Ordering a woven wire screen section: the six measurements that get you a quote in one email

The short version

• A woven wire screen section is made to order, so a quote needs measurements, not a part number.
• Six things do it: clamp-to-clamp length, width, opening, wire diameter, hooks up or down, end tensioned or side tensioned.
• Measure clamp to clamp and write the words "clamp to clamp" beside the number; the manufacturer adds the hooks and states the overall length.
• Heavier wire lasts longer under abrasion and gives up open area; lighter wire passes more and wears faster.
• In our worked example, a 39 by 39 in section in 1-3/8 in square opening and 3/8 in wire was quoted at USD 815.06, made to order in 15 days (September 2026).
• Use the spec builder below to turn your six answers into a request you can paste into an email.
• Frank Aggregate quotes sections to your dimensions and checks the numbers back in plain words before you order.

Why a simple screen request turns into three emails

You need a panel for a deck that is down. You send the model and the opening you want. Back comes a list of questions: length how, width how, hooks which way, tensioned which way, what wire. It reads like a runaround, and meanwhile the deck is still down.

It is not a runaround. A woven wire section is woven and formed for your machine, so the supplier has to be told what to make. The questions are the same six every time. Once you know them you take the measurements in one trip to the machine, send one email, and get a priced line back in one pass. The alternative is the panel that arrives two inches short because you measured one way and the supplier priced the other way. That happens for one reason, and one phrase on your request prevents it.

What a screen section is and why it is woven to order

A woven wire screen section is a panel of woven wire cloth with formed metal edges called hook strips on two opposite sides. The hooks are not decoration. The section sits on the deck and the clamping rails pull it tight across the deck through those hooks. Tension is what makes the cloth work; a loose panel does not screen and does not last.

Sections with hooks are used on both side-tensioned and end-tensioned machines. On a side-tensioned deck the tension bolts are on the side walls and the cloth is pulled across the width. On an end-tensioned deck the section is tensioned from the feed and discharge ends and pulled lengthwise. Sections are made with both hooks facing the same way, or with one hook up and one hook down, on either type of deck. Which one you need is set by your rails, not by preference.

The hook profile follows the tensioning method. Hooks made for side tensioning have an opening angle of 45 degrees; hooks made for end tensioning have top and bottom legs parallel. The edge is picked from the wire. A plain formed hook strip, a flat sheet-metal channel formed onto the cloth edge and spot welded, is used for wire over 1 mm (0.039 in), and finer wire gets a different strip so the hook does not cut the wire. A plain hooked edge without reinforcing is typical on cloth of 5/16 in wire and larger; a reinforced shroud banded edge is standard on cloth up to 1/4 in wire, with 16 gauge shrouding as the standard and other thicknesses on request. In the ordinary case the manufacturer picks the edge from the wire diameter and you do not choose it. If you want a non-standard edge, that is when you supply hook height and angle.

Now the shelf-stock question. Common sizes exist, but yours may not be one of them, and a section in your length, your width, your opening and your wire is woven and formed after you order it. There is no bin to pull it from. That is not a supplier dodging you; it is how the part is made.

The six measurements a quote needs

Take these at the machine with a tape and a set of calipers. The example column is the real request described in the next section.

These cost you nothing and speed the quote:

• Model and serial number. With those we check for an OEM part number before quoting a made-to-order section. On a Metso or Nordberg machine that check is worth making. If you have the deck drawing, send it and we work from it.
• Deck position and sections per deck. Top, middle or bottom, and how many panels that deck takes. Quoting one when you need three wastes a pass.
• Crown, if the deck is crowned. Some decks are arched across their width on crown bars. If yours is, say so and photograph the rails and the bars, so the section is quoted for a crowned deck and not a flat one.
• Units and standards. Say whether your figures are inches or millimetres. Your deck width is often one of a small set of standard screen widths; the size chart linked further down lists the OEM width standards so you can check your tape against them. Measure anyway, because a rebuilt machine is not always standard.
• Photos and the old tag. Photograph the deck, the clamp rails and any cloth left in it. A tag gives the opening and the wire without a caliper, and sometimes the wire grade. Copy across whatever it says; if there is no tag, say so rather than guessing.

