» About Us

Continental Cordage Corporation is North America's leading manufacturer of braided wire products for a wide range of commercial, military, automotive, and industrial applications in a global market. We are a division of International Wire Group (IWG).

Located in picturesque Cazenovia, 18 miles southeast of Syracuse in central New York, Continental Cordage operates within driving distance of eight other International Wire locations, suppliers of our primary raw material – tin coated and bare copper wire. They also supply copper ropes for resale in small quantities. A more distant subsidiary of IWG, High Performance Conductors (HPC) supplies us with nickel plated copper, silver plated copper and similar materials.

Our main activity is wire braiding (in tubular or flat form) and over-braiding cables. We have over 60,000 Sq Ft. of manufacturing space and 7,500 Sq Ft. of warehouse supplemented by local capacity at other IWG plants. Our equipment is modern and efficient, our workforce averages over 14 years experience. We are committed to the highest standards of quality, and measure our success by the satisfaction of our customers.

We sell direct to original equipment manufacturers (OEM's), and distributors or suppliers whose customers are primarily in the aerospace, appliance, automotive, electronics and data communications, general industrial/energy and medical device industries.

Our Products

We manufacture wire braids in tubular and flat form, using wire from 44 AWG (0.002") to 28 AWG (0.126") and larger. Over-braiding cables, hoses, or tubing has become a major segment of our business.

Although our largest volume of braid is made with tinned copper, we maintain an extensive inventory of other metal types including Aluminum, Bronze, Nickel Plated Copper, Silver Plated Copper, and Stainless Steel.

Additionally, we wind wire on braider bobbins for customers who maintain their own braiding equipment. Our wide variety of metal types and sizes ensures quick delivery and saves our customers the cost of holding inventory that must often be purchased in large quantities.

Our Process

How braid is made:

Bobbins or Bunching

We start with a single wire (called an "end"), which is supplied on spools weighing about 25 lbs and containing about 50 miles of wire.

To make wire braid we start by doing one of two things:

• We wind the wire; usually with several other wires, directly onto a braiding machine bobbin. Many different bobbin types can be found in our factory for our various makes of braiding machines. The quality of the bobbin and the winding process is critical to making good wire braid, so we have developed several different winding methods depending on metal type, bobbin type, lubricant, etc. Although various procedures are required to make a quality braid product, if you don't start with a properly wound bobbin you can never make good braid.
• The other option is to twist large numbers wires together to make a twisted "bunch" and then wrap the bunch onto a bobbin. This bunching step is necessary if there are a large number of wires involved, because there is an inherent limit to the number of wires in the "parallel" winding process described above.

The Braiders

Wire braiders are of basically two types – rotary or maypole. There are multiple variations of these two basic themes, but all braiders are fundamentally one or the other. Each type has its advantages for a particular braiding requirement, but both make a tubular braid which can, if desired, be flattened to specified dimensions.

• Bobbins containing wire are loaded onto "carriers" either as full sets of equal length or as a set with multiple lengths. By starting with equal length sets the braid is produced in a continuous length with few or no splices. For purposes of product quality this is our standard method of production.
• When starting with multiple length bobbins, the first bobbin that empties is replaced (spliced) with a full bobbin. Continuing in this fashion the braid can be as long as we need it to be – an important consideration when over-braiding cables longer than single set bobbin capacity would otherwise allow.
• Maypole Braiders
  As the name implies, bobbins on this type of braider circle around each other in a maypole fashion, with pairs of bobbins weaving around other pairs to make a two over – two under pattern.
• Rotary Braiders
  These braiders can produce the same braid patterns as rotary braiders, but operate at higher speeds. The bobbins remain fixed to one of two decks that rotate in opposite directions while the wires on the lower deck are lifted and dropped as the bobbins on the upper deck pass by.

Inspection and Testing

All braid must be inspected and re-spooled onto a shipping reel. Physical testing is performed and documented according to customer requirements.

Inspection is literally done "by hand". Braid passes thru unprotected fingers to detect imperfections as it is metered to length and wound on a shipping reel. All individual spools are wrapped with a plastic film to secure and protect the braid.