Band making apparatus, comprising a mandrel rotatable about an axis, a source of wire, a guide and control system for presenting the wire to the mandrel to be wound thereabout, for causing successive turns of the wire on the mandrel to form the band, and for causing completed portions of the band to be fed from the mandrel along the axis, and cut-off mechanism arranged to receive the band from the mandrel and automatically successively cut off band segments of predetermined length.