Chinese wire processing machines - any experiences? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 13, 2017, 03:52:50 am
content: I was paying around $600 for 5,000pcs of 12" UL1061 22ga wire with 0.1" strip and tin but that supplier is no longer offering this service, and local supplier quoted me over $5,500 for the same thing.I don't use enough of the stuff to justify a high end machine, but I have seen lots of Chinese machines in the $500-$1,500USD range. So I bought one called an SWT508C from Aliexpress. It will be here next Wednesday. Like lots of Chinese made stuff, it looks like there are a million sellers but they are all selling the same machine, and you generally have no idea who the actual manufacturer is. There's lots of eBay and USA sellers with local stock, at a 50-150% markup (I paid $685 delivered). This is the machine in action:I also found machines that look remarkably similar where you can see the actual manufacturers website (also made in China) that were in the $1000-1500 range, but didn't have any additional features.Anyone have any experience with this specific machine? I figure I have enough electronics knowledge and I have a fully equipped machine shop, so if it has shortcomings I can probably fix them or sell the machine on and get something higher end if it turns out to be a valuable addition to the shop.Curious if anyone has used this machine or any other Chinese wire processing machines and has any comments or feedback on them?

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2017, 04:40:24 am
content: It will be great to see your review.Is this the machine manufacturer?http://www.raswt.com/BTW, this is a good low cost supplier of UL1061 wire:http://www.atlaswirecorp.com/product-details.aspx?ID=5

author: janekm
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 13, 2017, 04:41:35 am
content: I'm sure the machine will do the job. I've seen similar ones (or quite possibly the same one) in operation in the wire shops in Shenzhen. Some of this kind of simple factory machinery is almost "open hardware" in China, there may be quite a few little factories making the same or almost same machine based on a common design (and common components).BTW the price in China (I just saw standard pricing for 1007-22AWG, but the price shouldn't be much higher) is around $150 for 5000 pieces! It should have been pretty easy to find an alternative suppliers... But I suppose now you can just make them as needed

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2017, 06:32:13 am
content: 5000 pcs is a relatively low amount.You sure you can't hire a bunch of people to do them for you in a few hours?A fast person can probably strip 10 cables a minute, 500 cables an hour, 5000 cables in 10 hours. ... pay them 20$ an hour and you've got this done for 200$Tinning should be equally easy.. bunch of solder pots, a person to dip the ends and make a figure 8 through the liquid solder, remove the dross every 5-10 dips ..You'd only need a paper guillotine or something like that to cut a lot of 12.2" pieces of wire , then have a bunch of people use cable strippers configured at exactly 0.1" to strip the ends.For example if you don't mind a bit of waste, you can wrap the wire around something that's exactly 12.2" (or a bit larger if you don't mind tweaking the end size afterwards) in circumference and then draw a line with a marker over all twists and you know where to cut it. Would work with a 2by4 style of wood plank ... wrap the cable around the 13-14" board then draw on both sides a couple of lines which will tell you where to cut, so then you unwhirl the wire from the board and make cuts where you see the marker color

author: ar__systems
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2017, 01:07:54 pm
content: my customer uses something like that. Works for them.

author: sparkswillfly
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2017, 02:31:28 pm
content: Any for multiconductor cable?

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2017, 04:51:13 pm
content: Quote from: sparkswillfly on January 13, 2017, 02:31:28 pmThe SWT508-PX2 is a flat cable version, if that's what you mean. There are a few videos of it.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 13, 2017, 10:58:20 pm
content: Quote from: edavid on January 13, 2017, 04:40:24 amNice find! That looks to be the manufacturer. That actually makes me feel better knowing they have a pretty fleshed out product line and aren't some anonymous company that will be making toasters next week - and also mitigates my only other concern which was sourcing spare parts (especially cutting blades) for this little wire machine.I'll definitely update the thread with feedback on the unit when I get a chance to play with it. I have wire ready and waiting. The only thing I've noticed in videos is that it doesn't seem to be quite as accurate as what I've seen from Eubanks or Komax type machines for things like multiple strips mid-way through wires. But it does appear to be accurate to within half a millimeter or so, which is more than accurate enough for my needs.Thanks for the tip on Atlas wire. I've been buying from Daburn so far and been happy. They are at $80 per 1,000ft reel of 22ga 7/30 UL1061 wire. I notice Atlas has a production schedule listed on their site, which makes me think they are perhaps selling in much higher minimum quantities... do you know if that's correct? I just bought a few thousand feet of each of the colors I need but I'm always interested in other suppliers going forward. Thanks again

