Drive Units

Drive units — also called feeders — clamp wire or tube between pairs of driven rolls or caterpillars and use motor power to pull or push material through a processing line at a controlled, consistent speed, with contact force set high enough to prevent slippage but low enough to avoid marking the material. That role matters wherever downstream equipment — straighteners, cutters, formers — depends on steady, accurately metered feed to hold its own tolerance. Witels Albert's drive unit series are available in 2-roll and 4-roll configurations, including caterpillar-style units, for wire, tube, strip, cable, and profile processing lines.

Selecting a drive unit starts with your material's diameter and the pull-off force your line requires to overcome coil inertia, bearing friction, and the tensile force added by any upstream bends — larger or stiffer material generally needs a unit sized for higher drive force. Where a drive unit feeds directly into a straightener or other downstream station, matching its footprint and feed characteristics to that equipment is also part of the selection; most Witels Albert drive units offer adjustable roll positioning to support that fit.

Drive units are engineered and built in Germany to ISO 9001 quality standards, with US stock and support from Branford, CT. Witels Albert has supplied wire and tube processing equipment since 1898. For help matching a drive unit to your line, provide your material diameter, required feed speed, and the equipment it will feed into when requesting a quote.