Key takeaway
A single blower-powered air wipe delivers 360-degree, non-contact drying around wire, cable, and extruded rubber profiles, replacing banks of compressed air nozzles.
Wire, Cable & Extruded Rubber Drying
Wire, Cable & Extruded Rubber Profiles
One engineered system, every product diameter, built for continuous extrusion lines
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The continuous line brief
Air Wipe and Air Knife Drying Systems for Wire, Cable, and Extruded Rubber Profiles
One engineered system, every product diameter, built for continuous extrusion lines
The drying challenge
Wire and cable manufacturers live and die by line speed. The moment a product exits the cooling trough, whatever water clings to its surface has to come off fast, evenly, and without slowing the line down, because what happens next (laser inspection, spark testing, ink printing, cable bundling or spooling) all depends on a dry, consistent surface. Compressed air wipes have been utilized for decades, but they come with real costs: high energy draw, uneven coverage across different diameters or profiles, and production bottlenecks due to poor drying.
Sonic Air Systems replaces that setup with a blower-powered air wipe and air knife system engineered specifically for wire, cable, and extruded rubber profile lines. A single centrifugal blower drives a high-velocity, non-contact laminar air stream around the full circumference of the product, stripping water uniformly regardless of diameter or the complexity of a profile. Systems are sized to the line, from fine-gauge wire running at high speed to large-diameter cable and rubber profiles, and built with quick-access threading so operators aren't cutting the line to load a new run. The result is a single drying platform that adapts to the product instead of forcing a nozzle change for every size.
- high-speed wire drying
- 3,000 FPM
- standard air-wipe range
- 0.05 to 4 in
- non-contact product coverage
- 360°
Continuous production
Key Takeaways
Wire and cable lines change diameter, speed, and downstream demands without stopping. The drying system has to adapt without adding another compressed-air infrastructure problem.
Key takeaway
Standard systems cover a wide range out of the box: 0.05" to 4" diameter for low-energy air wipes, with dedicated Standard and High Speed Wire Dryers covering everything from fine wire to large cable at speeds up to 3,000 FPM.
Key takeaway
Custom adjustable systems extend well beyond that: one Sonic system dried cable from 1" to 8" in diameter on a single production line, with change-overs down to about a minute.
Key takeaway
Enclosed drying cabinets contain both sound and moisture, supporting noise compliance and reducing plant-floor slip hazards.
Key takeaway
Blower-driven air needs no compressed air infrastructure, no pressure regulation, and no oil or water carryover onto the product.
Product range
Sonic Air Systems Provides Drying Solutions For:
- Fiber optic cable
- Coaxial cable
- Plastic-coated wire
- Magnetic wire
- Braided wire and post-tension cable
- Large trunk cable
- Extruded rubber profiles
- Multi-strand plastics compounding prior to pelletizing
- Tire cord
- General purpose wire
- Fence wire
System logic
Engineered for Continuous Production, Not Just Blow-Off
Standard Sonic Wire Dryers handle product from 0.01" to 1.2" in diameter at line speeds from 200 to 1,000 FPM, with a 45-degree clamshell design that opens for threading without interrupting production. For lines running smaller products faster, the High Speed Wire Dryer covers up to 0.75" diameter at speeds from 500 to 3,000 FPM. Every system is powered by a Sonic centrifugal blower, so there’s no plant compressed air tie-in and no pressure drop to manage when other equipment on the same header kicks on.
Larger or mixed-diameter runs call for a different approach, built around the same air knife system platform. Enclosed drying cabinets with automated doors contain both sound and moisture, supporting noise compliance and water conservation goals on the plant floor, since less airborne moisture means less makeup water drawn into the system over time.
Production proof
Verified Applications
Verified application
One-Size-Fits-All Drying Across Wire and Cable Diameters
Rising demand for insulated and jacketed wire and cable, driven by home construction, fiber optic buildout, EV charging infrastructure, and smart grid investment, has put pressure on wire and cable producers to dry more product, in more sizes, without adding equipment. Sonic’s answer is a one-size-fits-all drying tunnel that handles diameters from 0.05" to 4" (1.27 to 101.6 mm) for low-energy air wipes, using enclosed cabinets with automated doors to contain sound and moisture. Manufacturers get 360-degree coverage and can shift between wire and cable sizes without swapping out drying equipment. Full details are in Sonic’s published case study, Wire Drying Systems Help Amp Up Capacity in Wire/Cable Production.
Verified application
Adjustable Air Knife System Dries 1" to 8" Cable on One Line: Merritt Davis
When Merritt Davis, an OEM extruder manufacturer, needed a single system to dry submersible marine cable ranging from 1" to 8" in diameter on one extruder line, a fixed compressed air wipe couldn’t do it: sized for the largest cable, it left smaller diameters under-dried, and swapping wipes between sizes ate into production time. Sonic engineered an adjustable air knife system built into a sound-and-water containment enclosure, using a rack-and-pinion adjustment mechanism so the knives stay within an inch of the product at any diameter. The result cut product change-overs to about a minute and kept the line within the customer’s 85 dB noise requirement, while the 10 HP blower driving it did the work of a much larger compressed air compressor.
Verified application
Rinse Water Removal for Wire Mesh and Screen: GDC/Keystone Wire Cloth
Wire mesh and screen present a related but distinct challenge: a wide, woven product exiting a hot rinse rather than a round extrusion exiting a cooling trough. GDC/Keystone Wire Cloth needed to remove 99% of the water from 52"-wide wire cloth exiting a rinse at 150°F, prior to coiling. Sonic sized a bank of air knives mounted within half an inch of the product to knock off bulk water immediately after the rinse, followed by a final drying pass, all powered by a single blower rather than the multiple compressed air setups the line had used before.
Ready to Talk Through Your Line?
Every wire, cable, and extrusion line is different. Tell us your product range, line speed, and what has to happen downstream (inspection, printing, coiling) and we’ll help size a system around it.