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2017, 11:16:29 pm
content: Quote from: Corporate666 on January 13, 2017, 10:58:20 pmYou're right, I think their minimum is 10,000ft per color, but their price should be quite a bit lower than that.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 13, 2017, 11:23:44 pm
content: Quote from: mariush on January 13, 2017, 06:32:13 amI think the above would be quite a bit of work to go to in order to realize the 5000 cables and there would be a lot more room for error and it would take quite a bit of my time setting up the tools to make all the wires, overseeing the work and making sure everything went smoothly. I also tend to think it would take longer and cost more than anticipated - but even if it cost a third of what the machine cost... with the machine, I still have the machine. I can use it again the next time I need wires (it's not a one-time thing. I order these 5,000 wires maybe once or twice per year from the previous supplier). I also can use it for other bits of wire, heat-shrink and such. There's a few times we have shied away from custom cables because of the hassle, but if the wire machine works out OK, I will look into an automatic crimping machine and perhaps think about doing our own cables with connectors for some of our lower volume products where we might want to use a Molex/JST/Hirose connector sourced from Digikey before we would want to move to a higher volume approach like getting cables made in volume in China.So I think buying the machine makes sense. Plus, it's only $700. I am pretty sure I can sell it on eBay for most of that, if not all of that. So even if it ends up not getting much use, I don't think I will lose money on the deal. But we shall see... maybe I am wrong. Hopefully not

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2017, 11:38:46 pm
content: I have a very similar model for occasional it use. In general it is ok, but with some limitations.At work right now. I will try to post some experiences tonight if possible.Sent from my horrible mobile....

author: richardlawson1489
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2017, 05:40:19 am
content: I don't have any personal experience with them, but found it pretty good and user friendly.

author: sparkswillfly
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2017, 11:49:58 am
content: Quote from: edavid on January 13, 2017, 04:51:13 pmNo I mean for a cable with outer sheath and multiple insulated conductors, say 4. Would have to strip the outer sheath, guide inner wires into channels, and strip them.Like this I suppose:

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2017, 10:57:11 pm
content: I purchased one of the very common Chinese models as I said earlier. Overall - it has saved my butt when I needed a few thousand cut/strips. In general, the amount of wire processing I do is way too much for manual and way too little for outsourcing. This machine fits in the middle. The quality is what I expected - marginal. The labels are comedy gold "Generally-Purpose Model Wire stripping Machine". Exactly like that, grammar, hyphenation, capitalization could have been proof-read by a 1st grader. The software/user interface is strange (again, as expected).It is only for single round wires I use to make harnesses. The claim is that it can go down to 30ga. but that is not really practical. The smallest I have had consistent success with is 22ga x 7 strand. Much smaller or finer stranding is too inconsistent for me. If I spent some time tweaking the mechanics including sharpening the blades I may be able to push some higher performance. Most of what I do needs 18, 20, and 22 gauge in a variety of colors. I am pleased how easy it is tow switch from one type of wire to another since a single batch of wires is usually about 14 different types of gauge and color. The learning curve was reasonable although fiddly. It took a bit to get the settings right to avoid nicking the strands or not cutting all the way through the insulation.I got it back in June and it has not had any issues, but it is an occasional use machine.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 15, 2017, 03:03:46 am
content: Quote from: rx8pilot on January 14, 2017, 10:57:11 pmYour usage is just about exactly what mine will be, and that machine is almost identical to mine. When I do a search for my machine, yours comes up often - so I wonder if it's a slightly older revision? The control panel is identical - mine just lacks the knobs to disengage the rollers and the roller adjustments are 90 degrees rotated.You said the quality is marginal - do you mean quality of results or quality of machine? I'm expecting normal shoddy Chinese build quality of the machine. I am hoping it will be able to produce what I want, though... which is a 0.1" strip on each end of a piece of UL1061 22 gauge wire cut to 10" in length. I don't care if it's +/- 0.020" on the strip length or so... but I wouldn't want constant jams or a 10% of the wires not getting stripped or something.You mention it was fiddly and a bit of a learning curve to get the settings right to avoid nicking the wire or not cutting all the way through... any tips on this machine (settings or setup or anything) to help me hit the ground running and get good results? Thanks!

