FORTEK GmbH

Always a Wire Die Leader

Fort Wayne Wire Die has historically been the birthplace of technology that drives the wire drawing and wire die industries. From the first wire die manufacturing equipment and processes developed in the 1930s, to the ongoing engineering advancements that have marked the industrys evolution ever since, Fort Wayne Wire Die has always stood at the forefront. Today, with four manufacturing locations, two additional sales offices and 19 more sales rep firms positioned around the globe, Fort Wayne Wire Die extends this uniquely historic wire die engineering and applications expertise to the world.

Pioneers in Wire Die Innovation

Since its origin in 1937, Fort Wayne Wire Die has been a scientific trailblazer and technological innovator in the production of consistent, ultra-high precision wire drawing dies. FWWD’s ability to hold very close tolerances while producing intricate holes and shapes in the hardest materials on earth led to the company’s development of new markets for ultra-hard precision wear parts. With the ability to produce increasingly more precise dies and components came the need to develop accurate methods to compare the finished product to the design specifications. When readily available measurement devices did not meet the accuracy criteria required by its customers, FWWD developed its own. As a result, we are able to produce dies as small as 0.0076 mm. FWWD holds hole size tolerances on the smallest dies within ten millionths of an inch and even tighter on out-of-roundness variances, becoming the leading global supplier of dies for high-quality fine and ultrafine wire applications.

Leading the Wire Die Evolution: What the 21st Century Holds

In recent years, derived from intensive research in both the lab and the field, FWWD has made discoveries that are changing conventional wisdom in the low-slip, high-speed wire drawing industry, shifting the paradigm away from an emphasis on hole size to that of elongation. With more applications demanding dies that are specified per elongation rates, FWWD has developed its own analysis procedures and proprietary software capable of calculating complete die sets, precisely matched to the elongation of any particular wire drawing machine. This technology yields die sets that elongate wire at exactly the proper rate to maximize high-speed wire drawing efficiency by minimizing downtime associated with wire breaks and capstan wear.

FWWD was the first to develop and implement X-ray technology in its diamond orientation processes, achieving unparalleled alignment optimization of the die axis in relationship to various diamond orientation planes. This maximizes wear resistance to extend die life and wire production consistency. FWWD developed the C300 concentricity comparator to measure ID to OD concentricity in extrusion tips, dies and similar components, allowing for total indicator reading (T.I.R.) verification accuracy to .0002 inch (0.005 mm).