we have been making pins of various lengths 3" to 6" out of 1/16 stainles welding rod. They now sell this with stamped codes on all the rods and we are waisting alot of material. I wondered if we bought coils of 1/16 stainless and if we could straigthen them. They don't need to be perfect since they are being used as hinges in patchboxes for muzzleloaders. We're not looking to buy anything but need a low cost solution. Low cost to me would be less than $100 in material.
What is your volume? Are your sizes standardized? What alloy or does it matter? For low volume, a pyramid straighter, you can make one simply. For higher volume(@500#), wire suppliers can supply or a parts former can supply straight and cut.
Roller type straighteners are pretty simple and are surprisingly effective when set up properly.
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You can also straighten lengths of wire by stretching it beyond its yield, I'd estimate somewhere between 200-400 pounds tension for 1/16 T304 wire, depending on temper.
I'm sure you can find TIG wire that's not stamped. I have a couple different alloys and diameters of SS and all are ink marked or flagged rather than stamped. Most of my aluminum and mild steel TIG wire is stamped.
As people have said, roller type straignteners are fairly effective and not too spendy if you "roll your own". personally, I'd go with 3 sets of rollers at 120 degrees rather than the standard of 2 sets at 90 degrees. Also, if you are using a work hardening stainless, you can set things up to get a good initial bend and the dead soft wire will be hardened to about 1/4 hard by the time it passes through all rolls. of course, you will need to pull the wire through using a bull roll that is large enough in diameter that the wrap of wire around it doesn't take on another bend.
However...setting the rolls can be a little troublesome at first. If you get the bend through individual rolls a diameter that matches (kind of like a resonant match) the roll spacing, you end up getting a wave as the wire comes out....sometimes back tension helps.
Oh yea..most roll straighteners have a quick-clamp of some kind to open and close roll sets to speed initial wire feeding. The roll bends are already set so you just run the end of the wire through and clamp things shut so the rollers pinch the wire. It's nearly impossible to feed the wire through already set rolls without a quick clamp and it can be a pain to loosen the individual rolls and re-set em every time you need to re-start a new wire.
Or..just buy music wire in the right diameter. It's a little more expensive but will already be fairly straight and hard as the dickens.
If you want REALLY straight, you have to use a rotary straightener. Basically, these things pull wire through a spinning large bend in the wire so that the wire is twisted as it is straightened. We straighten coils of 5/16" T304 stainless all day long in a rotary straightener. I've seen some Japanese versions of a rotary straightener that produced a bow less than a thousandth in 12 inches.
In the USAF we used to get hinge pin material (coiled up music wire) in 100+ foot long coils of various diameters ike 1/16 to 1/4", and what we did was bend up a long sort of S shaped piece of tube. By long I mean a straight portion with a jog of about 45 deg up and then a jog again to return that end paralell to the first, with the offset being approximately 1" between the two paralell ends.........Take a air drill chuck up a piece of coiled up music wire and insert into this bent up S form, with the S formed tube in a bench vise and start the air drill and pforce the wire into the end of the tube and out the other side.......... with the drill rotating it. SOmetimes on heavier stuff we would put some oil or grease in the tube, and just spin it and put pressure on it and it will goi in all kinky and curley and come out straight as can be. No set diam tube was needed, but we used as small as possible to get it through, IIRC we used 5/16" or 3/8" ss tube for 1/8 and 3/32" stock.......Its possible to straighten (unkink curl) a long piece of stock, with support for the turning wire provided by extra hands or a jig....You can also get a portion through and then rechuck it and pull instead of push......works either way just as good.
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