Spoon Wire Form Bender

[defish]

Below are pics of a simple bender I made to make forms for a do-it "casting spoon."  It cost next to nothing to make and the forms fit the mold perfectly.  While the do-it wire forms don't cost that much to buy, if you make your own you'll save some money and never run out of forms as long as you have wire to make them with.  I used .031 dia SS wire from Jann's, but will probably buy SS welding wire when I need more.

 

I used .080 dia nails with the heads cut off as the pegs, and as the insert pin in the bolt head that bends the wire.

The "turner" is a bolt with the threads cut off.  A hole is drilled in the middle to fit over the pivot pin.  An offset hole was drilled slightly further over than the wire's width with a pin inserted in it that turns the wire.  A piece of eva was used on the bolt head to make it easier to turn.

The black lines on the board are for cutting the wires to length and the red ones to index the wires so that the gap is in the middle after the forms are bent.

The peg near the pivot pin on the board is to keep the wire from flexing as it's being formed.

 

The pivot pin has a recess around it to allow clearance for the pin in the bolt head that turns the wire.

You could use do-it wire forms for the spacing for the pegs or measure the mold with a caliper and use that for your spacing.

Let me know if you want more info about this.

Dan

 

 

 

 

[defish]

Here's a pic of the finished forms.

 

[toadfrog]

Nice job . The forms look really good.