How big a press to make wire

[Greg in va]

Looking at the harbor freight presses how big do you need to make wire, would the bench top 6 ton do it or would I need to go larger.

Greg

[BLASTER62]

Greg It takes around 1,800 # to 2,000 # of hydro pressure to swage wire.

[martin]

Greg in va,

There are a lot of "depends" that go into swaging wire.

It depends on the size of the billet you are starting out with
It depends on the size of the wire you are going to make
It depends on the dies that you are using and the angle leading into the die

My setup is an "H" frame and a 13 ton hydrolic press. I make wire for 22 cal, 6 mm and 30 cal. The billet is .45 inches used in a .5 inch cylinder. It take a fair amount of force on the handle with 17 strokes to make a piece of wire about 12 inches long. 6mm takes less force and 30 cal even less but the dies are larger in diamater and the lead flows through them more easily.

Bottom line - bigger is better (in my opinion).

Martin

[deltaenterprizes]

I use a 20 ton with an air over hydraulic jack and a 3'' OD die with a 1'' bore and it has no trouble bringing that 1''x6'' slug down to .187''x about 4'.

[Greg in va]

Ok, thanks so I'm thinking that the 6 ton would make wire for 223 and maybe for 243, not looking to make hugh amounts just enough for me, so ya'll think that it would work or should I step up to the 12 ton. I don't have a lot of room thats one reason I was looking at the 6 ton bench top press.