Never used a draw plate before. Any suggestions on the use of one? Do you heat the wire while pulling it thru? No clue in Minnesota
thank you Ethelbert.
2Cents. Anneal dead soft, taper the tip. Draw cold. Anneal every 3-5 draws. Coil the wire, flux vastly, heat it up - quench, pickle to wash out the flux.
First you should anneal the wire well.
After the wire is cold it is better to lubricate it a bit. A candle usually works well enough, and also some soap.
Then, file off one end of the wire until it pass through one of the holes (the first just small of the wire diameter) and long enough to have a good grip with the pliers.
You must pull the wire straight to you and perpendicular to the draw plate.
After passing the wire all the way out, it is better to anneal it again, lubricate, and so on.
Hope this helps a bit but I am sure some others will chime in with more great advice.
I am going to disagree with some of you...
If you are drawing smaller wire I don't feel you need to anneal it. Maybe for .030 and above but for wire for smaller inlays I find annealing it makes it too soft and will break too easy. The draw plates are carbide and won't wear. I never have an issue drawing wire this way and rarely break it.
One of those wide "binder clips" with a piece of felt. Slit where the wire passes through. Soaked in your lubricant of choice. Clip it to the back of your drawplate at the hole being used.
I am curious as to why it would be necessary to "vastly flux" and pickle pure metals used in wire inlay? (Copper maybe? Though pickling alone should be sufficient.)
Rex, I would still consider .03 (.75mm) to be pretty thick wire for most applications. Sure, it can be drawn without annealing or drawn twice between annealing BUT it doesn't work down at the very small sizes.
Drawing wire into the .25mm range definitely requires thorough annealing AND lubricant.
When I fail to thoroughly anneal the wire properly, that's always the spot at which it breaks.
Most important is to clean the lubricant off the wire with acetone BEFORE annealing it again for the inlay/overlay. Sure, the torch will appear to burn it off but depending on the lube, there will be a residue which can hinder the gold's ability to bond to itself at a molecular level during punching.
I've used bowling alley wax, SPG black powder cartridge bullet lube .... anything "waxy" around the house works ..... even pure carnuba paste wax for cars.
Chris, for me I found just the opposite. I make sure I have a nice taper and the smaller wire around .015 to .010 pulls better for me if I leave it alone. I find annealing it makes it too soft and will break too easy. When I do this I never skip any holes and pull it step by step. I haven't broken a wire in years. I can pull 10 feet of this through. I know others seem to have problems like this and tried my way and found it works. Maybe it depends on the person. Also I am only talking about 24k wire. Not sure how the others would work.
That could be. Mine is about 25 years old now. I bought a good one and was the best thing I did. Even a goof like me can pull wire. I have heard people with cheaper draw plates always having issues.
And... I will say the way I do it works for me but doesn't mean it will for others. My way may not be the right way, just another way.
Yes, I'm with you Chris.
Those Chinese $10 draw plates definitely do not works!
The draw plate should be thick enough in a way to has a more progressive taper in each hole and also very well polished. The smoother the better, obviously.
Best regards,
Leonardo.
If you plan on doing a lot of wire drawing the tungsten insert plates are a little more but I think worth it. Very rarely need any lubrication and pulls real smooth.
LOL!! Well there you have it Rex .... and all this time I was convinced that all you old guys were gurus because you could magically defy the laws of physics when in fact ... you've simply had a lot more time to collect better made tools that last forever. :big grin::big grin::big grin:
You shouldn't get oxidation forming on pure gold and silver. Is that happening to you?
Yes, it happens on copper, but pickle by itself (assuming it's not worn out) should remove what remains?
What pickle are you using? Are you using it hot?
Otherwise, if it's been working for you - then keep doing it. Just seems like an extra step...
Also, consider the wire is getting mashed into the channel and then scraped and sanded flush - if you had a bit of discoloration, the exposed surface will be clean bare metal in the end.