I was injured in an automobile accident and do not have full range of motion (less than 10%) in my right foot. (plates, pins, screws, and a partial fusion. On X-Ray it looks like a hardware store...nice huh?) Also, during the same accident, my left femur was shattered (more plates, pins, screws, etc. and more hardware store pictures.) I still do pretty much anything I want, within reason, I just have to be careful not to over-do it. My concern is that I want to upgrade to a power wrapper. However, given the above stated medical history I obviously can't use my right foot and this is the foot of choice. I am worried that the left leg, being the non-foot of choice, will not "perform" adequately. O.K. so, I seem to remember an old sewing machine at my grandmothers house having a "knee-pedal" for lack of a better/proper name. Does anyone else currently use this system? Do they still make these type "pedals"? Can I just mount a "cheater-bar" to a standard foot pedal and relocate it? Too much pressure? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, and sorry for the lengthy lead-in to the question. I figured I may get some, Whys? So, I opted for a little preemptive strike.

Well, there's nothing preventing you from mounting the "foot pedal" vertically on an post or on the side of a cabinet. Pop off the bottom; drill a hole; put a screw or bolt through the bottom plate.

I agree with Ken. In the photo pages there have been a couple of pictures where the controller has been mounted for knee operation.

The only draw back would be the lack of moblization.

Good luck and good healing,

Bill

Ohio Rod Builders

Canton, Ohio

Thats what I had in mind but just wanted to make sure it would not be to hard to push. I have never used one and have no idea how much pressure must be applied to get this thing moving. So, I guess what you are saying is that you don't see it being a problem? As far as mounting it vertically and it not being overly hard to control due to too much force having to be applied. I just assumed that something intended for operation with a foot may be a little much for a knee.

Oh, I am healed. Just like Humpty Dumpty!! Thanks for the input. I did look at the pics before asking but its very hard to actually find what you are looking for some people mis-label or don't label at all. Just got frustrated after searching for a bit.

I can't use my right foot either, well I can use it, it just won't lift up. I have found it just as easy to use the left foot on my CPW. Actually, it's easier, especially when you reach the tip of an 8' blank and the power cord won't stretch that far. Left leg is closer to the pedal!

Richard -
Depending on how much horizontal space you have and how long the fishing rods you intend to build are you should consider mounting a wrapping lathe on "railroad tracks" so that the rod slides on runners and you can remain seated. Considering your first post this is likely the best solution for you since you have limited mobility. I think you'll find several examples of these in previous posts as well as on the photo pages.

If you want to make it easier to push the pedal with your knee you can either put a "softer" spring in it or you could extend the pedal length. Put the hinge tward floor low; put a piece of wood or metal to lengthen........ Longer fulcrum = less pressure. You could do it vise/versa too foot pedal high with hinge up. Mount close to back of bench with extension coming forward......


Some of the "professional" sewing machines have the option to put the pedal for use with knee.

Also some of the electric handpieces used in dental labs have the option of "side mount".

it is a little weird to get use to but once you have the feel a lot less stress on the ankle...

t

--------------------------------

tom in indy

Absolutey understand the extension method. That would be the "cheater bar" method I eluded to in the initial question but let's get back to this "railroad track" system. Can someone tell/show me via pictures how I can create this jewel? I like it.

Basically the idea is to put the wrapper bed on rollers with the thread holding/tension device in a fixed location where you will sit. Normally the thread device on these machines comes from the back (he side away from you) and the rod turns toward you (counter clockwise). For the PacBay or AmTak wrappers the Renzetti already turns in that direction (not sure about others) On the PacBay/AmTak wrappers that would mean rewiring the motor so it turns the opposite direction. I'm sure someone will have photos of their set ups.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2010 04:17PM by Ken Preston.

A full length "foot board" such as that depicted in the Volume 11 RodMaker series on the mobile rod building station would make a lot of sense. The amount of pressure required to depress the pedal becomes a function of the height of the foot board and/or the pulley arrangement involved.

