press 400 useful in the practice of the present invention is seen to be comprised of a base platen 460 on which is mounted to side 461 a vertical cylinder support plate 465 two alignment stand off blocks 490 are mounted to the top surface 462 of platen 460 and one heater block stand off plate 480 is also centrally mounted to top surface 462 the alignment frame 300 containing the mounted suture fiber 110 is placed between the operating platens 430 and 460 of the forming press 400 such that the alignment pin receiver holes 340 are engaged with alignment pins 490 located on the top surfaces 491 of the alignment stand off blocks 490 the cylinder support plate 465 provides support for the air cylinder 410 which is attached to the cylinder support plate 465 through the use of the mounting block 467 additionally the free end 421 of the air cylinder shaft 420 is attached to the upper platen slide plate 441 through the use of the shaft mounting block 445 the upper platen slide plate 441 is vertically slidably engaged with the cylinder support plate 465 through the use of two guide rails 440 the upper platen 430 and the two.