How to measure when there is no old screen

Here is how the example came in. A dealer's parts desk asked for jaw dies for a Lokotrack LT106 and, in the same email, "a screen for under the grizzly bars with a 1-3/8 opening."

We asked for the machine serial so we could check the jaw die part numbers. The screen was not a standard part, so we asked for the five remaining items: length, width, wire diameter, hooks up, down or both, and end tensioned or side tensioned.

There was no old screen to copy. The deck had a fabricated plate under the grizzly bars and no cloth on it at all. So the mechanic measured the machine rather than the missing panel. He went to where the screen clamps at both ends and measured between them: 39 in long by 39 in wide, clamp to clamp, and he said so in those words. That is the whole trick. You are not guessing at the size of a panel that is gone; you are measuring the space the clamps leave for it. The buyer then made three choices: 3/8 in wire for wear life, both hooks down, end tensioned.

If you do still have a panel that fitted well, that is better data than a tape in a machine. Lay it flat on the ground, measure along the tension direction from the outside tip of one hook to the outside tip of the other, measure the width, and label it "outside of hook to outside of hook". A panel that worked is a proven dimension. The only fatal mistake is sending a number without saying which of the two it is.

The spec builder below turns your six answers into a request line written the way a supplier reads it, and shows the open area and a to-scale drawing of the mesh you just specified.

What the quote line looks like

This is the line as we sent it in September 2026.

Note the length. The buyer measured 39 in clamp to clamp; the quote says 41.75 in overall clamp length. Those are the same panel. Overall clamp length (OCL) is the outside hook dimension, and on that flat deck it was the buyer's 39 in clamp to clamp with the hooks formed on each end taken into account. You do not work that number out yourself. The allowance depends on the hook style and on the deck, so there is no general figure; the manufacturer sets it and the quote states the resulting overall clamp length. If you want the allowance itself spelled out, ask and we will get it from the maker before you order. It is also worth separating two lengths in your head: the overall clamp length includes the hooks, which sit in the rails and do not screen, while the screening length is the cloth between the rails, roughly your clamp-to-clamp number. Use the screening length when you are thinking about deck area. This is exactly where panels arrive the wrong length, so we wrote it back in plain words: the 41.75 in is the overall clamp length, your 39 in clamp to clamp plus the hooks; width 39 in; wire 3/8 in as asked.

The rest of the line decodes like this. "Square opening" is the clear opening between wires, 1-3/8 in here. "#16 edge" is a 16 gauge hook strip, the standard shroud gauge, picked from the wire rather than specified by you. "Both hooks down" means both hook strips are formed downward. "End tensioned" means the hooks are at the feed and discharge ends and the deck pulls the section lengthwise.

The description repeats every choice on purpose. A made-to-order part has no part number to check it against, so the description is the only record of what you are buying. Read it before you approve it. If one word is wrong, say so then, not when the panel is on the deck.

Choosing the opening and the wire

The opening is usually decided for you by the cut you want. The wire is the real choice, and it is a trade.

Open area for cloth specified by opening is:

open area = (opening / (opening + wire diameter))² × 100

Worked on the open area formula reference: a 1/2 in opening with 1/8 in wire is 0.50 / 0.625 = 0.80, squared 0.64, so 64% open area.

Applied to the 1-3/8 in opening in the example:

Those three are worked from the formula to show the trade. They are not the list of wires a 1-3/8 in opening can be woven in; run the formula on whatever wire you are considering, and the quote states what was priced.

Going from 1/4 in to 3/8 in wire at the same opening costs roughly ten points of open area. In exchange the heavier wire lasts longer under abrasion. The trade runs the same way everywhere: thicker wire for heavier-duty work, thinner wire for finer screening and more throughput. The 3/8 in in the example is a deliberately heavy pick for that opening. The panel sat under grizzly bars on scalping duty, wear life was the problem being solved, and the buyer accepted about 62% open area to get it.

