I want to make a jig for wrapping wire–I have a design in mind,
and it would be nice to have all my pieces uniformly sized. <<
Give us a hint, how big (wide, long) many posts, what diameter,
what type of post placement?
One possible solution.
Draw the pattern of your piece on a sheet of paper. Place an X
at each point where a post is required. Make several copies of
your drawing. Obtain a 16 or 20 guage pice of sheetmetal aprox 1
inch larger (length & width) than the drawing. Obtain a 3/4 inch
thick piece of hardwood about the same size as the sheetmetal.
Attach a copy of the drawing to the sheetmetal with double sided
scotch tape. Center punch each X and drill a small hole (aprox
1/16") in the sheetmeta l. Position the sheetmetal over the
hardwood. Using the sheetmetal as a guid e, drill 1 1/16 in hole
in the wood. Place a small nail or piece of wire through the
sheetmetal & into the wood. Verify the position of the sheetmetal
over the hardwood & using the sheetmetal as a guide, drill a 2nd
1/16" hole as far from the 1st as possible. Insert a small nail
or piece of wire into this hole. With the sheetmetal guide now
held in registration by the nails/wires dri ll the remaining
holes. Assuming 1/16" diameter is adequate for the posts, insert
posts into each
of the holes in the hardwood. If you use nails be sure to cut
the heads off. Place the sheetmetal over the hardwood so the
posts protrude through the holes. Form the wire around the posts.
When the piece is formed, use the sheetmetal to lift it from the
posts. Return the sheetmetal to the posts & form the next piece.
If the design requires some posts to be larger than 1/16", drill
the appropriate holes in the sheetmetal to the correct dimension.
Depending on the increase in size & the material used for posts
(nails, bolts etc) the holes in the hardwood block may not need
to be enlarged.
Happy wire bending!
Dave