EuroWire May 2015

News Technology

Embracing a wide range of machines

Sket products embrace a wide range of machines and equipment for the manufacture of electric cable and steel wire rope. In addition to high-speed tubular stranding machines, cage-type stranding machines and central stranders, and drum twisters for the cable industry are also included. In German, drum twisters are referred to as universal stranding machines, and this is a better description of the role for these machines – all-purpose machines which can be used universally. Drum twisters are usually to be found wherever cable is produced. More specifically, the main areas of application for these machines are to be found in: of energy cables out of round or sector shaped conductors (aluminium or copper) • the manufacture/production of telephone cables, control cables and special cable • the screening of medium and high voltage cables • the armouring of energy cables with round or flat steel wires • the production of Milliken conductors for high voltage and super high voltage cables • the manufacture of offshore energy cables Sket has been manufacturing and supplying drum twisters – a relatively recent machine addition – for over 50 years. The machines are tailored to the Verseilmaschinenbau’s • the manufacture/production

▲ ▲ Sket has been manufacturing and supplying drum twisters for more than 50 years

development of ever-bigger diameters and cable lengths. Pay-off and take-up bobbin diameters are typically in the range 1,000 to 5,000mm. The throughput weights can be more than 50 tonnes. In this way the tendency in the cable industry for ever-longer production lengths is taken into account and the suitability of the drum twister for the manufacture of offshore energy cables is facilitated. Sket Verseilmaschinenbau GmbH – Germany Website : www.sketvmb.de

product-specific requirements of the user. Right from the planning stage the requirement priorities of the customer are taken on board and solutions are proposed which, after acceptance by the user, are developed through to fruition. The equipment is in consequence tailored to the specific needs of the end product, resulting in a machine design which meets with all technical and technological require- ments. As with other systems, this machine system also follows the trend towards the

Wire bender for complex 3D items

E-FLEX is BLM’s completely electric single-head wire-bending machine.

The scope of wire is expanding globally. The BLM wire line includes both single-head and double-head solutions to meet all production needs. E-FLEX is designed to process diameters up to 8mm. It has two bending turrets with clockwise/anticlockwise rotation and is suitable for 3D bending.

It also enables several bending technologies to be used simultaneously (flexure, blows, variable radius).

Supplying the wire from a coil ensures automatic operation. The workpiece is straightened in a single forward movement, at constant speed, without intermediate stops, ensuring precise straightening and bending repeatability. The 3D visual graphic programming (VGP3D) and the continuous visual support of the processing zone make the machine extremely easy, comfortable and safe to use.

▲ ▲ The E-FLEX from BLM

The machine can correct the program automatically and safely by searching its database for previous bending experiences that ensure that the first product to be processed is correct.

BLM Group SpA – Italy Website : www.blmgroup.com

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May 2015