Question: draw plate

fegarex · Sep 12, 2010

Yea,
Mine is a Gesswein. Not sure what model or if they make it anymore but like all tools it was expensive at the time but factor it times 25 years and it becomes a pretty cheap tool.

Mike Cirelli · Sep 12, 2010

Ethelbert go here it may help you.
http://igraver.com/makingwire/

mitch · Sep 12, 2010

i'll second or third the remarks about cheap plates. when i was first starting out i thought i'd save a few bucks with steel drawplates and they were worse than worthless. VERY poor hole sizing, both in actual spec diameters and steps between sizes. i sent them back and upgraded to carbide. diameters are dead on, with very accurate, consistent increments. not cheap, but worth every penny.

James Roettger · Sep 12, 2010

Good tongs are also important to keep the wire from breaking. I made a pair 30 years ago with an inexpensive pair of pliers from the hardware store and a flat ignition point file from the hardware store also. I broke two pieces of the file large enough to cover the plier jaws and then brazed them on with the file cuts pointing toward the plier handle. This creates a "hook" pattern of sorts which is necessary to keep the wire from slipping out of the jaws. After brazing the file pieces to the pliers' jaws I ground them clean and flush to form a nice tool and rehardened and tempered the plier jaws with the file pieces in place. This has been a great tool and works well down to about .25mm wire. For finer wire I fold a piece of 400 grit sand paper into the jaws and use that to grip the wire.

KCSteve · Sep 13, 2010

I found the really nice tutorial by leschowe on drawing down wire - click here

Doc Mark · Sep 13, 2010

I have never been able to draw more than a couple of inches of gold wire without breaking! I anneal and I have that tungsten carbide plate from Rio Grande. I have some great parallel beak pliers and taper the wire, I lubricate etc. Yet I can't seem to get down to the finer dimensions with constant breakage. Hell, sometimes it breaks the second that I put any tension on the wire! I'm going to try Rex's suggestion. Also, how do you guys anneal the wire when it gets fairly fine? I kept melting mine! Also, how long of a taper do you put on the wire and what is the best way to taper the fine stuff?

Leonardo · Sep 13, 2010

Hi Mark,
I think that you are exceeding the annealing temperature by far. At my best knowledge a proper temperature to anneal a pure 24 carat gold should be about 200 Celsius degrees that is black heat color. In a range of 18 to 22 carats the temperature should be quite higher, 500-600 C degrees will give you a very dark red color. Dimming down the lights will helps a lot to appreciate the color.
Best regards,
Leonardo.

silverchip · Sep 14, 2010

I wonder if John B would post a picture of the diving board technique for annealing wire.Very Cool!!

diandwill · Sep 14, 2010

One way that I anneal fine wire is to use a plating rectifier. Positive on one end, negative on the other...it doesn't matter which way, but try not to let the wire cross. Turn the lights down and the volts up, and you can easly monitor the color. I also use pliers of some sort, to hold the alligator clips because they will burn the tar out of your fingers. It's red hot metal after all.
I have found this to be much better for an even annealling on fine wire. A torch can create hot spots.

Will

Barry Lee Hands · Sep 14, 2010

Many good suggestions.
I do believe pulling wire is a lot of work for little reward.
Up here in Montana we have an old cowboy saying:
"Reckon y'all oughta hire that done"
Hoover and Strong does a really great job of pulling wire, and if you figure it out, it costs hardly anything to have them do it.
You can get the really fine stuff from electronic supply outfits, I have some .008 in I use on the pearl, and some .006 and even some .004, in 24k and platinum, I can't even begin to imagine how much misery it would be to pull that stuff that small.

KCSteve · Sep 14, 2010

Excellent point Barry

Sometimes we get so caught up in how to doing something we neglect to consider if it's worth doing.

But it's still good to know how and have the stuff for drawing wire because then, when you need 6 inches of something you don't have to wait for your order to arrive.

John B. · Sep 14, 2010

Silverchip, ( friend Dave),
Thank you for remembering my diving board trick for easy annealing of precious metal.
Very easy to do and no melt-downs!
Running with doctor appointments most of today.
If you or anyone wants I will try to post it tomorrow.
I’m slow with a camera and computer, still in the smoke signal era.
Best,

RoycroftRon · Sep 14, 2010

I have to say that if you don't do a hell of a lot of inlay, but do it the drawing your own makes sense. You draw what you need and you don't have to stock the different thicknesses of wire.

I agree that if you are breaking a lot of wire, and having a hard time annealing that you are probably over heating. You can over heat by heating too long as well as too hot.

2 cents.

jerrywh · Sep 15, 2010

Barry.
Who sells the .005??

James Roettger · Sep 15, 2010

If the wire is breaking it can also be a result of the wrong tongs. The pair I built as described earlier work better than any commercially made pair I have tried. The jaws of the tongs must have an inverted tooth pattern or the wire will break right off. In any case if the wire is breaking near the tongs and not at the draw plate hole it is most likely the tongs or the wire's end taper is not long enough. For most wire a 1" taper is good. I have never had trouble annealing using a torch and simply passing the wire vertically through the flame from top to bottom. Non 24K wire can be judged to be annealed by heating just till it turns black. Large quantities of wire are most easily annealed in a kiln at 1200F. With practice wire drawing from an ingot down to .25mm should take about 40 minutes and down to .5mm in about 20 minutes. As mentioned earlier for the filigree range folded 400 grit sandpaper in the jaws works well.

dlilazteca · Dec 3, 2013

Learned a lot thank you!

Carlos De La O III

LVVP · Dec 5, 2013

dlilazteca said:
Learned a lot thank you!

Carlos De La O III

Me too, thank you very much

dlilazteca · Oct 17, 2014

Will this draw plate do?

Looking to buy a draw plate don't want any cheap tools, don't want to have issues when I use it 15 years down the road.

will be buying 22ga 24k wire.

Will this one suffice? Or is it over kill?

http://www.ottofrei.com/Tungsten-Carbide-Drawplate-0.26MM-To-2.20MM-36Holes.html

Thierry Duguet · Oct 17, 2014

Since everyone seem to have his and her own opinion let me add to the confusion and give me my own version.
1) Buy a good draw plate one where the hole are made of polish tungsten carbide or alike
2) Do not anneal your gold, if you do you may create some unevenness on the diameter of the wire, that where it will break
3) Do not lubricate, since the hole of the draw plate are mirror polish there is no need for it. Lubrication will attract dirt and other particles which will get incrusted in the gold when you draw it, the dirt and particle will create a weak point on the wire and it will be more likely to break at that point.
4) When you draw the wire do it in a smooth movement, avoid vibration as it will create unevenness on the diameter of the wire

I usually buy 24 gauge wire and I draw it to .26mm, I usually draw 10 to 20 feet without problem, under .26mm it is more difficult. I work the same process with fine silver a 18K green gold.

Good luck

LVVP · Oct 20, 2014

Carlos,

I have a plate too and I think you will be happy. For me, price is O'k. I read, that from 1 g of 24K possible make about 3 Km of wire. I usually buy gold chips 24K and make what I want, no problem

Question: draw plate

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