Hello,
I have an old specification for wire that refers to "supplied on ACRO Pads, 11 inch wide x 14 inch ID". Can someone direct me to any data on ACRO Pad specifications?
Regards

Hello there,

You are really not giving us any information at all besides the name.

Is this a ferrous or non-ferrous specification?

Could this be a flat circular plate of some material such as steel or rubber and of some unknown thickness but with an inner diameter of 14 inches and an outer diameter of 36 inches?

Could it even be a wire carrier with a circular base?

Where in your specification are these ACRO Pads mentioned? (e g) Where exactly in the manufacturing or testing processes?

Kindest regards,
Peter J. Stewart-Hay P. Eng.
Principal
Stewart-Hay Associates
www.Stewart-Hay.com

Morning..

At one time we had reels called Acro Paks, which were close to the dimension that Wire wrote about, this would be wire on reels that were able to be strapped down around a core, the reels were able to unscrew and packaged wire was removed or wire acquired and placed within these paks and ran like a normal reel.
try this website to see if this is what you are looking for
www.wireworld.com/release/pdf/acropr-011802.pdf

Good morning subaru585,

What a great suggestion! Perhaps this is what "Wire" was referring to although an "Acro Pad" is a bit of a stretch from the wire on an Acrometal reel but then "Wire" gave us no information at all. The single word "Acropak" of course is much closer.

The unit posted on Wireworld.com would give a coil of wire with a 14 inch inside diameter, a 30 inch outside diameter and 11 1/2 inches high.

We learned that ATEK had purchased Acrometal in 2003.

ATEK Companies
2600 Niagara Lane North
Minneapolis, MN 55447
Phone: 763.553.7700
Fax: 763.557.9442
Website: www.atekcompanies.com/

Atek Manufacturing is the Division that still makes reels.(See Commercial Products.)

ATEK Manufacturing
210 N.E. 10th Ave.
Brainerd, MN 56401
Phone: 866.879.2835
Fax: 218.828.6620
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.atekmanufacturing.com/

I found nothing about Acrometal or ATEK in the WAI 2008 Reference Guide or in the WAI Virtual Trade Show.

Kindest regards,
Peter J. Stewart-Hay P. Eng.
Principal
Stewart-Hay Associates
www.Stewart-Hay.com

Peter,

Believe it or not I once worked for Acrometal as field engineer for enamelling ovens a coilers.
I went to the wrong web site and thought that this product line was sold to the plant manager of the Michigan City, IN plant which also made tubular stem packs, payoffs and what they called demountable reels like the one shown in the picture.

At one time Acrometal was quite the progressive company. We prototyped a lot of machines for 3M; if they had a customer that had something that needed grinding, we would make a machine to do it using 3M abrasive belts, etc.

Started as Robbins making bobbins for the textile industry and then spools for wire industry. They literally made hundreds of thousands of 3" and 6" aluminum spools. They also make the computer reels for 3M. Remember the old movies when they showed the computer tapes spinning back and forth searching for information. A totally unique product with the flange actually machined so that it was thinner at the od than at the hub. Reduced WR2 (wr square)ie moment of inertia. Fred Bieber partnered with Harry Kittizleman to make KB coilers. Harry was a genius engineer that also designed Indy race cars in the ealry 60's. Family designed equipment to make chain link fences.

Looking back at the original posting; the Acropak had a core for mounting on a shaft. It was surrounded by an inflatable bladder or tube which had numberous pieces of aluminum (think a cast barrel that has been cut into pieces at 12, 2, 4, 6, 8,10 o"clock) over it. When the bladder expanded the piecs expand out maiking the barrel diameter. Fill up the spool with wire, band it using banding straps, deflate the bladder, demount the flange and ship the wire reel-less. The buyer mounts the wire on a similar reel in reverse order. With todays shipping cost they might make even more sense as opposed to shipping wire on 30" steel spools and then shipping empty spools back.
Richard

Acropak Reel-Less Packaging is still available you can call 218-828-6655 for specs and other information