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

Richard,
With respect to the foot pedal, go to a thrift store and pick up an old sewing cabinet with the knee lever still in the cabinet. Take out the pedal and you will be good to go.
Sometimes you can find these cabinets on Craigs list, or even pawn shops, good will or other sources. You can also call your local sewing machine shop and they likely have one laying in the back room for next to nothing.
The levers are well thought out and with the lever arrangement that they use, require very little knee pressure to activate.

-----------
With respect to your power wrapper.
I have always used my power wrapper by staying in one place. I move the lathe past me - with the rod resting in the wrapper.

The only real requirement that you have is to have enough room, and table length to allow you to move the power wrapper in each direction.

As long as you are wrapping typical length rods of 5-7 feet, you really only need to move the power wrapper about 3 feet in each direction from your central seat.
i.e. if you look at the rod length - from the butt wrap to the tip, you are only looking at 4 feet or so on a 6 foot rod. For a 7 foot rod, you are only looking at about 4 1/2 feet of side to side movement.
So, if you can move your power wrapper 3 feet in each direction, you will likely have enough room to take care of the majority of your rod builds.

I have used several different systems to move my wrapper.
My initial bench setup consisted of 3-4 foot work benches. At the end of each bench, I simply placed a $10 board roller from home depot. These are the board rollers that are used at the end of a saw to allow a board to easily roll back and forth on a table while cutting boards. This system actually worked pretty well. Essentially, there was always a 4 foot section of power wrapper that was in front of me that was supported on each end of the 4 foot table by a board roller.
The one down side, was that sometimes the slot between the tables got in the way. Also, the feet of the board roller sometimes intruded into my space giving me problems.

This is a picture of one of my earlier power wrappers using the 3-bench, board roller for support:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

I next moved to a 12 foot long building table. This was essentially a 12 foot piece of counter top, simply placed on top of the three other 4 foot tables. This increased the height of my table a bit, which was good and it gave me a seamless table top.
I then, simply placed a couple of solid rod blank stock under each end of the wrapper to allow the wrapper to roll up and down past me. The only downside was that the rollers would sometimes get tilted a bit and cause the wrapper to want to go too far or off of the building table.
My current wrapper is based on a 10 foot long u-shaped aluninum channel. The u-channel is upside down with the rod supports on the top flat section, and the wrapper resting on the side of the channel u sides.

Currently, I simply drilled 4 holes in the wrapper base. Two at each end on each side of the wrapper. I then simply installed a skate board roller at each hole location. Thus, I now have a roller on each corner of the power wrapper. I positioned each roller to be located at the right spot to give me the maximum side to side movement within the confines of the available space. I don't have the rollers at the end, since I can roller the wrapper off of each end of the table for longer rods. If I had the rollers at the ends of the wrapper, the roller would drop off of the ends of the table.

This is the current system and it works very very well. The rollers keep the wrapper rolling straight up and down the building table, with no marking or hanging up on the table. You want to actually have a slight bit of drag on the bottom of the wrapper to keep the wrapper in a particular position when wrapping a given guide. If I need a bit more friction under the wrapper to hold it in a given position when wrapping, I will simply lay in a few layers of paper towels under the wrapper to give a slight amount of friction between the wrapper and table top to keep the wrapper stationary.

Roger



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2010 07:00PM by roger wilson.

Or if you don't have a large enough room to be able to slide the rod far enough to work on it from end to end with out moving, just mount you foot/knee pedal on a track mounted on the bottom of your bench and move it as you work your way down the rod. Yes you can find the old style peddles that allowed you to use your knee, but as suggested get one of the newer style pedels that are a little softer to push and make any add any attachments to make it work for you. I would also suggest a reostat so that you can change the speed range to help you with the handicap you have. Hang in there, you can think about it and come up with a solution to suit you. That is all part of the fun.