[MOC] Wire bending machine

[Damian_Brickinn]

 

Before Christmas, I spent some time building a bending machine. I was curious if it can be done only with Powered Up hub. The operation of the machine can be seen in the video below.

I rebuilt the mechanics several times because something still didn't fit. It finally looks like this.
I tested several types of wires:
Stainless wire 1mm and 1.2mm - unfortunately too hard.
Copper wire 1mm and 1.2mm - much softer than stainless, but still the machine couldn't handle it.
Finally, I bought several types of aluminum wire with a diameter of 1 mm and 1.2 mm and only the machine began to bend very nicely.

The hardest part was creating the sequence of movements. I spent most of my time on this by trial and error.

Edited December 27, 2022 by Damian_Brickinn

[Davidz90]

Interesting project. The results are pretty consistent. The problem with steel wire was insufficient motor power or just bricks bending?

[Damian_Brickinn]

The motor even had enough power to try to bend the wire, but the gears started to jump and the elements leading out the wire were bent. The steel wire was hard to bend even with your fingers

[aeh5040]

Very nice! For a further challenge, I wonder if it is possible to extend it to bending in three dimensions somehow?

[Diamabolo]

nice projekt!

[Damian_Brickinn]

On 12/27/2022 at 1:14 PM, aeh5040 said:

Very nice! For a further challenge, I wonder if it is possible to extend it to bending in three dimensions somehow?

Definitely. It is possible to add a third dimension. In practice, this would probably require the machine to be doubled in size. If a third dimension were added, the turntable would have to be strengthened.  The swivel arm is already heavy because it carries the pivot and motor to it. But yes, it is possible - it depends on how many bricks you have :P

[Good old Lego builder]

And now, for something completely different….

Very nice creation, very creative! Well done!

[Damian_Brickinn]

On 12/28/2022 at 5:28 PM, Good old Lego builder said:

And now, for something completely different….

Very nice creation, very creative! Well done!

Thank you!

[Magical Duck]

Wow, this type of machine isn't something that you see in LEGO too often! Very well done!

[Seasider]

Great little machine you have there.

if you compare the Young’s modulus of your materials you get …

Aluminium ~70 GPa

Copper ~117 GPa

Steel ~190-215 GPa

so you can see how much the challenge increases for your 3 materials

[Jundis]

Really nice machine :-)

4 minutes ago, Seasider said:

so you can see how much the challenge increases for your 3 materials

This of course is very important, but the diameter of the wire will have great impact. I'd also recomment to strenghten the nozzle as much as possible, in this configuration it's rather ease ;-)

[howitzer]

I once got myself a loop of annealed titanium wire, which was super soft, bending even accidentally while handling it. On the other hand, it would harden a lot once bent a bit, so I wonder if such a wire would work for this kind of machine...

Anyway, cool project and something different. Bending in three dimensions would be even cooler, but I understand that it would make the machine so much more complex...

[Seasider]

3 hours ago, Jundis said:

Really nice machine :-)

This of course is very important, but the diameter of the wire will have great impact. I'd also recomment to strenghten the nozzle as much as possible, in this configuration it's rather ease ;-)

He was using the same 2 diameters for all 3 of his materials so I would class material as the main variable