Any suggestions for where i can buy aluminum armature wire in Dallas? Dont say hardware store that stuff breaks and isn’t for animation.
The Asel Art store I went to only had the thicker wire.
How thin are you talking? And what kinda hardware store wire were you buying that broke…
Actually I read several stop motion tips and saw a few videos say the aluminum wire from hardware stores is bad for animation because it isnt made to be bent frequently, something about the treatment to make it stonger also made it break easier. I was looking at 1/16 and very long. Found some online I prdered but prefer to go place and buy in store if possible.
(Pretty sure you already have your answer, but posting this in case this source is helpful to someone else)
This is not local, but I’ve bought various metals (wire, sheet, foils, aluminum, copper, bronze, etc) from these folks several times.
They have wide range of gauges of aluminum, AND in soft and medium tempers.
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Is there a reason for the aluminum? Copper wire is very malleable
and easy to find
Wal Mart carries some colored Al wire in their jewelry/craft section
and some time abo, so did Michaels
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Aluminum wire from a hardware store and aluminum wire from a arts supplier are the same metals. In terms of art/jewelry wire you buy them at different stages of soft-hard but you can anneal anything by heating it up and make it soft. However, I find lots of folks just assume all silver wire that’s not silver is aluminum. Electric fencing wire and welding wire all look the same but are different alloys and more brittle than wires you’l find over by the fasteners. It sounds like the people on the interent you’re reading got the fencing wires. 1/16 is pretty intense and less wire and more of a full on chain/strapping level. I’d look at baling wire/rebar tie wires if you want something that intense. It will have a similar tensile strength and holds up really well.
Look for 1XXX series aluminum wire. It’ll be 99% pure Aluminum and more resistive to work hardening as you bend it repeatedly.
Aluminum Alloys And Their Characteristics - If we consider the seven series of wrought aluminum alloys, we will appreciate their differences and understand their applications and characteristics.
1xxx Series Alloys – (non-heat treatable – with ultimate tensile strength of 10 to 27 ksi) this series is often referred to as the pure aluminum series because it is required to have 99.0% minimum aluminum. They are weldable. However, because of their narrow melting range, they require certain considerations in order to produce acceptable welding procedures. When considered for fabrication, these alloys are selected primarily for their superior corrosion resistance such as in specialized chemical tanks and piping, or for their excellent electrical conductivity as in bus bar applications. These alloys have relatively poor mechanical properties and would seldom be considered for general structural applications. These base alloys are often welded with matching filler material or with 4xxx filler alloys dependent on application and performance requirements.
http://www.alcotec.com/us/en/education/knowledge/techknowledge/understanding-the-alloys-of-aluminum.cfm
Probably more info than you’d want to know.
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Yep, copper wire has been a possibility as well and will be tested if possible. Thanks
So if I go to a hardware store and make sure the wire is 99% pure aluminum then it will be good enough to be repeatedly bent and not break?
I’ll consider a hardware store, since apparently 99% aluminum may be what I need.