Due to the nature of the machine and how each type of material must be calibrated precisely, bendable material must be purchased from the UTSOA available stock.
Material Pricing:
6' length of 1/8" steel: $3.00
6' length of 1/8" aluminum: $3.50
6' length of 1/8" stainless steel: $5
6' length of 1/8" brass: $6.25
Limitations: The CNC wire bender can only accept 2D bending projects. This means that if you plan to create a final project that is 3-dimensional, it must be composed of separate bends/pieces that are 2-dimensional and will be connected together at the end of your fabrication process. This can be accomplished through purchased pre-made connectors or soldering after bending.
File Prep: The CNC wire bender accepts .svg file extension types.
- Export your file as a .dxf extension from either Rhino or AutoCAD
- Open your file in Adobe Illustrator.
- If making multiple different bends (i.e. more than one bend that is non-identical to the first), separately save each piece of your project from Adobe Illustrator as a .svg. Do this by choosing "Save As..." from the File menu for each separate piece of your overall project and creating the .svg for it.
- Move the .svg file(s) to your flash drive.
Material Prep:
- Purchase your material from the It staff members in Sutton Hall basement.
- Clean the grease off the wire by using the provided rubbing alcohol and paper towels. This prevents the wire slipping in the CNC machine.
- When your material and file are prepped proceed to fabrication in the Laser Cutter room.