Manufacturing and Production

Wire Drawing and Cable Manufacturing

Wire is drawn by pulling it through a series of dies that each reduce it slightly, so a single worn die or a lubrication failure marks every metre produced afterwards until somebody notices. This course covers preventing that. Delegates work through rod quality, descaling and the surface preparation that lubricant depends on. Drawing mechanics follow, including reduction per pass, die angle, drawing stress and the limit at which wire breaks. Die materials, geometry, wear and maintenance are covered. Lubrication is treated in detail across dry and wet drawing. Work hardening and intermediate annealing are addressed, along with patenting for high carbon wire. Copper and aluminium conductor drawing are covered for cable manufacture. Stranding and laying up follow. Insulation and sheathing extrusion are addressed, including concentricity and wall thickness. Electrical testing is covered, including resistance, high voltage and spark testing. The course closes on drum winding, on packaging and on tracing a fault to the pass that caused it.