Hello,

Can someone please tell me the distance from the front of the rod bed to the rear of the 8-spool carriage? I am building a bench against the wall to (eventually) support a Renzetti rod lathe and I'm curious about how much bench depth I actually need.

Thank you in advance,

Eric



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2018 07:09PM by Eric Roach.

You have to leave extra room behind the 8 spool so that you can get it past whatever items you have on your benchtop. If it's too close o tteh back, you'll have ot move everything eery time. Also, which REnzetti bed are you getting, ther emight be a difference between the new and old style - I do not know.

15 inches bare minimum.

If you have any tools or items that you plan to store or have on the bench, remember to add enough depth to allow you to pass the carriage by them.

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

Billy Vivona Wrote:
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> ...which REnzetti bed are you getting, ther emight be
> a difference between the new and old style...

I was planning on getting a new Craftsman, with the carriage that rolls on the underside of the bed.

Thank you both. Sounds like a bench approximately 24" wide is a good choice.

Eric,
24 inches is a perfect width and lets you use the bench for a million other things if the need arises.


Sometimes the bench will be helpful in doing other jobs over the years.


Be safe

My current rod bench uses a big box 24 inch wide 10 feet long kitchen counter top with an integrated back splash. It works very very well for the job.

[www.menards.com]

[www.menards.com]

You must consider the height of the bench top for weather you'll be standing or sitting at it.I'm 5'11", my bench top is at 44" at a standing height.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

Dennis,
Copy That.

Since I have a bad back and can not stand for hours on end, I use a sitting height for my rod bench. I use my office chair to roll up and down the rod as I work the rod builds.

Also, consider the height that the rod will actually be at during the wrapping process.

5 inches is a typical length of height from the top of the bench to the rod - but it depends on the height of the rod rests and the height of the chuck turning the rod if you have a power wrapper.

What ever the height is of the rod when you are working you want to be able to work on the rod in a comfortable - ergonomically correct body position - to allow for long hours at the rod and the rod bench with minimum body strain.

Also, don't overlook the need for very bright lighting for the detail of rod building as well as the ability to use magnification - either in the form of magnifying glasses, magnifying head band, stand alone magnifier, or the use of a magnifier surrounded by a light.

Nothing to help with intricate wraps than excellent lighting as well as 2-5 power magnification - depending on your eyes and the detail of the work.

Good luck

p.s.
If you want to go top drawer with magnification - go with a set of detail magnifiers that are used by dentists and surgeons. The magnifiers are small, double lens to give the user the ability to specify the focal length of the glasses as well as the power of magnification. Did I also mention that these glasses are expensive.

However, a head band mounted magnifier with a single lens and the head band to hold the lens out in front of your eyes gives good correct focal length magnification at a low cost.

If you happen to be a user of eye glasses with multiple magnification as in bifocals, trifocals or variable vision - I would suggest that you go to your eye doctor and get a prescription for a single power set of glasses that would work with the magnifier that you would buy or pick out at the focal length that you like to work.

Over the years, I have gone to multiple pairs of glasses to handle my vision needs.
I normally wear tri focals to take care of my every day needs including driving and reading. However, if I spend long hours on the computer, I also have a pair of computer glasses that are calibrated to be in perfect focus at arms length. This distance is the typical that I have my computer monitor. It is also the typical distance that I work at, when working in the garage or using power tools or doing rod wrapping.

I also have a pair of reading glasses that I use for reading. This allows me to read from the top to the bottom of a newspaper or book page without moving my head. Rather, I just move my eyes.

Then, I have a pair of single vision distance glasses that I use if out and about, boating and or watching TV. The single vision allows my head to be in any position and still have perfect vision with all parts of the lens in perfect focus.

It is a bit of a hassle to have the multiple pairs of glasses, but it works for me and it completely eliminates the neck and back strain that happens when one has to keep his head cocked at a certain angle to be able to pick up the lens that is in focus to do the task at hand.

Best wishes.

It is 13” from the front of the bed to the rear of the carriage with spools of thread on the carriage! As stated above give yourself some room or the carriage will act like that arm at the bowling alley when it clears all the pins off of the lane!
Since you are building against a wall - you might want to put a wide shelf above the thread carriage and jus not place ANYTHING in the thread carriage rolling zone.
As for height- mine is at 36” - floor to top of table, then add 4” to the top of the rail, then another 5” to the rod blank is set up in the lathe. So total - 45” to rod working hieght. I am 5’10” tall and it’s perfect for standing, but I use an adjustable height rolling chair and it’s spot on as well. You might want to think about converting your system to DC powered reverseable motors as well - if you are interested in hearing about that- I have just completed my upgrade and it’s the 100% better than the way I had it originally ( if that’s even possible!! I mean it is a renzetti!) DC motor with control center just gives you so much more control. I did build the control center but I will give you the contact info of the person that did if you are interested

Jon Hood

This is all great information — thank you all.

Sounds like it’s 9” from the bench top to the rod; do you guys commonly place your elbows on the bench to occasionally steady your hands? If so, I probably have to account for some bench space in front of the bed.

Eric,
I have mine mounted 2” from the edge of the table (bench). If I need to steady my hand for applying the edge finish, I just place one hand (fist) on the aluminum base rail and lay my other hand on top of it. Works fine. I mounted it this way because I didn’t want to have to lean forward at all. As well as - the further from the edge of the table you are - the further you will have to reach for anything behind the thread carriage travel zone.

Jon Hood

Eric,
I also have the lathe bed mounted as close to the front of the edge as possible with it consistently staying on the bench. As Jon said, this is about 2 inches.

I have rollers on the underside of my power wrapper which allows me to move the power wrapper back and forth in front of where I sit.

Since I work from a sitting position, it is much easier if I stay stationary and have the work roll by me. That way, I don't have to move light, tools etc. as I work up and down the rod.

This is a picture of my rod bench and the wrapper base showing the rollers and the brakes that I installed to keep the wrapper stationary when working on a guide.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Since the rod bench is a one piece kitchen counter top, the skate board rollers that I use for the wrapper rollers roll very easily as the work moves up and down the bench.

That is really neat, Roger. I wish I could roll the lathe bed as well but I commonly work on 9'-11' 1-piece surf rods so it isn't feasible.

I think if I leave 2" in front of the bed and just enough room behind the bed for the thread carriage I could get away with a 17"-18" bench. I'll put a shelf above the carriage for stuff.