New to the site with a newbie question. If I were to build a 48" vs a 36" wrapper with "T Channel", what would be the advantage / disadvantage of either? I've seen a lot of pics of 36".

I've never heard anyone complain about their wrapping machine being too long. Just something to think about.

Keep in mind that your headstock and motor will take up some amount of bed length.

.............

Ain't that the truth, just finished a 9 foot, one piece surf rod on an 8 foot wrapping bed. The last few guides were a challenge.

If you are fabricating yourself ... What I would do is 1@ 5, one at 4 feet and one at 3 feet. The two four foot lengths will do well on any rod up to about 8'6" (minus the 4-6 inches you will need for chuck support and chuck) giving you an honest 8' working lathe. The additional 3 foot section will take you out to all but long one piece surf rods. That extra section you could detach to save bench space/work room area. I have 3 four foot sections and the last section is a pain to store and I have to detach it from the working lathe - when I use it I have to rest it on a roll-around work bench. If I leave it attached the roll-around becomes a fixed extension to my work bench - basically defeating the purpose of the roll-around. when I laid out the design of my shop I was constrained - and I seldom work on rods over one piece 7'6". Given my "druthers" I'd also NOT attach the motor directly to the tracks but rather bolt it down to a work bench for a little added stability and dampen the track vibration.

Gary,
All of the wrappers that I have built use a one piece wood or aluminum bed that is 10 feet long.

When you put the power head on one end of the wrapper, you are left with a usable length of about 9 feet. You can wrap longer rods, and you will only have a bit of the tip sticking past the end of the wrapper.

If the rod is a very long multi piece rod, I will wrap the rod in pieces simply to make it more convenient.

I like the one piece bed so that there are no joints and no joining of the bed pieces.

In deference to Ken - I dislike the idea of clamping the motor to the work bench. Rather, I want the motor bolted to the wrapper bed to insure stability, and tracking with 0 hassle.

The other thing that I do with my power wrapper is to have it on rollers.
I stay in the center of my rod building table and roll the power wrapper by my work station. It is much easier to move the stiff based wrapper base with its attached motor than for me to slide up and down the work bench.
Of course this ability to move the power wrapper will only work if the area you are working in is long enough to accomodate the full length of the wrapper plus about another 5-7 feet at each end of the wrapper for its movement.

Good luck
Roger

Roger -
Very understandable. I used to have a wrapper on "railroad tracks". I loved it but when I re-did the shop I just didn't have the extra 5-7 feet. Of course with your set up you have to have the motor attached to the tracks. In my case I have a PacBay (2 four foot sections) and a Renzetti (2 three foot sections) and one sections for each wrapper) the t sections not only attached themselves but also screwed down to 2/8's (which are sectioned). When joined there is no chatter. My post above is "what I would build" - not what I have. I also have an American Tackle wrapper that sits on the primary work bench - it just sits on foam webbing. Basically two people can work simultaneously without bumping into each other. That third wrapper I can easily move to the back of the work bench when I'm not actually wrapping. In addition I stand while I work rather than sit ... sitting is much more comfortable - but If I sat I would loose under-bench storage that I need for parts so I put up with standing. The NEXT shop will be 1/ larger to accommodate 3 non-interfering work stations 2/ have more vertical as well as horizontal storage 3/ have a separate room for the dirty stuff - all this happens when I build from scratch rather than work within pre-set boundaries. ..... Allow me my dream LOL

I have a bed that runs 12' total length, but I do lose about 8" due to turning motor. I build some jig ticks that are 10' so the 12' bed is an advantage.

I have 12' of bed with my Clemens and still wish I had more. I build a lot of surf rods and like to apply epoxy on my lathe. I use a tool rest to produce nice clean edges on my guide wrap epoxy that gets really difficult when I am on a 13' rod with 18" of rod hanging off the end

Mine is 15' to cover all needs. Be it a surf rod, or a little rod, I am covered.

LONGER is better.

I have 9 feet on my Clemens after adding a Renzetti section. No problems so far, but I have a extention support has already been planned and tested

Chuck,
For your longer rods, just make or pick up another rod rest or two.

If you don't have anything under the end of your lathe when you get to 13 feet, put a table there, or clamp a board to your rod bench, and clamp or bolt the extra rod supports on the table - board to support the end of the rod. If needed, put spacers under the rod rests to get the rests to the correct level to support the ends of your rods.

Really don't have to put up with anything that you don't like when building rods.

Roger

I do all my work on those cheap coffee tables -- Works

Bill - willierods.com

Gary,
I have seen some wrappers built as part of a long work surface.

Simply take a 10-20 foot length of common kitchen counter top.
Support it wiith a good lenght of lumber bolted to the wall.
Support the front of the top with a good length of lumber on the underside of the front.

Take a router and route a slot - with a few spots that are left intact for bracing - the full lenght of your potential wrapper.

Bolt your motor assembly on one end of the counter top, use a bolt run through the counter top slot and through the bottom of each of your rod rests to hold the rest in place.

You are done.

Now, you have a very solid wrapper that will be a stable addtion to your shop and you have the ability to make it as long as is needed, and that still fits within the confines of your space.

I have seen the same thing done for full length rod building lathes. In this case, mount the motor on the underside of the counter top. Run the belt through the counter top to the head stock. You now have a full lenght rod lathe that can be used to finish handles and spin the full length rod at speeds that are only limited by your motor and pulley ratio on the head stock and motor.

Roger



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2010 04:44PM by roger wilson.

Great inputs! Thanks guys. I guess I need to think beyond the 4' board.