I am looking for a way to clean drawn copper as it leaves the reel and prior to it entering the annealer. Has anyone seen a process to do this?

Anthony Blevins

Hi there Anthony,

We noted that you actually participated in the thread titled "Cleaning of Copper Wire" at www.wirenet.org/forum/viewmessages.cfm?Forum=12&Topic=540 There were five or six different options discussed in that thread. Was there nothing of interest to you there? By the way, what sizes of hard drawn copper wire are you working with prior to annealing?

Sincerely,
Peter J. Stewart-Hay
Principal
Stewart-Hay Associates
www.Stewart-Hay.com

What size or awg are you talking about? What type payoff do you have; rolling reel, static reel on a rotating device, static reel doffing the wire over the end, etc. Also what type of equipment do you have between the payoff and enamel bath?

I agree with Peter; in the last week or so have you not read or seen some ideas that might have provided you some insight into your problem?

How dirty is your wire before it enters the annealer?

We also used hemp rope and opened the cord and then wrapped it around the wire. It did a good job of removing loose copper dust, major dirt, etc.

Thanks for the response. I did read the thread mentioned and found some of it helpful to my situation. I just wanted to ask if there was a specific process prior to annealinng. The copper I use needs to be hard, smooth and without anything on the surface (grease, copper shavings, etc.) We purchase annually anywhere from 10,000 pounds to 20,000 pounds. We usually order in large 22" plastic reels of approximately 400 to 500 pounds per reel. The ODs I use are:
0.01040"
0.01360"
0.01680"
0.02200"
0.02200"
0.02920"
0.03320"
0.03470"
0.03600"
0.03900"
0.03910"
0.03960"
0.04230"
0.04450"
0.05450"
0.06020"
0.06400"
0.08080"

Anthony Blevins

Spectre07,
The hemp rope option sounds interesting. Can you tell me a little more about it, please? Do you run the copper wire through the middle of the cord or wrap the cord around and around the wire? How many inches or feet of cleaning length do you use? How do you secure the rope so that it remains stationary while the wire passes through?

Anthony Blevins