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2017, 08:02:02 am
content: Biggest thing is to get feeder roll tension right, either a mandrel with a friction brake that holds the reel securely, or a feed tray with rollers you drop the reel in. Varying pull tension will mean you get inconsistent lengths, especially as this one only has a small feeder pressure point.Never used these, but form fill and seal has this issue as well, and getting that right and consistent means you get a constant product, otherwise you are making a lot of scrap material. You probably will want to make a reel holder and have some reels spare for the wire as well, and make a respooler jig for those wires on odd size reels as well.

author: iampoor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2017, 01:42:20 pm
content: I am curious to hear about your experiences too. I have been finding myself needing to strip 20gauge wire for .1 headers more often for custom jobs. Now if only I could find a great crimping machine for those pesky Molex KK connectors too.

author: JoeN
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2017, 12:28:15 pm
content: Free hint: oshwire.com is available. You could be making a mint like laen. Just program up an automated interface so I can order my wires from you.

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2017, 04:39:54 pm
content: I have not struggled much with roller tension. The fiddly time for me was getting the blades and the feeder tube correctly positioned. This is especially sensitive with small wires and/or short wires. The the motion resolution on the blades is fairly coarse and set with a arbitrary number on the controller. One setting would not get all the way through the insulation, the next setting would cut a number of strands. I also found that the distance from the wire feed tube and the diameter of the wire feed tube is important for the small wires that will exit the tube in various directions as the blade comes down which results in one side of the wire being stripped and the opposite side not.I sharpened the blades which helped. They were not completely dull, but I honed them more to ensure the jacket is cut, not smashed. The blades have a small range of adjustment that I used to get between the software settings of the machine. I also pushed the feed tube a little closer to the blades from the way it was setup when it arrived. The smaller wires need a tighter guide that I sort of experimented with, but did not create a permanent solution. I was thinking about making a Delrin bushing to slip on the feed tube that matches the wire diameter a little better. Hoping that can make 26-28ga wires practical. If the bushings help, I will run a few sets and would be happy to send a set to you. Once the CNC is setup for it, each set is a negligible effort.I just ran a batch of wires yesterday. 10 different types of wires, about 50pcs each total time was about 30 minutes. That keeps a smile on my face for sure. I have not forgotten how difficult and time consuming that would be manually. Outsourcing it would be impractical at those volumes.Hope that helps a little.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 18, 2017, 11:43:26 pm
content: So the machine ended up arriving on Monday, I've been super busy this week and haven't had time to mess with it other than unpacking it just to be sure it was all there and powered on. But I finally got a chance to try it out last night. And... pretty much what was said above holds true in my experience. Overall I would rate the machine an excellent value for money with some caveats. Details below (sorry if it's a bit long - wanted to be thorough for anyone considering this machine)1) Perhaps the manual has been revised, it's not too bad, although it's still way more confusing than it needs to be. Things are explained in multiple places and I found myself marking pages and flipping back and forth and saying "oh, so THAT'S what they mean". Case in point: the menu has "AMT" and "TOT". In the quick-start guide it says "AMT" is the amount of wires to make. Ok, makes sense. Then a couple of pages later it says TOT is the total number of wires you want to produce. Wait...what? Then further reading shows that it will pause or beep after each "AMT" to allow the operator to verify they are being made right. It took some page flipping to figure that out. Same with some other terms... it's just slightly confusing at first but once you get it, you realize they just made it way more complicated than it needed to be.2) SeanB mentioned correct tension on the spool of wire being fed into the machine and he is correct. I actually over-thought this one. I have a MIG welder in the shop with a simple but elegant setup using a spring and a couple of Delrin bushings and washers to provide adjustable friction on a feeder spool of wire. I machined a 6" x 6" x 1" thick aluminum plate, put rubber feet on it and a 1/2" x 6" bolt through the bottom with alternating plastic and steel washers and a spacer to fit tightly to the inner diameter of the wire spool and more washers and a spring on top to hold the spool without any play and let me adjust how easily the spool spins on my little mounting plate. My concern was that when the machine pulled wire into the machine, the spool of wire would continue turning due to inertia and this would cause an excess of wire to build up at the machine input and cause feeding/binding problems. My variable friction feeder worked perfectly. Except totally unnecessary and actually detrimental. The trick with this machine is having as close to zero friction on the incoming wire as possible. It does jerk the wire as it feeds it in, but this can be mitigated by keeping the wire further away and letting the length of the free hanging wire prior to entry into the machine act as a spring-like buffer... and also the mass of the wire and spool damps the impulse and helps prevent the runaway slack issue I was worried about. I'm going to rework my existing holder and put a bearing in there so