Wire grade is a choice too, and not one to guess. Manufacturers weave screen cloth from more than one steel, from high-carbon and oil-tempered wire to stainless. If the old tag names a grade, copy it across. If it does not, say what the panel is doing and the quote states the grade it priced.

If your cloth is fine enough to be specified by mesh count rather than clear opening, mesh count is the number of openings per linear inch, counted along a ruler, so a mesh number only describes an opening once you also know the wire diameter. To cross a mesh number to an opening, or to check the OEM screen width standards, use our Screen Media Size Chart. If the real question is not a replacement panel but whether the deck has enough area for your tonnage, our Screen Sizing Calculator runs the VSMA method for required deck area. If the deck is not screening well at the right area and the right media, check the stroke with our Screen G-Force Calculator before you blame the cloth.

What it costs and how long it takes

The section in the example, a 39 by 39 in clamp-to-clamp panel in 1-3/8 in square opening and 0.375 in wire, both hooks down, end tensioned, with a 16 gauge edge, was quoted at USD 815.06 in September 2026, made to order in 15 days from the order.

That is one quote for one section, not a list price and not a rate per square foot. Change any of the six answers and the number changes. What moves it:

• Size. More square feet is more cloth and more steel.
• Wire diameter and grade. Heavier and harder wire costs more.
• Opening. At a given wire, a tighter opening puts more wire in the same area.
• Edge. The standard edge is priced in; a non-standard hook height or angle is not.
• Quantity. A deck that takes three sections is quoted as three.
• Freight. Freight is quoted per order to your address. In the example the section rode with the jaw dies on the same LTL shipment under the freight already quoted. On its own it would have been quoted separately, so order parts together where you can.

Lead time works the same way. Fifteen days was the lead time on that section in that week. We do not publish a general lead time for made-to-order cloth, because it depends on the size, the wire and what is in front of it. The quote states it. If the date matters more than the price, say so when you send the measurements.

Canadian buyers should also plan for the border on the landed cost. Our guide to importing parts into Canada covers how that works; for duty and tax on your specific shipment, your customs broker or the CBSA is the authority.

How to get it quoted

Send the six items, plus the machine model and serial number, and photos if you have them. Use the quote form or email; either lands in the same place. You can send the measurements for a quote or reach us through contact.

What happens next: we check the model and serial for an OEM part number first, because if a standard part exists you should buy that. If it does not, we quote the section to your dimensions and write your numbers back to you in plain words before anything is ordered, including what the overall clamp length is and where it came from. If we read something differently than you meant it, that is the moment to catch it.

We also quote the rest of the deck. Screen parts for inclined, horizontal and scalping screens, OEM and aftermarket, and screen media including rubber and polyurethane modular panels, tensioned cloth and wire media. Modular panels are identified differently from wire sections: the panel belongs to a system, so we need the system name plus the panel size, not the size alone. The screen catalog covers Metso and Nordberg, Astec Telsmith and KPI-JCI, Terex Cedarapids and Superior. Quotes are in US dollars.

Questions buyers ask

Do I need the OEM part number to order a screen section?

No. A woven wire section is made to the dimensions you give, so the six measurements are enough on their own. Send the machine model and serial number anyway. With those we check whether a standard OEM part exists for your deck first, and if it does you are better off buying it. The serial is also what a dealer needs to look up the deck drawing in OEM records. If neither turns anything up, nothing is lost and we quote to your measurements.

I measured hook to hook on the old panel. Is that wrong?

It is not wrong, but it is a different number from the one we usually start with, so label it. There are two ways to state the length of a hooked section: the outside hook dimension, measured from the outside edge of the hooks, and the inside hook dimension, measured from the inside of the hooks. Clamp to clamp on the machine gives you the inside dimension, and the manufacturer adds the hooks to it. A panel that fitted, laid flat and measured outside of hook to outside of hook, gives the outside dimension directly, and that is good data. The mistake is not which measurement you take. It is not saying which one it is.

Hooks up or hooks down, how do I tell?

