A buddy of mine Don and I just completed my Power Wrapper. It was a couple year project we made the base and kind of lost interest. I got the itch back 3 or 4 months ago and made my first rod. After a couple year layoff we started manufacturing the rod wrapper and finally finished. Now I need the time to Build a shed gut my garage and make a new work bench dedicated for rod wrapping. Not sure how long that will take. Most of the parts that we made we doubled so he will have one. He does not have the time to get involved with rod wrapping but when he does he can be up and running pretty quick. I posted some photos. This site is great lots of information. Thanks to all of you that post.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2009 11:03PM by Ron Fletcher.

Mighty handsome wrapper. Appears to be extremely sturdy.

i dont see anything?

Nice job Ron, I am in the process of doing the same thing myself.

Ron,
A couple of comments.
1. Super job. Wonderful machining.
2. I liked your ides of using two tapered pieces of bar stock for the base. I assume that you simply used machine screws that were countersunk to attach the cross braces to the long base sides?
3. I liked what you did with the Taig Chuck. It is a little difficult to tell what you did with the chuck jaws. Did you machine out the jaws to a round shape only. Or did you machine the jaw out to a round shape and then attach clear plastic faces to the jaws?
4. The quality of your machining on the rod steady rests is very very good. I like the design. I assume that you machined all of the parts, including the 0 ring pulleys?
5. Pictures are decieving, but how long is the overall length of the wrapper? The one picture makes it appear that it is very long. I am guessing about 10 feet?

Take care
Roger

Ridge,
Go to the Photo Page

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

I agree with Roger Very Nice!!

Awesome

Thanks for the comments. Like I said before this site is great has TONS of information that helped me decide how to manufacture the unit.

Roger,
I had a bunch of 1 ¼” x ½” and 1 ¼” x 3/16” alum. around the house. So we made most of it with the stock we had on hand. We drilled tapped & countersunk 10 -32 socket head bolts for the cross braces.

On the Taig Chuck I machined the jaws out to the largest diameter than I used cabinet door rubber stops for soft jaws. I will have to see how that works. I still need to debur the chuck. I can always turn the jaws around for smaller pieces.

All of the parts were machined including the rollers. We installed ¼” x1/2”x 3/16” bearings in the rollers.

The base is two 4’ 6” sections that hook together with a 3/16” plate and two ¼” screws. The whole assembly can be taken down in a couple of minutes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2009 09:06AM by Ron Fletcher.

That is awesome, Nice job. got me thinking now!!

How did you make the stands? where did you get the rollers? Can you e-mail me?

Ron,
Thanks for the update on the chuck jaw machining.
I thought that that was what you did. A good idea to machine them out round to give a larger gripping surface with no sharp edges or points to sink into the handle.
I have tried both rubber and vinyl faces on the aluminum jaws and was less tha pleased.
I finally switched over to 1/16th inch cork tape. Easy to use, simply peel off a piece, stick on and use a razor blade to trim to size.
For the last couple of years the cork facings on the jaws have worked very well. No handle damage, and no working of the handle out of the chuck.

The only change at some time in the future if you would like - and that would be to switch over your ac sewing machine motor to a dc gear motor.
Although the ac sewing machine motor works fine, it does not have reverse direction. Thus, doing corrections and having to back up the rod is a bit more difficult by hand.
If you ever decide to make such a switch, drop me an e-mail at hflier@comcast.net and I can give you some direction.

Take care
Roger