How Is Braided Elastic Made?

How Is Braided Elastic Made? 

Are you ever interested on how the real production or brainding process look like? Simple answer to that is not easy

Braiding is the time consuming process and seldom makers can support whole ranges of offering, however braiding is the most interesting elastic making method from production standpoints, especially if you saw or done hair-braiding before, back to elastic braiding, it is even more interesting when take deep dive on the actual production process.

Typically here is how the braided elastic are produced, the spindles are circulating in a certain route at a very high speed, that is how braid is formed. In short word, each and every spindle travels and pass through every track to form a part of the braid. Like the motion below captured during Reik production

Sometimes the shape is three “U” shapes when the straps with less threads, likewise the formation has multiple “U” patterns when the straps is wider or thicker. 

You may wonder the white “stick” thing coming from the hollow, that is the stretched elastic yarn. Sometimes the elastic is Latex, sometimes the elastic material is synthetic rubber, depends on customers demand. Latex derived from the bark of rubber tree which is widely planted in tropical area like south east Asia, Amazon area and some part of Africa. 

Elastic yarns, the “white stick”, are pulled so hard that it could not stretched any further, to keep the elastic thread stretched extensively by multiple steps of gears is the key element to braid, otherwise braiding is unable to happen at such a high speed and accuracy. Here is how the elastic yarn is stretched and braided strap is formed.

Once the strap/cord/narrow elastic is formed the strips go through many different slots, those slots are formed by gears and gears. Those gears are made of metal steel and could last very long life time without being torn down. However the daily machine maintenance would not allow water to be sprayed on those gears as it will make it dumb and rust.  

Finally the elastic will fall themselves to form a small strap hill sometimes the hill collapses down naturally without further intervenance as the hill formed is unstable and will obey the gravity rule, like this picture below.

This is the whole process of braided elastic forming, the braiding process is energy consuming. For now some elastic makers still use old fashion (less expensive) braiding machines, that could results in complaints on the threads knots and dirty elastics. So be ware and take care.