Like many successful companies, California Fine Wire started with hard working entrepreneurs and a market opportunity. When four friends in the Central Coast of California discovered that the Wilber B. Driver Company was phasing out wire operations, they instinctively knew that the opportunity for which they had been searching had arrived. The five founders began wire drawing operations in the garage of Mr. Michael A. Greenelsh, one of the founders in 1961. Shortly thereafter, they moved to rented facilities in Grover Beach, CA.
The entrepreneurial spirit provided a foundation for the company's market approach "what you want when you want it." California Fine Wire set out to provide the highest levels of customer service while producing products that few (if any) wire companies would attempt. From those early years till now, California Fine Wire offers the widest variety of metals, alloys and services available in the industry.
California Fine Wire employees have developed skills to draw, roll, anneal, strand, flatten and enamel hundreds of metals and alloys. Today, California Fine Wire offers over 500 different alloys ranging from Aluminum to Zirconium. California Fine Wire has consistently drawn materials down to ten times finer than a human hair (.0003 inches), and there are many alloys that have been drawn finer such as Tungsten to .000155".
It is not unusual for California Fine Wire to draw Titanium, Niobium, or Tantalum to .001" or provide these alloys as large as .030". Nor is it unusual to draw Molybdenum to .0005" inch, Platinum to .0004" and many other alloys too numerous to mention.
Enameled wires were added to the company's capabilities in 1963. This is another area where California Fine Wire has ventured into the triple zeros. Tungsten wire can be insulated down to .0003" and various alloys to .00045" and Copper to 0.0007". In addition to the capability to enamel wire with almost any insulating material, California Fine Wire can insulate single strand wire or bifilar with bond coats. In 1995, Alcal "E" ceramic insulation and Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) were added to the extensive list of available insulating materials.
California Fine Wire began plating fine wire in 1980 and, currently, has the capability to plate Copper, Gold, Nickel, Silver and Tin.
In 1990, the acquisition of Secon Metals and Alloys brought California Fine Wire lines of bonding and resistance wires (i.e. potentiometer alloys - Alloy 422, Alloy 486, etc). Today, California Fine Wire is a source of both Gold and Aluminum Silicon bonding wires for major original equipment manufacturers of electronic components.
In December of 2001, California Fine Wire achieved ISO 9000 certification.
If you have a wire requirement, no matter how small or how unusual, let us try to help. This has been our company's philosophy for over 45 years and will continue to be for many years to come.
