Metal wire drawing machines, referred to as wire drawers for short, are mechanical equipment used to produce metal wires. There is a wide variety of wire drawing machines. Classified by wire diameter, they can be divided into fine wire drawing machines (measured in si, a traditional wire diameter unit), small wire drawing machines (wire diameter: 0.X mm), medium wire drawing machines (wire diameter: mm) and large wire drawing machines (wire diameter: 1X mm).
In terms of internal control modes and mechanical structures, the main types include water tank wire drawing machines, pulley wire drawing machines and straight-line wire drawing machines. Wire drawing machines of different specifications can be selected according to products with diverse requirements, precision standards and different metal raw materials. For steel wire manufacturers and producers of high-end wires, straight-line wire drawing machines are widely adopted due to the strict requirements on machining precision and drawing stability based on material properties. Despite differences in drawing processes, the overall workflow generally consists of three major stages: wire paying-off, wire drawing and wire take-up.
Metal wire is a common and fundamental deep-processed metal product. The precision requirement for wire paying-off is relatively low in the whole wire drawing process. For most wire drawing machines, the paying-off stand is driven by frequency converters. Some models adopt dual frequency conversion control, and a few realize free wire paying-off by feeding wires relying on the tension generated during the drawing process.
The wire drawing section is the core working part of the machine. The operation of this section varies greatly depending on metal materials, wire types and technical requirements. The running speed of the wire take-up section determines the overall production efficiency, and it is also the most difficult part to control in the entire system. Synchronous control and tension control are the mainstream technologies applied for wire winding in the take-up unit.
As the country pays increasing attention to non-renewable resources and advocates resource conservation, an increasing number of manufacturers in the wire and cable industry have begun to develop new production equipment, such as copper-clad aluminum production lines.
In the fiercely competitive wire drawing machine market, dedicated controllers based on single-chip microcomputers and special frequency converter systems feature simple structure and low cost. Nevertheless, for high-end wire drawing machines with stringent process requirements, the integrated system composed of touch screens, PLCs and frequency converters delivers superior performance in automatic control.