I've got the bug, three rods down, more blanks on the way. All three rods have been wrapped either with the cardboard box jig or by hand with a few of my wifes college books. I think I'm ready to start working on some different thread work and I think it would be alot easier if I had a wrapping jig to set the rod in that way I am not having to be a hand contortionist to get an accent wrap added in the middle of guide wrap. Are there any non-power wrappers with a brake style function that would allow me to let the rod go and not lose tension on the wrap I'm working on? And anti-reverse function maybe? I tend to do a lot of thinking and the only thing I can come up with would be to somehow mount a chuck to a spinning reel that has a good anti-reverse brake. Am I thinking this through correctly? Or am I way off base here.

The Flex Coat hand wrapper is pretty nice (for what a hand wrapper is) and I haven't had any issues with losing tension on the thread. You might be overtinking this 1 a little.

A hand wrapper of just about any design can be rigged with a way to flip a rubber band or something from a screw or bolt over the blank to another screw holding the blank in it's current position.

The "Eco-Wrapper" is a hand wrapper sold by one of the sponsors here (The Rod Shop) and it has an angle notch cut into the supports with pieces of non-slick rubber type material that one can just tuck the rod into and it says put.

If memory serves, there is an article in the library section of this forum which details making your own quite funtional hand wrapper.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2009 09:22AM by Raymond Adams.

I use the Sully wrapper, it offers what you are looking for in a high quality build.

[www.anglersworkshop.com]

Matt, I think your right, I'm probably overthinking this.

Raymond, thanks for the ideas, I have read the library article before but it slipped my mind. I am probably going to contruct one and put the rubber band trick into place.

I built my first 300 or so rods using a handwrapper that I made from the instructions in the library. The only thing I did different is make it a bit longer, about 3 feet.
I've since graduated to an Am Tack motorized one, with the upgraded Pac Bay chuck. But, I still use the wooden one for all sorts of things.

I built my own from library instructions. use the rubber bands (actually soft elastic hair ties). They don't slip. Found the rubber bands left residue on rod blank. Even though I clean them after wrapping . less is more.
very funtional works for me.
regards Eric

Check out the photo page. Under Equipment and take a look at what others have built. A simple wrapper will cost you hardly any money.

Bill - willierods.com

Andrew,
check your e-mail!

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 have a hand wrapper that I made and it was put in the Rod Maker magazine. It has a large hole in one of the end supports so the rod cannot jump out and you can put foam or use a rubberband to hold the rod in place as you wrap the guides. I also have a a motor that I mounted on a piece of sheet metal that slips into the end "V" notch section, the sides wrap around the uprights of the holder, and it has a plastic pipe cap drilled with wing nuts that are covered with rubber end caps that is attached to the motor. When I am ready to epoxy the thread it slides into the "V" notch and is great for appliying the epoxy. Then just slide it out and you are ready to wrap rods again. It is great if you are short on space and or money as it can be easliy and cheaply built. I cannot remember what issue it was in but the measurements are only guides for wise men.

Edwin Kime