Hydraulic swaging problem

[David Ward 7Participant @davidward7]

I plan to swage some lead wire.

If I have ONE hole say 6mm the lead would have only 6mm to go through so I assume if I have say 5 or six holes there would be less force needed to force the lead through the six holes? or am I wrong? would I need more force?

[David Ward 7Participant @davidward7]

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I presume you mean to draw the wire to make it smaller? If so you need progressively smaller holes, only doing a bit of reduction at a time, and the holes want a tapered entry. Place I worked years ago we used to make lead wire for making gaskets, and we had a plate with lots of holes. It took ages cutting strips off flashing sheets and pulling through lots of times. Why we didn't just buy the wire escapes me at this distance in time, probably because 'we've always done it this way'. You reduce the first inch or so with a hammer to get it into the next holes down, and lubricate it with tallow, but I daresay oil or grease would do.
Unless you really want to do this, I'd just buy some.

To forestall the next question, you then make the gasket out of brass mesh and weave the lead wire through it so that when it gets squeezed up the lead is crushed and makes the seal

[Guy LambParticipant @guylamb68056]

Hello David, I think you might be mistaking the action of swaging (common in blacksmithing ) with wire drawing, without wishing to sound pedantic they are very different metal working processes.

Swaging is carried out to make a section of material (most commonly) round, half round or even corrugated using either top and bottom swage tools or a swage block (a handy tool consisting of a heavy floor mounted block with many half round grooves as well as half hexagons and half squares V section grooves. Swages are essentially half section hollow die blocks that can be struck with manual force/power hammer/hydraulic press to form a required section

Guy

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