Wire Forming image courtesy Advance Wire Forming.

Some of us don’t fully understand what goes into making the things we use and depend on every day. We take for granted our lamps, our pens, our racks, shelves and screen doors— we love our televisions and computers without taking the time to understand what went into creating them. We sleep soundly, trusting in all of the pipes and gauges and mechanics that keep disasters at bay. When we do actually look at something all we see is what it will provide us with and how it will help us— rarely do we ever try and think about how it was made and by whom. Which is a shame, because more times than not there is a lot of work and careful and intelligent execution that goes into manufacturing all the stuff of our lives.

When it comes to wire forming, there are many different processes that are available in order to fashion a wire into the desired shape. This is, in the industry, referred to as wire forming. And because there are so many different ways of doing it, a significantly wide range of applications are considered in wire manufacturing. Such areas of need include industrial manufacturing, interior mechanical assemblies and the automotive, aerospace and medical fields. Familiar tools such as storage systems, hardware, springs, clips, pins, rings and hooks, as well as the more complex, such as guidewires, wire-stents, occlusion devises are all made from wire forming.

The materials used in wire forming consist mostly of varied metals, including both ferrous and non-ferrous metals, such as the popular alloys aluminum, copper, brass, steel and stainless steel. Plastic is also used in wire forming, but is not nearly as common. In any case, once formed, accessory options like nickle plating, painting, plastic and powder coating, anodizing and heat treating are also available.