Hi All,

I got into the hobby a bit over a year ago and initially started with a hand wrapper that had a thread spring arm (the basic Mudhole wooden wrapper) that allowed for easy backing up if I missed a wrap. I upgraded to the American Tackle power wrapper, and while I have enjoyed immensely, I miss having the thread tension spring arm (the AmTak thread carriage just has the spool tensioners).

I have searched in vain to see if anyone had ever come up with a modification to the AmTak/PacBay wrapper that incorporated a tension spring rod/arm into the thread carriage (noting higher end wrappers such as a Renzetti does have), but to no avail. I am guessing either this just isn't really possible or perhaps even desirable for some reason I don't fully understand....

Hoping for some enlightenment!

Thanks,

Kevin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2014 12:53PM by Kevin Goy.

Great question Kevin! I also started on the same hand wrapper and got use to the spring rod tensioner so am wondering the same thing. I have the alps wrapper and just can't get the tensioner to work right. Just need the experience I guess.

Kevin; I built a whole new thread carriage for my Custom Power Wrapper (a lot like the bed on the AmTac). I didn't like the thread right in front of me and I wanted to use large spools of thread. I also don't like the sewing machine type thread tensioner. There is a picture of the conversion I made for my Renzetti in my Gallery and I think I may have a picture in one of my files of the carriage I made for the Custom Power Wrapper. I you are interested send me an E-Mail and I'll try to find it for you.

Jim, if you find the picture, I'd like to see it as well.

Spring arm tension is most definitely desirable. Wouldn't build a rod without it.

Kevin,
With a power wrapper that has a reverse, and a tension device that uses tension disks, it is trivial to back up the rod, and take up any slack in the thread by pulling it back through the tension disks.

I also like to have the thread and tension assembly behind the rod, so that none of that is in the way when wrapping.

Just out of curiosity, has any one ever reversed the American Tackle Power wrapper bed?

With the bed reversed, the thread would be behind the rod, rather than in front of the rod. It would seem to me, that it should work just fine with that setup.

Just wondering if any one has tried it to get the thread behind the rod being wrapped so it is not in the way of your hands when wrapping.

Why not make your own spring arm? It should not be too difficult to do. You can buy spring wire and make it into what you wish.

Reversing the wrapper bed was an idea I had last winter, after taking everything apart I found that the extrusion for the motor mount unfortunately was not bisymmetrical and could not be mounted in the reverse position, so unless you're up to doing a major modification it won't work, good idea though.

Jim, I'd like to see it as well, but couldn't get an email through your spamblocker.

Mike,
Any issue with just reversing the wrapper so that the thread is on the back of the wrapper, but just leave the motor and drive end at the right end of the wrapper, rather than the left end?

I would think , that unless you reversed the drive motor, you would need to leave the motor at the right end of the wrapper, if you flipped the wrapper around.

Be safe

It has been a while since I tried it but as I recall, I wanted the motor on the right end too, but since the extrusion isn't symmetrical the motor is offset and will not line up with the rod supports.

Mike,
As I said in the post, just reverse the entire power wrapper.

Rather than having the motor on the left and the thread in front, flip the wrapper so that the motor is on the right and the thread is on the back of the wrapper.

Be safe

Gents,

All great feedback and great food for thought. Ideally, I too would prefer to have the thread carriage on the back side along with a thread tension spring arm if at all possible. I guess the only drawback would be in needing to 'reach through' the wrapper to guide the carriage on longer wraps, but this also might be a simple modification to add some sort of 'arm' back through the wrapper to the front that could easily 'pop-off' for bypassing support towers.

I note Hobby Lobby has 12" pieces of 'music wire' of varying gauges that could be attached to the carriage to provide the thread tension spring arm... Setup this way, it certainly would feel a lot like my old hand wrapper setup!

Kevin

Oops I meant to say that I still wanted the motor on my left due to the configuration of my room and it wouldn't work.

Kevin, I too was faced with the same dilemma after being used to having a spring arm tensioner. When I got my amtak wrapper I was faced with learning to use it as-is or modify my wrapper. I just turned the wrapper around, unbolted the motor, and moved it to the left side. I had to bore new holes on the left side for the motor and chuck assembly. After I did that, the thread carriage rail was on the back side of my wrapper. I then bored a tiny hole in the back of the thread carriage behind the spool, inserted and glued a wire(similar to the mh hand wrapper) and put a tip top on the tip of it for the thread to pass through. This allows me to "back up" if need be without losing tension on my thread. I've had this modification for a couple of years now and it's the best way for me.

Greg,

That sounds like the best route for myself to pursue... Have you felt it to be much of an inconvenience to 'reach through' under the rod to guide the carriage along during a long wrap (thinking about knocking guides out of whack when one hits my hand....)?

Normally, the rollers on the thread carriage will enable the thread to move along with you as you wrap. There are times you may have to reach under the blank to keep the carriage from getting too far ahead but for the most part, there's not a lot of that necessary. In fact, I don't recall ever having an incident of knocking a guide loose while reaching under the blank to "help" it along. I try to keep a the thread at a slight angle behind the wrapping point to make sure it lays tight up against the previous round. Hope this helps you.
Greg

Greg,

Thanks for your input! I am going to take a look at modifying similar to your setup this evening!

Kevin

gregory jones Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ... I just
> turned the wrapper around, unbolted the motor, and
> moved it to the left side. I had to bore new holes
> on the left side for the motor and chuck assembly.
> After I did that, the thread carriage rail was on
> the back side of my wrapper. I then bored a tiny
> hole in the back of the thread carriage behind the
> spool, inserted and glued a wire(similar to the mh
> hand wrapper) and put a tip top on the tip of it
> for the thread to pass through. This allows me to
> "back up" if need be without losing tension on my
> thread. I've had this modification for a couple of
> years now and it's the best way for me.


I also reversed mine, modified the upgrade chuck, and made spring wire tensioners. I'll try to take some pictures soon.

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2014 12:23PM by Chuck Mills.