EuroWire November 2023

Dies, Cones & Die Maintenance

Wire drawing dies and training facility Mikrotek is a manufacturer and exporter of diamond dies, with a product range that includes polycrystalline diamond dies, natural diamond dies, synthetic single-crystal diamond dies, tungsten carbide dies, solid enamelling dies, bunching-stranding-compacting dies, Mikrotek nano-dies and tungsten carbide taper inserts. The die is a critical part of the wire drawing process. As well as purchasing good quality new dies, it is equally important to maintain their quality over time. To achieve this, periodic die inspection and polishing are recommended. This ensures the wire quality – its size, roundness and surface finish – are consistent. A well-maintained die is re-polished to a robust schedule to extract the maximum tonnage of drawn wire. Re-polishing also ensures a maximum number of recuts from the die. In recognition of the fact that re-polishing technicians should be well trained to achieve optimum results, Mikrotek has established a training facility – Mikrotek Centre for Excellence (MCX) – to offer long- and short-term courses in die maintenance for technicians within the wire industry. The courses equip candidates to efficiently and independently manage die re-polishing or re-conditioning at their drawing plants. After drawing several kilometres of wire, a ‘wear ring’ usually forms at the contact point in the reduction angle of the die. If the wear ring is not periodically removed through die repair, it expands and damages the die profile, resulting in poor quality wire and increased wire breaks. This can also lead to premature die cracks. At Mikrotek, every used die is repaired by either re-polishing or re-conditioning, and made almost like new. Re-polishing retains the roundness or size of the original die. This process is possible only if there is no severe damage in the die profile and if the die size is within tolerance. It is therefore important to periodically inspect dies for wear conditions such as minor scratches, wear rings or ovality – all of which can be corrected and the die returned to near-new condition. During this process, a negligible amount of the bearing length of the die profile may be shortened. Any ovality is removed, and the die size may increase marginally depending on the wear level still within the tolerance. Re-conditioning, on the other hand, is a complete reprocessing of the die. It is applied to dies with severe wear, over-size, high ovality, or defects that cannot be removed by re-polishing. Re-conditioning removes all defects in the die and increases the die size to the next immediate size in the series. Mikrotek can perform re-polishing and re-conditioning of dies of any make. Mikrotek Machines Ltd www.mikrotek.in

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November 2023