it glides as smooth as silk, and put some magnets to stick it to the metal desk to keep it from moving during operation.3) RX8 hit the nail on the head about small wires. The feeder tube is a bit too far from the cutting blades and although they provide three diameters of feed tube, the smallest one is still too big for small wire. The force of the wire cutting can sometimes cause the wire to not remain in a nice straight axis and if you try to keep the settings tight (one setting is how much the blade retracts between cuts) then the wire can misfeed and not go through the opening between blades. I'm going to make a longer wire feed tube with a smaller diameter inner hole which should solve this issue. He also hit on the biggest issue - the setting for wire diameter. It's an arbitrary number between 18 and 60 or something. It doesn't seem to correlate to anything. I have it set to 28 right now which is working OK for 22 gauge wire. There is additional adjustment available by moving the blades - that's where one would get fine control over stripping. I was changing this number by 2 or 3 units, and on 22 gauge wire, such a change goes from barely nicking the jacket of the wire to cutting through so much that there was only one strand of conductor left. It's probably a stepper motor and that's all the resolution you get... but this is the biggest limitation. It really needs 10x the resolution, especially if you wanted to work with smaller gauge wire. I think, as RX8 says, through a combination of honing the blades, using the blades to adjust wire cut depth as well as the program setting, and a smaller diameter and longer feed tube, you could get this thing working with substantially smaller gauge wire... but out of the box, 22 or maybe 24 gauge is probably about as low as you'd want to go.4) The wire straightening device is kind of a joke. It will work but I can't understand why they went to the effort of machining this thing in 3 operations, pressing in studs, machining rollers and plastic bushings for it. And then they use the absolute shittiest bearings I've ever seen. I thought it was a design issue but it's not... they have screws with washers that are correctly sized to press against the inner race of the bearings and the rollers touch the outer race on the outer diameter. But the bearings are just such shit that if you even tighten the screws holding the rollers a little bit, you feel them grinding and sticking. It's like the bearings are filled with sand. So anyone buying one of these, buy fourteen 13mm OD, 4mm ID, 5mm thick ball bearings to fix the wire straightener. And for some inexplicable reason, they used split lock washers on the back of the screws to press against the bearing races and space them off the mounting bar of the wire straightener... which means the bearings don't sit square against that bar, meaning the rollers are all out of alignment. I can't comprehend the thought process on that. Whatever. Get some 4mm ID flat washers with a 6 to 9mm OD and that will let you fix the problem - then the wire straightener will work nicelyThe only other thing I've noticed is that, obviously, being a cheap machine, it lacks many of the sensors and error checking type stuff a more full-featured machine would have (I presume, anyway). So for example if it starts to misfeed, it will happily keep going. The input feed motor is pretty powerful and uses a knurled drive roller and rubber wheel... so when my wire spool was set with too much friction, it yanked the whole thing across the desk and then the knurled wheel ground off the jacket of the wire when it could no longer pull wire in. Gotta keep that knurled wheel clean or else it won't be able to feed wire.So those are my thoughts for now. TL;DR is I recommend the machine. Some day I will possibly look into a method of increasing resolution of the wire gauge setting. The setting in software is just way too coarse. The wire straightening roller is useless but with new bearings and washers it is fine. And 22 or 24 gauge wire with thin jacketing is probably about the lower end limit (for thin wire) of the machine out of the box, probably thinner if you don't mind playing around with it a bit.I bought from this dudehttps://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-ship-Computer-Wire-Peeling-Striping-Cutting-Machine-computer-strip-wire-machine-2-5mm2-SWT508C/32588208660.htmlMost of them are within a few tens of dollars of each other on Ali Express. This guy had excellent feedback and was one of the lower priced sellers. The machine shipped within 2-3 days and showed up 3 days after shipment.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 18, 2017, 11:53:15 pm
content: Quote from: rx8pilot on January 18, 2017, 04:39:54 pmTotally agree on the software setting. I am almost shocked they claim the machine will handle 32ga wire. No way! I was surprised when I changed the wire gauge setting by a few units and it went from barely touching the jacket to pretty much going clean through. I'm going to open it up one day and see if there is a way I could possibly increase the resolution of that setting somehow. How are you holding the wire reels as they enter the machine? It looks like in some videos they are just on the floor and letting the machine lift it off the reel. I had the same issue with the wire feed tube... even moving it as far left as possible, it's still a bit too far from the cutting blades for small wires, which can turn in variable directions when cut.QuoteI'd be curious to hear how your bushing idea works, and thanks for the offer! If they work well I'd love a set. I run a lot of small parts on one of my CNC lathes so I was thinking I could run off an entirely new feeder tube. I was planning just to make one out of brass and have it longer than the factory one on both ends and with a smaller ID to help guide the wires more accurately and closer to the blades. I'll probably give that a shot when I get a chance and if it works I'd also be happy to send you one of the feeders tubes I make too.

