Question about Wire Winding Procedure

Hello all,

I'm a new guy in cable industry. I've spent some time in the plant and noticed some practices here that tickle my mind. One of them is about the wire winding process. It's very basic and I really hope you can help me grasp the concept.

My first question is about the wire path following the roller configuration. We have 5 rollers available for rewinding the wire. But I notice that sometimes the wire path is different.

Please check the image here:
www.dropbox.com/s/e6monu473051oaq/Roller%20WW.jpg?dl=0

And it's also in the attachment

- Which one is the best way to rewind the wire?
- What is your consideration on determining which rollers should be used and what is the best practice to thread the wire?
- Do wire sizes matter in this case? Do we need different path for different wire size?
- What would happen if we don't follow the practice and use just 1 or 3 rollers instead?

My second question is about the turns on the roller or capstan.

- What is the point of making some turns on the roller or capstan?
- How can we determine how many turns that we need (3 or 4 or 7)?
- What would happen if we don't make this turns or use lower or higher number of turns?

I really appreciate your inputs and comments. Thank you very much.

Hello Mr Jongguran Sondang Doli Noviedo,

I have looked at your drawing but I cannot tell anything from it or about it. Is there a dancer or just a wire straightener?

I suggest you click on the "WAI STORE" on the left hand side and purchase the following books and articles:

Electrical Wire Handbook, Part 1
Electrical Wire Handbook, Part 2
We Do it Straight - Wire Straightening

Then start reading!

With regard to the second question, are you talking about capstans in a drawing machine? If so, you should be aware that a standard drawing machine is a non-positive device and thus more conductor metal is introduced to each drawing die than is necessary. This prevents wire breaks. The excess material slips back through the machine and the number of wraps on the capstans is such to allow both the slip and the supply of conductor for the next drawing die. It is empirically determined.

If you want to learn about bare wire including drawing and annealing, I suggest you purchase these two books from the "WAI STORE" :

Nonferrous Wire Handbook, Vol. 2
Nonferrous Wire Handbook, Vol. 3

Interesting but not very informative. My first though would be that it is what the operator thinks works best. My second thought without knowing anything about the type or wire or sizes of wire is that the there is a correlation between size and the number of pulleys used.

Please provide some additional details.

Also while few new engineers seem willing, many years ago when assigned as the process technician/engineer in the wire mill of a magnet wire plant, the wire mill super asked if I was really interested in learning about wire drawing. Replying yes, he told me to go home, put on my old clothes, and then for the next two weeks do what ever (he pointed to an operator on the floor) that guy tells you to do. Believe me you will learn a lot by talking to the people on the floor doing the work!