Look at the ends of the panel in the machine now and see which way each hook strip is formed, up over the rail or down under it. Note each end separately, because a deck can take one hook up and one hook down. If the panel is already out, photograph a clamp rail and send the picture; the rail shows which way the hook has to face to seat in it. Sections are made both hooks the same way or one up and one down on either type of deck, so this is not something we can infer from the model.

End tensioned or side tensioned, how do I tell?

Find the tension bolts. If they are on the side walls of the machine, the deck is side tensioned and the cloth is pulled across the width. If they are at the feed and discharge ends, the deck is end tensioned and the cloth is pulled lengthwise. It matters for more than the direction of the hooks: hooks made for side tensioning have a 45 degree opening angle, and hooks made for end tensioning have parallel top and bottom legs, so a section built for one will not seat properly in the other.

What wire diameter should I pick?

Decide what is failing you. If panels wear out too fast, go heavier and accept less open area. If the deck is carrying over and you need throughput, go lighter and accept shorter life. At a 1-3/8 in opening the numbers are about 62% open at 3/8 in wire, about 66% at 5/16 in and about 72% at 1/4 in, and the same formula works for any wire you want to compare. If you are replacing cloth that lasted an acceptable time, measure the old wire with calipers and order the same, along with whatever wire grade the tag names. If you have no old cloth and no history, tell us the material, the deck position and what feeds the deck, and the quote states the grade it priced.

What does overall clamp length mean when I measured clamp to clamp?

Overall clamp length is the outside hook dimension: your clamp-to-clamp measurement with the hooks on each end taken into account. In the example, a flat deck, 39 in clamp to clamp came back as 41.75 in overall clamp length. You do not calculate that yourself, and neither does the spec builder on this page, because the allowance depends on the hook style and on the deck. Send the clamp-to-clamp number with the words "clamp to clamp" attached, say whether the deck is crowned, and the quote states the overall clamp length so you see both numbers before you approve it.

How long does a made-to-order section take?

The section in the example was quoted at 15 days from the order, in September 2026. That is that section, that week. Cloth is woven and the edges are formed after the order goes in, so there is no shelf stock to draw on for a non-standard size and no single lead time we can promise across all sizes and wires. Your quote states the lead time for your section. If you are working to a shutdown date, tell us the date when you send the measurements.

Do you also supply modular rubber and polyurethane panels?

Yes. Along with woven wire sections we quote modular screen media, rubber and polyurethane panels, tensioned cloth and wire media, and OEM and aftermarket screen parts for inclined, horizontal and scalping decks. One warning on modular: a panel size on its own does not identify the part, because the panel is held in its own system frame rather than by clamp rails. The system name plus the panel size identifies it. Send the machine model and serial, whatever name is cast or stamped into an existing panel, and photos of the deck frame and the fixings, and we work from those.

What to do next

Take the six measurements: clamp-to-clamp length, width, opening, wire diameter, hooks up or down, end or side tensioned. Write them down with the spec builder on this page so the words are the ones a supplier reads without asking again. Add the machine model and serial number and a couple of photos. Send it, and you should get a priced line back with your numbers written out in plain words, in one pass.

Sources

• Haver & Boecker, industrial wire screens: screen sections (inside and outside hook dimensions, side and end tensioning, hook up and hook down)
• W.S. Tyler, Screen Section Hook Strips (hook profiles for side and end tensioning, hook strip types by wire diameter)
• wovenwire.com reference, Vibrating Screen Tension Hook Strips and Edge Styles (edge preparations, 16 gauge standard shrouding)
• Unified Screening & Crushing, Hooks and Edge Prep (edge styles by wire diameter, hook lengths vary by OEM specification)
• wovenwire.com reference, Space Cloth Open Area Formula (open area from opening and wire diameter)
• Durex Products, Measuring and Selecting Cloth Woven Wire Screen Media for Aggregate Applications (mesh count, wire diameter and duty)
• wovenwire.com reference, Vibrating Wire Cloth Screen Installation (crown bar rubber, tensioning, clamping rails)