APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR WINDING AND CUTTING WIRE OR CABLE

A system for winding wire includes a wire take-up unit and a wire cutter/grabber unit. The take-up unit includes rotatable first and second mandrel portions, and a wire directing traverse arranged to feed wire and alternately form coils on the first and second mandrel portions. The cutter/grabber unit is configured to cut the wire at a cut position between the traverse and a coil formed on the first mandrel portion and to grab a free end of the cut wire and move along a predefined cutter/grabber pathway to a hand-off position where the wire is transferred to the second mandrel portion. As the cutter/grabber is moved along the pathway from the cut to the hand-off position, a length of wire between the traverse and the free end of the wire does not decrease, and that length of wire is longer at the hand-off position than at the cut position.