Fabrication
Wire fabrication, 4–14 mm
USA Wire Form fabricates wire in 4–14 mm: low to high carbon, stainless, and other ferrous and non-ferrous coil. Form, cut, weld, and finish so the part installs.
What wire fabrication is here
Fabrication is the form plus the work that makes it a part: cutoff, end forming, resistance weld, MIG / TIG, pierce, and finish. The starting stock is round wire from coil, not plate or tube. Geometry is a centerline. The shop is USA Wire Form.
That is the same cell as wire forming — CNC first, then the secondaries. Below 4 mm or above 14 mm, we say so before the PO.
Diameter: 4–14 mm
Production is 4–14 mm (0.157–0.551 in). Stock coil is 3/8, 7/16, and 1/2 in (9.53 mm, 11.11 mm, 12.7 mm). Other diameters in the band still fabricate; they need tooling and coil when we do not carry the steel.
| Size | Typical fabrication |
|---|---|
| 4–6 mm | Hooks, lighter frames, 3D routing, display wire |
| 3/8 in (9.53 mm) | Frames, tray wire, S-hooks, guard rims |
| 7/16 in (11.11 mm) | Basket rims, J-hooks, structural grid borders |
| 1/2 in (12.7 mm) to 14 mm | Heavy frames, D-rings, furnace fixtures, rod-frame work |
Low to high carbon
Carbon steel is the default fabrication coil. Soft drawing grades through hard-drawn and oil-tempered spring wire — named on the print, not “steel wire.”
- Low carbon — 1006, 1008, 1010, 1018. Stock cold-roll. Welds clean. Frames, grids, trays, guards.
- Medium carbon — 1030–1045. More springback than 1018. Stress-relieve after a tight 3D path if the print cares.
- High carbon — 1050–1095, hard-drawn, A229 oil-tempered. Industrial spring and clip work at the light end of the band. Confirm the head at 3/8–1/2 in.
Grade tables: coil materials. Swapping 1010 for 1060 without a new article changes radius, weld, and crack risk.
Stainless
Austenitic 300-series is the stainless we fabricate from coil — 301, 302, 304 / 304L, 305, 316 / 316L, 317, 309 / 310, 321 / 347, and 330. Deep page: 300-series stainless. Passivate after form and weld. Do not write “SS” on a furnace grid; that is how 304 gets quoted as 330.
400-series (410, 430) shows up on prints. It is stainless, and it is ferrous, and it is a different coil than 304. We will say whether that wire belongs in this cell. 303 is a free-machining grade, not a forming coil we recommend.
Other ferrous
Beyond plain carbon and stainless: pre-galvanized low-carbon, alloy spring (6150, 5160, chrome-silicon), and coated coil that has to survive the straightener and the weld. Galvanize burns back at every nugget. Form-then-zinc or form-then-powder is the cleaner path on 3/8–1/2 in frames.
Inconel and nickel alloys past 330 are a cert-and-conversation job, not a 1018 setup with the pressure turned up.
Non-ferrous
Brass and copper are not steels. They are coil we fabricate in the same 4–14 mm band: C110 ETP, C102 OFHC, C260 / C270 brass, C230 red brass, C510 phosphor bronze. Soft, easy to mark, easy to overbend. Electrical forms, grounding, and any part that cannot be steel. Tools that are right for 1018 will bruise C110.
Name the alloy. Welding copper or brass is not a 1018 MIG setting. Say if the joint is soldered, brazed, or fusion-welded.
What we do to the wire
- 2D CNC and 3D CNC forming — Numalliance Robomac 214TF, plus Lubow manuals
- Cut-to-length and end forming — chamfer, coin, flatten, pierce, on the 40-ton Clearing press when the CNC will not
- Resistance weld (75 kVA) and Miller MIG assembly
- Rack zinc, in-line powder, plate then powder; passivate stainless
- Inspection on granite, DRO, and height gauge
The machine list is on equipment. What we quote is on capabilities.
Related
- Northeast Ohio — mills, wire drawers, short-haul coil
- Coil materials — named grades
- 3/8, 7/16, and 1/2 in
- Heavy wire forming, 4–14 mm
- Wire forming in the USA
- Design for wire forming