Draw plate

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Draw plates are used to draw wire to make it thinner. They can also be used to draw tubes of wire (chenier). Plates are available in many different sizes and shapes for drawing different shapes of wire, including round, square, oval, half-round and hexagonal. The plate has rows of holes drilled through it which are slightly wider at the back.

When drawing, the plate is held in a vise. Wire is annealed and then filed at one end to give it an initial taper. The tapered end is inserted into a hole with a final diameter just smaller than its current width. Pliers or draw tongs are used to hold the tip of the wire and pull it through, sometimes with the aid of grease or wax as a lubricant. Wire up can be pulled by hand for small diameters of wire, while very thick wire may require a drawing bench with a crank. The wire can be drawn about three times in a row before it needs to be re-annealed. Otherwise it will break because it becomes too brittle.

Draw plates reduce metal thickness by reshaping the metal, increasing length while decreasing diameter. As such, a piece of wire can be considerably lengthened during the process. While drawing the wire gets warm which is the energy used by the drawing.

Metalworking:
Jewellery making:	Callaïs | Casting | Centrifugal casting | Cloisonné | Doming technique | Draw plate | Engraving | Filigree | Findings | Fretwork | Goldwork | Lapidary | Metal clay | Millesimal fineness | Omega chain | Persian weave | Relief | Repoussé and chasing | Soldering | Vacuum casting | Water torch | Wire wrap jewellery
Metalworking topics:	Casting | CNC | Cutting tools | Drilling and threading | Fabrication | Finishing | Grinding | Jewellery | Lathe (tool) | Machining | Machine tooling | Measuring | Metalworking | Hand tools | Metallurgy | Milling | Occupations | Press tools | Smithing | Terminology | Welding