A few years ago I built a hand wrapper......is there any reason I can't buy this power head and attach a base to it and use it with my hand wrapper for under wraps and such?

[www.rodbuilding.org]

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Above is a pic of my wrapper and the powerhead.

Thanks All.

Joe,
I have two concerns.

1. The RBS power wrapper system is a direct drive system where the chuck is attached right to the end of the motor. I do not know the characteristics of this particular motor. But, it appears to be the typical 5000 rpm sewing machine motor.
As I said, I do not know the specifications of the motor - but if this is actually a 5000 rpm motor, it is going to be pretty tough to keep the rod in the v blocks if the rod is spinning any where close to this speed.

2. The 2nd concern that I have is the use of V blocks for rod rests when you are using power on the rod. I have built a lot of different wrappers and I have found that if there is not a top roller arm on the top side of the rod - there is a good chance that the rod is going to come out of the v blocks if the rod gets spinning very fast.

3. The 3rd concern that I would have is the use of V blocks when spinning a rod fast. Without rubber lined rollers, I would think that on an unprotected blank, there could be a good chance that high speed spinning of the blank could cause damage to the surface of the rod. Of course, this can be solved by putting a couple wraps of masking tape - anywhere you have a V block located.

If the rod would stay in the V blocks and if you protected the blank from damage - and if the motors top speed is only 1000 rpm rather than 5000 rpm - you could potentially have a great solution to your problem.

Take care

That is great info Roger...THANKS! I am sure I can fashion top rollers for my rod supports...that should be easy enough. .I believe it is a 5000 RPM motor but I don't ever foresee needing to use it at that speed....I am just trying to speed up my wrapping a bit and have my hands ache a little less after doing 7 or 8 underwraps and maybe a 8 or 9 inch dragon scale wrap on a saltwater rod. maybe I can stick a small block or something under the foot pedal to act as a governor..? To help keep everything under control.

Heres My thoughts on it.
1. you built the hand wrapper.. you can build a power wrapper
2. Its a sewing machine motor with foot peddle. Hint locate your local sewing machine repair shop and buy a used one. I bought one for a project for my son for $10 it was used but worked perfect.
3 I wouldntt use your existing manual rod wrapper. I would build a whole new one and you can buy roller wheels at any good hardware store. They sell them for sliding screen doors ect.
4. For an adjustable base look at 8020 extrusion and then the roller mounts can slide to whatever position you wish.

x10 on the comments from Travis.

Roller rests are much much better for power wrapping than V blocks.

Also, you can use a 5000 rpm sewing machine motor if you want - but, you will do so much better if you do a pulley reduction. i.e. a 1 inch pulley on the motor and a 6 inch pulley on the driven shaft will give you a speed reduction of 6:1.

A 10:1 is an even better speed reduction. A 10:1 speed reduction gives you a top speed of 500 rpm, but it will also give you much better low speed control.

With a direct drive 5000 rpm motor - you are going to have very poor control at low speeds.

If you want to use a direct drive motor - then buy a small low voltage DC gear motor. If you get a motor with a top speed of 200-800 rpm, you can drive the rod directly. However, I think you will be happier with a good chuck on the end of a bearing supported shaft - driven by a pulley and motor.

Good luck

Hmmmmm....much more to think about. thanks for all the replies.

Yep what roger said! I didnt even think about reduction in speed but thats easy to build

Roger is kind of the electrician here He builds a lot of equipment He should be able to help with design and parts

Bill - willierods.com

Thanks guys...Roger...not to abuse your kindness but...can you give me a little help in what parts I can use to do a 6:1 reduction with pulleys?

This set up works with my budget and the limited amount of space available to me for wrapping. ..apartment living is not exactly the best for rod building...I can't have a 6 or 8 ft long power wrapper on my wife's dining room table. I would be sleeping on the couch a lot.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2016 09:35AM by Joe Willsen.

Jo,
This was one of the first power units that I built many years ago, which used a standard sewing machine motor and common hardware store parts and items from a local surplus store.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

This unit demonstrates a double jackshaft, pulley and belt arrangement.

The stand was made from a piece of 2x6 lumber. Behind each of the pulleys is a pair of bearings that are pressed into the wood - where I have drilled flat bottom holes using a variable sized drill bit. Basically, I took a piece of scrap wood and started drilling holes, as I adjusted the size of the variable size drill bit. Then, when I found the perfect sized hole into which the bearing would need to be pushed in - I would use that size to drill the hole. But, to get a bearing on each side of the board, I would first drill a pilot hole of about 1/8th inch in diameter.

Then, I could use the pilot hole to drill a flat bottom hole just deep enough to have the bearing sit flush to the surface. Then, after drilling out the two larger holes on each side of the board - I would drill out the center hole to a size that is a bit larger than the size of the shaft that I would put through the holes.

In this case, I used sewing machine V belts that I obtained from a sewing machine store. I purchased the bearings from the surplus store or the local ball bearing shop.

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However, in today's world there is a much simpler way to go. Locate through searches, of the internet or local shops - gear motors.

Gear motors have a miniature gear train on the end of the motor. To minimize noise, find a motor with a set of parallel shaft gears - as opposed to a motor with a right angle set of gears. The down side of the right angle set of gears, is that the right angle gears tend to be noisy.

Gear motors are available in either AC or DC voltage. Gear motors are available in high voltage - as in standard 115v AC, or in high voltage dc - i.e. 90 volts dc, or in low voltage DC as in 6,12,24 volts.
Any of these motors can be controlled with the correct speed control device. These speed control devices will not be simple sewing machine pedals, but will generally involve additional electronics.
However, if the motor is an ac/dc universal motor with brushes, the motor will generally be able to be controlled with the common electronic or non electronic sewing machine style foot pedal.

The search item "500 rpm gear motors" reveal a large variety of different gear motors - some of which can be used for driving a power wrapper.

[www.google.com]

The power to turn a rod if very low, so normally when one selects a motor to use for wrapping, one can use one of the lower powered gear motors.

So, just a few thoughts on what is needed to make a contemporary power unit for wrapping rods.

Be safe

Thank you Roger and all.....I really appreciate you guys taking the time to help me out....this is by far the best, most helpful and cordial internet forum I have ever been on. Gentlemen all.

Joe

I have been an outwrapper for a lot of years. My wrapper uses a 5000 rpm motor with the chuck attached directly to the motor and it has v blocks. When I wrap I use a bobbin and keep my left hand on the blank when it's spinning. This is the standard outwrapper setup. The fancy wrappers with all the bells and whistles are nice but they tend to slow you down, outwrapping is all about speed. That being said as long as you don't want to do any turning this setup works fine.

Thomas F. Thornhill

Thanks again guys....the unit arrived the other day and after fashioning a base for it that matches up with my wrapper it works great for my needs. I use the support with the top wheel that came with my AT dryer set up in conjunction with my V Blocks . The pedal gives me better low speed control than I expected. I wouldn't suggest it for somebody wrapping commercially, but it is working well for a dabbler like me.
Joe