Coil Winders
Our coil winders were developed specifically to wind micro coils for the medical industry. Medical coils tend to come in two classes: coils that are left in the body and coils that are part of the catheter used to perform a variety of intravascular tasks.
These winders feature combinations of menu-selectable variable and tight-pitch wind capability. All winding parameters are precisely controlled and the programmable wire tension can be controlled down to extremely low values. Multifilar, variable mandrel length, machine vision and other custom features available. A photo of a variable pitch wind is shown below. The measurements are in mils (1 mil = .001 inch).
How small is a micro coil?
Basically as small as blood vessels get, smaller than a hair. Our customers typically wind coils in the range of .003" diameter wire on a .010" mandrel. Some wind coils down to .0004" diameter wire on a .001" mandrel (this is pretty tough since the wire tension should be about 1 gram). We can wind coils using .001" wire on a .001" mandrel using a wire tension of 1.0 gram and a wind back angle of .4 degrees.
A picture of a coil is shown on the tip of Lincoln's nose, on a penny, alongside a human hair at the right.
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Page updated 03/31/03