author: technotronix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2017, 04:56:36 am
content: I had pretty good experience with Multifunctional Wire Cable Processing Machine for Cutting and Stripping (DCS-230).

author: HHaase
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2017, 02:34:22 am
content: Quote from: iampoor on January 15, 2017, 01:42:20 pmI stamp through about 2,000 KK crimps a month between the .100 and .156 sizes.Support is thin on the ground now, but I've been using an older Molex 3BF press I picked up last year. It's VERY obsolete now, but uses the dies for the not-as-obsolete Molex 'Terminator' series if you have the adapter set installed. They turn up from time to time on E-bay. Shipping can be a killer as it's about 150-200lbs and will probably come strapped to a pallet. The used market the dies are still around $800-$1000 per set including the base plate and such. But it's a big and beefy flywheel press without much to go wrong. Molex does still support and manufacture the dies for the Terminator series (TM-40 / TM-42)But if you're patient, and do your due-diligence to know what's actually installed for tooling, there are deals to be had. After it's all said and done, my setup ran around $2,000 to get going on both the KK 254's and KK 396's.

author: n0f8r
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 24, 2017, 01:46:20 pm
content: @Corporate666 and @rx8Pilot : did either of you mod your machine for finer gauge wire in the end? I also need hundreds of lengths of cut and stripped wire that needs to be precise to the nearest mm, so cutting and stripping by hand is really unnattactive.In my situation though the wire is 26AWG, and 0.8/0.9 mm total outer diameter. Reading your posts you both think it cant handle 26AWG out of the box but can be modified to do so. have either of you made the modification?What about 26AWG with very thin insulation?cheers,Kevin.

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2017, 01:16:22 am
content: Quote from: n0f8r on August 24, 2017, 01:46:20 pm22ga is the smallest I run consistently. I have done some 26ga, but the results are not consistent. Really hoping to fiddle with it someday to improve its performance. It seems the only time it gets any attention is when I need wires right away and don't have time to fiddle.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 25, 2017, 03:18:23 am
content: Quote from: n0f8r on August 24, 2017, 01:46:20 pmNo way the machine will do thin jacketed 26GA wire.I have actually been pretty frustrated with the machine... I took it apart to try to put a smaller gear on the strip mechanism (to get finer resolution), but the LCD stopped working - i was very careful in my work, so it's likely just a bad solder joint somewhere.There are a few problems with the machine that will prevent it working for you. First, the resolution setting in the menu isn't fine enough. On 22ga wire, one setting will have it not stripping, and the next increment will have it cutting a few of the inner strands of the wire.The only way to get around this is to loosen the blades and then try to tweak their position. The issue there is that the blades don't necessarily end up straight/parallel after this, and furthermore the top and bottom blade both need to be at the right position, or the top (or bottom) of the wire can be barely nicked and the other side will be cut much too far through. To make this adjustment, you need to make tiny tiny changes, and really, you are just loosening the blade and trying to barely nudge it and then run some wire and see how it works. It's painstaking and can take a couple of hours of fiddling with it just to try to get it working. And as the blades wear, it will stop cutting correctly, and then you need to go through this whole process again.I have been thinking of making some sort of blade holder with a couple of fine pitch screws to adjust the blade position in tiny increments, but I also think I could spend a week coming up with a mechanism and machining it, or I could just spend more money and buy a higher-end machine and have it just work.Bottom line - I would absolutely not recommend this machine for 26ga wire, and I would say it's borderline for even 22ga wire. 18ga is fine, 20ga should be OK but may need a little tweaking.

author: n0f8r
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 25, 2017, 07:50:59 am
content: Many thanks @Corporate666 and @rx8Pilot, not really what I wanted to hear, but you probably saved me money, time and frustration.