rebendable wire

[Peter Fairbrother]

A friend makes felt animals with aluminium wire armatures. The wire
work-hardens and breaks if you bend it too often.

Anyone know of a wire which can be bent a lot? I guess ardman and the
like must use something frequently-bendable.

Ta

Peter Fairbrother

[RustyHinge]

Indeed there is such a wire, but I guess it might be a bit too costly
for that purpose: 32 carat gold.

Aluminium wire can be annealed by heating - but careful, it will melt if
it is overdone.

I'd use a Calor butane or propane blowtorch.

Just don't be too quick to test it after doing the job: cave a nice cup
of tea while it cools. Or, if you're impatient, quench it in cold water.
(This doesn't have the same result as quenching tool steel.)

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

[Richard Smith]

Would a paint-stripping electric heat gun be a "safe" way of annealing
the aluminium? Could not overheat / melt the Ali?

[RustyHinge]

I don't know the annwaling temperature of the aluminium or the heay of
the paint-stripping gun, but I would guess so.

I hesitated before not mentioning an enamelling oven - not many people
have one of those...

[Peter Fairbrother]

Problem there is that the wire is covered with felt or plasticene or
whatever.

I have some LED lights on stems which are bendable, and which have been
bent a LOT - the ~ 1mm silvery typical metal density (ie comparable to
iron, copper etc) wire in them does not develop corners which soon
break, unlike aluminium armature wire which is pure Al, fsvo pure, and
supplied dead soft.

Peter F

[RustyHinge]

Some sort of induction gadget? Dunno if you could get a device to work
on aluminium.