Casey,
Before you set up anything permanent for your thread stand, you should do some wrapping with the spools in different locations.
For the bulk of my wrapping, I just use a simple spool sitting on a rod and then have the thread run through a guide up a stick to a thread tension device. The stick is clamped between two angle brackets so the height of the rod can be adjusted.
I have found that for myself, I like the thread to be coming toward the rod at the same level as the rod. i.e. I don't want the thread coming down or the rod, nor coming up on the rod.
I have my rod rests set at 7 inches. this height works very well for the way that I have my rod building bench height and the height of my chair.
Again, all of these dimensions are variable and can be set at anything, depending on the needs of the builder.
Again, I suggest that you do some experimenting in at least wrapping scrap blanks with things at various levels, different placement for thread etc. before making any final product for the long haul.
I suppose that I made over a dozen variations of my rod building bench, wrapper, thread stands, etc. before I finally settled on what I have now.
By the way, in deference to one of the other posts - I wrap everything with a power wrapper.
I built my first rod by hand and decided that there had to be a better way.
I think that the reason that so many folks have set aside their power wrapper is that their power wrapper does not give them the rod turning ability and control that they need for a good wrap.
I think that an excellent power wrapper, needs to be able to turn at 1 rpm all day long in both directions.
Then, they need to be able to SMOOTHLY accelerate to any speed desired up to a top wrapping speed that can be handled by the wrapper.
I have settled on 1000 RPM as the top speed for my wrappers. When, I have long wraps, 1000 rpm makes very quick work of a long wrap with 0 finger or hand fatigue from turning a rod.
But, on the other hand, it can turn 1/2 rpm, 1 rpm or any speed up to the 1000 rpm in either direction.
All of this is done with no external step down belts or pulleys or external gears. It is because the motors that I use incorporate a good set of step down gears that are incorporated into the ends of the motor.
I also did some experimenting with DC chopper supplies to run the motors at a constant voltage but a variable pulse width. However, I found that the motors wanted to hunt or hum with these DC chopper supplies.
That is why I went back to a 0-30 volt DC variable voltage foot controlled power supply. Even at a fraction of a volt, there is enough torque to give excellent rod turning results at a very low blank and motor rpm.
I have to admit that I am also like you in the fact that I often enjoy building the tools more than building the rods.
After all, after you have wound a few thousand guides, how exciting does the next guide wrap get?
I also use the non spring loaded foot pedal that I can interchange with any of my power supplies to do rod drying. After wrapping, doing the final guide alignment and blank clean up, I will put the rod back on the wrapper for finish application and drying.
I put pieces of cardboard down on the wrapper bed, so that I don't contaminate the wrapper bed with finish. Then, I will apply the finish at speeds of 0-250 rpm. I will get finish on all parts of the blank and guides needing finish. then go back, slow down the rod and level and smooth each portion of the rod at a slower rpm of 0-50 rpm. When I have everything leveled and smooth, I will set the foot pedal for a speed of about 10 rpm and let it go until the finish sets up. Generally about 4 hours.
If, I am building a bunch of rods the same day, as soon as the finish is on the rod, smooth and level, I will transfer the rod to one of the spots in the 12 rod drum dryer. The drum dryer is powered by a 90 volt dc gearmotor that has a top speed of 50 rpm. I normally set the drum dryer for a speed of about 10 rpm as well.
Then, I go on to the next rod, applying finish as needed and transferring to the drum dryer.
Normally the finish application and getting the dryer to the final speed runs about 5-10 minutes on most rods. When you apply the finish at these speeds, it is only a few seconds per butt wrap or guide for finish application. Then a few more seconds per guide on the 2nd pass to get things level and smooth for the final drying.
I use only the inexpensive 5 cent disposable brushes for finish application. Generally the brush hardly ever touches the blank or guide. The only thing that is really touching the blank or guide is the finish.
--------
I was down at the surplus store a few months ago and picked up a bunch of grooved pulleys with ball bearings in the center. These are about 1 1/2 in inches in diameter and are perfect for rod rest pulleys. I stopped at the hardware store in the plumbing department and picked up a bunch of O rings to put in the grooves, so that the rod is only resting on rubber. The rod rests are formed by two pulleys on the lower bar and one pulley centered above the two lower pulleys on the upper bar. I have both bars cantilevered out from a vertical post that is mounted to a base, that is in turn fastened to the wrapper base. Having the rod rests cantilevered out from the stands behind the rod allows the wrapper to have his hands directly under or beside the rod stands for easy wrapping.
Some of my first stands used full width stands that were as wide as the wrapper base, which meant that the hands could not be under the rod, and often required movement of the stand to better wrap a particular guide.
However, I still use the full width ball bearing stands for my full length rod lathe. I use the full length rod lathe, when I glue up a handle on the blank and then chuck the entire rod into the full length rod lathe. I use a 3600 1/2 hp ac 120 volt buffer motor to spin the rod. It is essential that everything be well balanced or the blank can explode with bad things happening. But, as long as things are balanced, and the rod is spinning merrily along at 3600 rpm, it is quick work to shape a handle on the full length rod lathe.
If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line at:
hflier@comcast.net
Roger
