Ridgway Machines Ltd

For nearly a century, Ridgway Machines Ltd have manufactured precision winding and taping machinery for use in the energy and electrical power industries. From our headquarters in Leicester, we supply customers around the world with equipment of the highest quality.

Not only do our machines make first-class electrical cables, conductors and coils, they create reinforced thermoplastic pipe for use in gas and oil pipelines. Our products are complemented by excellent customer service and technical support. Ridgway deal with every stage of the machine supply process, from initial machine design through manufacturing and testing to final installation and after-care.

By employing the best engineers around, we ensure that our machines will always represent the forefront of contemporary technology and therefore provide you with optimum efficiency and value for money. We’re happy to visit your premises to ascertain the most suitable machines for your particular requirements – just see our website to find out what we can do for you!

BCT Coil Taping Systems

The machines in our BCT range are tailor-made to apply tape insulation systems to generator and motor bars and coils. They can be used in both repair-shop and OEM situations, giving cheap and reliable insulation in every scenario. Easy to operate, the BCT taping head hangs above from a trackway and takes either high or low resin tapes. The tapes are placed around the ‘in-slot’ zone and end legs. For closed coils, the head access clearance is the sole factor restricting the covering’s length. The BCT coil taping machines come in four variable sizes, two of which offer bench-mounted options.

Bar Bench Taping Machine

Thoroughly contemporary in its production style, the BCTVL-B bar bench taping machine is intended for applying semi-automated tape to bus, Roebel and compensating bars. It uses two powered roller-feed units, with components passing through a static taping head at speeds up to a maximum of 150 rpm. It’s simple to adjust the machine’s clamping pressure, while the rollers working in conjunction with the traverse reversing gearbox confirms tape overlapping will always be uniform. With minimal set-up time and a taping speed up to eight times greater than traditional techniques, this is a device that will greatly accelerate your production schedule.

NCT Narrow Coil Taping Machine

If you wish to tape narrow wind-turbine generator stator coils, then the NCT narrow coil taping machine is an outstanding piece of equipment which really delivers! The combination of its multi-axis motion control mechanism with a fully programmable HMI makes it ideal for precision taping narrow coil configurations of any shape. Its coil support is enhanced by a height-adjusting facility and automatic coil turn-over. Consequently, you’ll never have to take out or position a coil differently when you want to tape both sides. The Ridgway NCT has constant tension control ranging from 20N to 50N and is completely programmable by the user.

Horizontal Cable & Conductor Taping Machines

The Ridgway array of horizontal cable and conductor taping machines are built in a modular style, and include take-up and pay-off drum stands. The MK7 can be bought as single- or multi-bay, with caterpillar haul-throughs available at customer request. Its taping bays are made of hollow steel mounted on four feet, with a sheet-steel guard and door fitted on top of the base. Caterpillar haul-throughs have pulling capacities ranging from 1100N to 5000N, with the twin-belt caterpillar being laminated in polyurethane. The top track’s maximum opening is 60mm. One servo motor drives the caterpillar, so its two belts run at the same speed.

Glass Taping Line Machines

Ridgway’s glass-taping line insulates flat and round conductors via the application of glass-fibre yarn, subsequent immersion into enamel and finally curing the conductors in an oven. We offer a full selection of pay-off drum stands, with both dancer and torque control options provided. Each line has a pair of caterpillars to facilitate control of line tension. Attached brushes and steel rollers guarantee the conductor’s absolute straightness and cleanliness before the glass is applied. There are two taping bays for every line – large conductors have multi-bobbin tangential tapping heads while small conductors come with twin servo-concentric heads.

Rotor Winding Machines

When you need to wind rotor pole coils quickly and effectively, one of our rotor winding machines will do the job nicely! They’re specifically intended for indexed bi-directional operation and use the most up-to-date servo-drive systems available. Their main spindle is driven by a variable-speed geared motor and has a pneumatic holding brake. By mounting the main control panel on a free-standing pedestal, these machines allow the operator maximum control of all their functions. You have a choice of different drum stands, while other available features include capstan tension units and rotor support tooling. Large faceplates are included as standard on all machines.

STT Squirrel Turn Taping Machine

Are you looking to markedly cut down the time it takes to run your turn-taping procedures? The STT Squirrel turn taping machine tapes multiple conductors together during their journey from the gathering box to the loop winding beam while the loop-winding process is being carried out. The act of placing the STT between gathering box and loop winder means that group of conductors are taped together with the least possible disruption to the whole process. Operators can get variable tap pitch by the appropriate setting of linear and rotational speeds, and a pneumatic traction control system assures that the machine will always consistently adhere when in use.

RTP Taping Machines

Enterprises in the oil and related sectors will be interested in our RTP taping machines. Their function is the application of tape layers onto plastic liners during the making of Reinforced Thermoplastic Pipe (RTP). Every machine head can deal with numerous tapes simultaneously, which have tape tensions going as high as 1kN. After being signalled by an upstream caterpillar, the machine will place the tapes in the appropriate configuration. The machines have servo drives to help control layering, and all final rollers have graduated sector plates installed so angles can be adjusted accurately. You can configure as many as ten RTP machines in one taping line.