WCA May 2007

Cable Production Equipment

Irrespective of the kind of cable they manufacture, cable manufacturers are confronted with the challenge of a keen competition with increasing quality requirements. manufacturers need production equipment which guarantees a high grade of precision, production safety, reproducibility, economic efficiency, and flexibility. Maschinenfabrik Niehoff GmbH & Versatile, precise and flexible Therefore, cable

double-twist stranding machines. The special features of these machines include the one bow con- struction which significantly reduces both drive energy requirements and noise emissions, together with the contactless transfer of machine data within the machine and individual AC drives, which greatly lowers maintenance requirements and costs. The D series of bunching machines comprises four differently sized models which are designed for cross sections from 0.05mm² to 16mm² and spool sizes from 400-800mm flange diameter. The DSI type double-twist stranding machines (DSI631 and DSI1001) are designed to combine insulated conductors into pairs or quadruples and to strand conductor pairs into LAN cables and other special cables. The machines can be used for a maximum strand diameter of 8mm or 15mm, while the lay length can be freely adjusted between 8-180mm with a very narrow tolerance band. The lay length consistency is < ±0.5% of the effective lay length. The DSI type machines can be combined with various additional equipment in order to produce all types of data and special cables including LAN cables of all categories – even the still non- specified ones – with the highest precision. Winding and braiding The semi-automatic and automatic winding machines ‘System Hacoba’ built by Niehoff are designed to process single and multi-wire spools onto braiding bobbins. Excellent tension control and an easy wire path promote the processing of fine wires consistently and accurately onto the bobbins. The resulting high quality package allows these bobbins to be processed into the braiding process at high braiding speeds with lower wire break rates. Therefore, these machines play a key role in ensuring that Niehoff’s high- speed braiding machines of the BMV series can unfold their full potential. Designed for 16 braiding bobbins respectively 24 braiding bobbins, the BMV type machines can process bare or coated copper wire, aluminium wire and stainless steel wire with diameters ranging from 0.05-0.3mm, as well as artificial yarn and fibres.

Co KG has developed production equipment which covers all steps from copper wire drawing to power cables, building wire, automotive wire, data cables, LAN cables and special cables manufacturing. Bunching and stranding Some examples of the Niehoff cable manufacturing product range are the D series double-twist bunching machines and the DSI series

52

Wire & Cable ASIA – May/June 2007