In a competitive market like nowadays, wire manufacturers require an increase of product quality and production reliability; whereas production cost and scrap rate are to be reduced. Over the last few years, the outlet diameter range has become bigger, the number of requested wires has increased, the requested production speed has risen and there has been more demand for tin-plated and nickel-plated copper multiwire.

Over the last few years, there has been more demand for metal coatings for multiwire drawing machine. In particular, the number of requested wires has increased, the outlet diameter of each wire has become smaller and the requested production speed is increased.

The development of the ITO-SIN new multiwire drawing line platform took several years, it’s the result of comparative analysis of the process of wire drawing and annealing of bare copper and metalplated copper wire. In particular, adding plating to a bare copper multiwire drawing system presents technical challenges in the coating surface as the wire is hard and abrasive and the dust and powder generation is higher. Annealer contact band life is critical due to sparking. One concern for using tin for plating is its low melting point.

The box of the wire drawing machine adopts splicing type, each drum is driven by a separate gear box, and each wire drawing drum is equipped with a tension pendulum (optional to participate in adjustment), and the control potentiometer adjusts the compensation of the wire drawing speed. The wire drawing die set is a casting. The outlet die can be rotated. When the thick wire is drawn, the inoperative motor can be turned off, reducing energy consumption and noise.

The cross-section reduction of the outlet wire requires an increase in the number of drafts of the multiwire drawing line. The multiwire drawing machine is a slipping gearbox machine; therefore, a high number of drafts causes a high cumulative slip in the wire inlet side.

The drawing of metal coated wires requires an increased amount of lubricant compared to bare copper, a better control of temperature and cleaning.

Die holders have spray jets on both the inlet and outlet cones to improve wire lubrication within the die to reduce friction and to facilitate cleaning of the inlet/outlet cones themselves, thereby enhancing product quality and prolonging die life. There is also a spray for pulling rings to reduce the friction with wire.

The lubrication of the final die is critical as it is here the wire attains its minimum diameter. At the maximum speed, the metal coating is at minimum thickness and the lubrication is usually only on the entrance die cone. For these reasons, the designed multiwire drawing machines have a pressurized separate lubricant supply circuit for their final dies.