Need machine to make continuous coil
(USA)
I am looking for information on the best machinery for making continuous closed wound helical coils. We do not need to bend the ends into loops or cut the wire unless the machine can’t make a coil as long as the spool of wire will allow. Our preference is to make the coil length be controlled by the amount of wire on the spool.
We will be making coils from soft metal wire such as alloys of silver, gold, and copper (Cu/Zn and Cu/Ni). The wire diameter would be .020” to .064”. In all 8 wire gauges will be coiled. Twenty two coil ID’s will be made ranging from 1.6mm for the lightest gauges wire to 13mm. Rapid changeover from one wire diameter to another is desirable as well as changing the ID of the coil. The finish on the wire is a “bright drawn” surface from a polished diamond wire die. A very important parameter is that we do not want to damage the surface of the wire. The hardness of the wire should be about 60 Vickers at the low end to perhaps 200 Vickers at the hardest. We expect the mean hardness for most of the wire to be in the 110VH to 140VH.
We expect to make repeated short to medium size runs of all the sizes.
We want to make both round coils and oval coils from all of these wire sizes. The oval coil must be made so the relaxed coil lays flat on the side of the oval (long and short axis inline i.e. does not spiral).
I would appreciate any advice you can give me including the kind of machine best suited, and specifications I should be looking for. Your advice on who the best suppliers are for quality and service, considering that we need to learn everything about tooling and running the machine. What to look out for and how to avoid spending for features we will never use. We have a well equipped modern machine shop with master machinist and tool and die makers on staff.
