Specifying Yarn Packages, Cones and Tubes When You Buy Winding or Yarn Machinery

Two packages per machine, and only one of them is the supplier's choice

Every yarn machine has a supply package (what it takes in) and a take-up package (what it builds). On an automatic winder the supply is usually a ring-spinning cop or bobbin from the spinning department and the take-up is a cone or cheese; on a two-for-one twister or a texturing or covering machine the supply may itself be a cone or a POY bobbin. The draw-texturing machine YQ800DS, for example, is described in its catalogue record as processing POY into polyester DTY, so both packages matter. Some winders start from a hank instead: the FHTDTK-A listing describes winding hank-form chemical-fibre yarn, thread or cord onto a tube or package. Ask about both. The creel or feed position must physically accept your existing bobbins (length, base diameter, any bore or tip shape your current spinning frames use), and any automatic bobbin feed must be able to handle them.

Cone, cheese and spool: shape follows the next process

• Cheese: yarn cross-wound on a cylindrical tube. Common for dyeing, warping and many filament processes.
• Cone: yarn cross-wound on a conical tube, which helps the yarn come off over the nose at high speed. Knitting creels are the classic user.
• Spool or flanged bobbin: parallel or near-parallel winding between flanges, used for some filaments, sewing threads and specialty yarns. Covering machines use flanged bobbins too; one listing of aluminium covering bobbins shows a flanged tube with a central mounting bore but no complete dimensional drawing, so spindle fit and the loaded package envelope have to be established first.

One machine may offer several shapes: the XRLT-08 is listed as winding parallel or single-cone packages.

You will also be asked to choose precision, random or stepped-precision winding; a precision winder such as the WSF200A lists programmable package formation in its published data. Rieter's Preci FX brochure states the trade-off plainly: dense packages for warping, weaving, twisting and knitting, and low-density packages with rounded flanks for the dye house (Rieter). If one machine has to serve both, confirm that switching is a settings change and not a hardware change.

Cone angles: read them as half angles

Spec sheets often list cone options as 3°30', 4°20' and 5°57'. In ISO terminology these are half angles of the cone, that is, the angle between the cone surface and its axis, not the full included angle. The ISO 8489 series (*Textile machinery and accessories – Cones for cross winding*, 1995) had separate parts for 3°30', 4°20', 4°20' for dyeing, and 5°57' cones (ISO 8489-4 preview). The 5°57' cone is the one long associated with knitting yarn; a 1987 US patent on winding knitting cones describes it as a common type (US 4,700,904).

The geometry must also close. ISO 8489-4 lists 4°20' dyeing cones with a 33 mm small-end diameter and 55 mm or 59 mm large-end diameter over 145 mm or 170 mm length (ISO 8489-4 preview). If a quote gives a "4°20' cone" with dimensions that do not close this way, ask which value is wrong before tooling is ordered.

That standard also asks the cone maker to state the cone material (metal, plastic, or impregnated or lacquered paper that survives boiling), surface treatment, wall thickness and the number, size and position of perforations, and it limits the width of wound yarn to the cone length minus 25 mm (ISO 8489-4 preview). It makes a good checklist for any tube.

Tube dimensions, traverse and package size

For every take-up position, the manufacturer needs:

• Tube type and dimensions: inner diameter (it must fit the spindle or holder), outer diameter at both ends for cones, and length. Tubes, bobbins and holders are often bought separately as parts and accessories, so ask for drawings.
• Traverse: the axial width of the wound yarn, usually quoted in inches on winders. Rieter, for example, describes traverse formats of 3", 4", 5" and 6" on one machine (Rieter).
• Maximum package diameter and the net yarn weight you expect at that diameter. Rieter quotes pattern-free packages up to 320 mm (Rieter), but your downstream creel or dyeing carrier may only accept far less.

The machine's "maximum package" is a ceiling, not a target. Knitting and warping creels and dyeing carriers each cap the usable package diameter and length. Measure those limits on your downstream equipment and give them to the supplier instead of ordering the largest package the winder can make. Weft packages for rapier, water-jet and air-jet looms are a good illustration: the SGD2012 rewinder publishes A and B package entries that differ in both listed capacity and tube dimensions, and the right one depends on the receiving holder, not on the heavier package. Similarly, the filament twister HY310C-SF gives a 750–1,200 g winding-capacity range, but input package, twist and output package still have to suit the intended weaving or knitting operation. The doubling machine DX231A Type I raises the same question: how the wound package performs on the next machine.

Density and hardness: critical for dyeing

Package density (net yarn mass over wound volume) is decisive for dyeing, because liquor is pumped through the package: uneven density means uneven flow and shade. A study at Daffodil International University traced unlevel cheese dyeing to density variation within and between packages and showed that changing the soft-winding tension arrangement reduced that variation (Shaid et al.). Researchers at VÚTS in the Czech Republic measured cotton dye packages on spring tubes; the packages typical for dyeing in their trial fell between roughly 0.29 and 0.30 g/cm³, against a deliberately wide test range of about 0.25 to 0.45 g/cm³ (Pomp et al.). These are one trial's figures, not targets.

Hardness is the quick shop-floor proxy, measured with a package durometer pressed onto the surface; one supplier offers indentor balls of 2.5 mm for hard-wound synthetics and 5 mm for moderately wound yarns (Cross Company). Agree with the seller which instrument and scale will be used at acceptance, because readings from different instruments are not comparable.

For dye packages, also specify the dyeing tube: rigid perforated plastic or compressible spring tube, its dimensions, and whether the packages will be compressed on the carrier.

What to put in the enquiry

• Yarn type, count range and fibre (for each position if different).
• Supply package: type, tube length and base diameter, and a sample or drawing.
• Take-up package: cheese, cone (state half angle) or spool.
• Tube drawing: inner diameter, outer diameters, length, material, perforations.
• Traverse width and maximum package diameter and weight.
• Winding type and target density or hardness, with the instrument used.
• Downstream use (knitting, weaving, warping, dyeing) and the limits of that equipment.
• Who supplies the tubes, and how many sets come with the machine.

Send physical tube samples with the enquiry when you can, and when comparing quotations check that each one names the same tube and package. Then prove the package on the machine: run a trial with your own yarn, and write package diameter, weight and hardness into the factory acceptance test.

Sources

1. "ISO 8489-4:1995 – Textile machinery and accessories – Cones for cross winding – Part 4: Dimensions, tolerances and designation of cones with half angle 4° 20' for winding for dyeing purposes" (document preview), International Organization for Standardization, via iTeh Standards, accessed 2026-11-04. View source
2. "Preci FX" brochure (3539-v1 en 2211), Rieter Machine Works Ltd., accessed 2026-11-04. View source
3. N. Pomp, K. Adámek, P. Škop, "Method and Device for Yarn Packages Classification", Measurement 2015, Proceedings of the 10th International Conference, Smolenice, Slovakia (VÚTS, a.s., Liberec), accessed 2026-11-04. View source
4. A. Shaid, M. A. B. Siddiquee, M. A. Rahman, "Studies On Reverse Tension Mechanism Of Cheese Dyeing", Daffodil International University Journal of Science and Technology, Vol. 6 No. 2 (2011), accessed 2026-11-04. View source
5. "Method for preventing yarn tail breakage during yarn winding", US Patent 4,700,904 (Conitex Inc., 1987), Google Patents, accessed 2026-11-04. View source
6. "Yarn Package Density Durometers, KFY-1121 and KFY-1122", Cross Company, accessed 2026-11-04. View source