Automatic Cutting and Stripping Machines

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Improved technology enables fast cutting, clean stripping and simple blade changeover for various size wires.
Without a sculptor, a piece of clay or marble can never reach its full artistic potential. Rotary, V and die blades in
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serve a similar role to help conductive wire and cable achieve its full electric potential as part of a harness.

Within one or two seconds, these blades precisely cut each wire or cable to a predetermined length and remove its insulation to expose one or more inner conductors. The wires or cables are then manually or automatically crimped by
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before being brought to the assembly workstation, where assemblers use boards to carefully build each harness.

At Gruber Communications, based in Phoenix, workers assemble lots of cable harnesses for use in data centers every day. The company’s priority since day one has been to produce high-quality cables—and make sure that no cable conductor, or
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is ever nicked or blemished during
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's processing.

For more than a decade, Gruber workers used separate pneumatic machines to cut and strip each cable. Eventually, though, CEO Pete Gruber grew tired of the constant maintenance on the machines’ check valves and cylinders. This led him to purchase the all-electric EcoStrip 9300 cut and strip machine in 1998.

“Cutting and
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from the 1920s to the 1950s featured mechanical designs,” explains John Olsen II, president of Artos since 2005 and great-grandson of Haaken. “Typically, three pair of fixed-position blades were used to cut and strip the wire. All setup changes were done mechanically by adjusting cams and moving blade spacers.”

Despite being an entry-level machine, the benchtop EcoStrip 9380 from Schleuniger can process single wires from 30 to 8 AWG and two wires (up to 0.12-inch diameter) in parallel. It is operated via S. ON software on a 5.7- inch color touch screen, and features the company’s Bricks electronic platform for precise wire feeding by using
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. An optional belt feeding system can be set for normal, roller or short mode processing.

FEWER CHALLENGES THAN BEFORE
“In the 1950s, the average harness in an American car contained fewer than 50 wires,” notes Rob Boyd, senior product manager at Schleuniger. “Today’s car features many harnesses that have hundreds of wires of varying gauges and lengths. As a result, harness makers need versatile
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and stripping machines to meet this challenge.”

They also need to make sure that their machine operators are trained to understand the dynamics that exist between wire insulation (depending on wire supplier), nonsymmetrical wire, and blade design and performance limitations. Tim Crider, sales director at Komax Wire, cites as an example the lower margin of error when processing PVC-insulated wire as compared to Teflon-insulated wire. Because PVC is softer and less challenging to cut and strip, the operator doesn’t need to pay as close attention to process parameters, blade positioning and wear.

Komax’s Kappa 331 machine addresses these and many other challenging applications. It processes wire from 24 to 2 AWG and cable up to 0.63 inch OD in large and small batches. The unit also performs full and partial pull-off operations on single conductors and individual coax layers, and strips the outer jackets from cables with or without shielding.

A key feature is the Kappa Sensorik laser sensor, which automatically detects the wire conductor and uses inductive measuring to determine its diameter. The sensor and a chargecoupled device (CCD) line optically measure the outside cable diameter and then check that the cable is present during processing. This feature greatly shortens setup time and changeover, and reduces operating errors.

For the past 18 months, a large wire harness and cable manufacturer has been using the Kappa 322 machine to cut and strip three-conductor 14 AWG cable (40 inches long) at a rate of 600 pieces per hour (pph). This midsize unit processes wire from 30 to 4 AWG and enables easy setup and changeover without tools.

“Buying a midsize machine to constantly perform heavy-duty work is a common problem,” says Armando Zacarias, sales and service manager at Eubanks Engineering Co. “A machine that’s capable of processing 32 to 8 gauge wire is really not designed to process 8 gauge wire all day long. Using the machine that way will likely require it to often be refurbished or rebuilt. A better approach is to buy a machine that’s able to process wire as large as 4 gauge.”

Operators use a cassette to quickly insert and remove blades from Eubanks’ fully programmable AirStrip 7400 machine. Microprocessor-controlled and easy to operate, the machine handles stranded conductor wire from 32 to 8 AWG, and multiconductor cable up to 0.31 inch OD. It strips cable up to 20 inches long, and can be programmed to do step and center stripping.

A bit larger in size is the more powerful 2700-05. It cuts and strips wire from 32 to 8 AWG, as well as multiconductor and flat cable up to 0.31 inch wide. Operators input wire processing parameters on the built-in keypad. Zacarias says consumer electronics and automotive manufacturers use this machine in high-volume, low-mix environments because of its high production rate (up to 10,800 pph).

Another ongoing challenge is making the wire and cable as straight as possible before it enters the CAS machine. Suppliers often provide material on the smallest spool possible, which, unfortunately, results in bent wire and cable that may require a straightener.

To avoid this extra processing step, Boyd recommends thin wire be wrapped around spools at least 10 inches in diameter. Thicker wire and cable should be delivered on much wider barrels, so that it unwinds in a large loop that is easy to straighten.
 
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