment might fulfill delivery within two weeks, whereas international suppliers may take four to eight months.
• Design complexity. Intricate or complex designs typically take longer, as your manufacturer will have to set aside additional time for planning and prototyping.
• Order size. Similarly, the larger the order, the longer it will take for order fulfillment.
• Material availability. If your wire forms will be made of an uncommon or rare material type, it may take longer to procure.

The right wire forming manufacturer will be able to deliver your products to you quickly and efficiently - while manufacturing high-quality wire forms. Marlin Steel is able to deliver “Quality, Engineered Quick®” for custom wire forms due to its heavy investment in automated wire forming technologies that allow for quick and consistent bending, welding, and more. 

Marlin Steel can manufacture custom wire forming products to meet your specific requirements. With the wide variety of wire forming machines available, Marlin can complete more custom wire form requests - and provide other manufacturers in the USA with domestically-made and shipped products that eliminate the overseas shipping delays and red tape of using foreign-made ones.

American-made wire forms deliver numerous benefits. Since American manufacturing is held to a higher quality standard and must follow American safety requirements, manufacturers are more likely to receive safer products that are less likely to break and possibly injure employees. Additionally, American manufacturers like Marlin Steel help support the American economy. By purchasing American-made wire forms, you’re supporting the American manufacturing industry.