7. Winding

Once the wire or cable has been cooled, it must then be wound onto a spool (or reel) to facilitate its storage and transport to subsequent processing stages or to the end customer. The reel is characterized by the diameter of the core onto which the wire or cable is wound, its outer diameter (of the flanges), which determines the maximum winding diameter, and finally its winding width.

The part of the line that performs this operation is called the winder. Its primary function is to wind the cable around the drum (or reel), but the following auxiliary functions are also required:

• regulating the spool rotation speed based on the line speed;

• the even distribution of the wire or cable across the width of the drum;

• changing the spool at a constant line...