In many images that DC777 wrapper appears to be made completely out of wood which to me was a major turn off but upon much closer inspection the slats which hold the adjustable supports are all aluminum which changes my view of it completely . The images of the DC777 on the Flex Coat website are very deceiving . Unless you watch the video which shows very close up images you can be easily fooled .

John is spot on.
A great well designed product.

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Many years ago when a friend suggested the avocation of rod building, I built one ice fishing rod by hand.
At that time I vowed to never ever wrap a rod by hand.
I said to myself, I have the background and training to make something better that works for my particular needs. Hence, my quest for the eternal best rod wrapping setup.

I said to myself, there are just a few different parts to the system that need to be integrated.
Rod rests - to support the rod when the rod is turning.
A device to hold the butt end of the rod to turn it when needed.
A turning device that can turn at any speed within reason, in either direction with precise control with either a hand, foot or some other control version.

At that time, the common method was to use a sewing machine motor for rotary power.
Then, to reduce the speed, there was a pulley ratio - singular, or multiple - that were used to reduce the speed to an acceptable level.

I started with junk sewing machines and used parts from the sewing machine to make my first power heads.
Then, I added one set of reduction pulleys and then 2 or more sets of speed reduction pulleys to get the speed to the desired speeds.

At that time - the speed control was very crude. Essentially, carbon pile foot pedals or wire wound or carbon composition resistors. At that time, Scr's and Mos fets were just being developed which later would become the mainstay of motor speed control.

The first rod support stands that I built were similar to the Dale Clemmens stands that used three pulleys and or bearings to form a triangle that was supported by vertical rods which supported a couple of horizontal bars which had pulleys and or bearings on the bars to hold the rod.

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At that time - a personal wood lathe was out of reach, but it was possible to build a one piece 10 foot long rod lathe that would be used to hold the rear grip, reel seat, and front grip along with the full length rod when shaping grips.
I took classes at a rod shop that used such a device for spinning a full length rod.
After a few different creations, I ended up with an 110v ac buffer motor that turned at a fixed speed of 3600 rpm. The lathe that I used in rod building school used a 1750 rpm electrical motor to spin the rod, but I wished to spin the rod faster, so that I could use finer grit paper with a lighter touch to quickly shape the grips. The only proviso that I had, was that the start up was very tempermental. The problem was destructive harmonic destruction. If the rod rests were not positioned correctly and the motor was turned on and left on, the spinning rod blank would go into destructive oscillation and be destroyed in a few seconds. As a result, I would position the first rod rest 1 inch past the fore grip to have a rock solid area of rear and front grip for shaping. The issue was the position of the next rod rest. I would pulse the start switch, while keeping my hand around the rod blank to instantly stop its rotation if the blank began to go into destructive oscillation. I would run my hand up and down the rod, as needed to sense a Null spot in the rod as the power switch was turned on and off - searching for the null spot on the rod blank. When the first null location was found rod rest #2 was placed in that spot on the lathe bed. This process continued on up the blank to the very tip top of the rod blank. When turning at 3600 rpm, even the very tip top of the rod blank needed to be stabilized to prevent a light action rod blank from whipping in increasing larger circles until it snapped off. The good news was that once the rod rest spacing was found for one blank, that same spacing was generally very close for other blanks, no matter the size or power of the rod.

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Back to a wrapper.
The chuck to hold the rear grip was always a continuing concern. Over the years, virtually every common chuck being used was tried. Certainly the Flex coat chuck is high on the list and continues to be an excellent chuck. But, other chucks - notably some of the very inexpensive chucks simply didn't cut the Mustard - so to speak. Couldn't get them tight, would not turn with 0 run out or exhibit wobble. No question about it - for maximum versatility, it is tough to beat the perfection of a high quality machine shop chuck. However, a standard machine shop chuck had issues when it came to the chuck Jaws. The standard jaws with pointed ends on the jaws were unsuitable for holding a softer like EVA or Cork - without putting permanent marks into the material. Hence the use of the soft aluminum jaws of the Taig chuck with the ability to machine the ends of the jaws to a shape that was best suited for lightly- but securely holding the softer grip materials.

With respect to the Head Stock - for a power wrapper.
The headstock consists of a stand to hold bearings and a thru shaft to hold a pulley on one side and a chuck on the other side.
The classic head stock made by Taig has been a proven performer over the years. I don't know if Taig was the first company that made this particular design, but it is certainly a very nice ideal that many other companies have essentially used or copied in their own head stock designs.

The drive systems consisting of a motor, pulley, or in line connections from a motor to a head stock shaft are all part of the game. The pulleys can be of different sizes. The position of the motor can be in different places. i.e. behind the head stock beside the head stock, under the head stock or on top of the head stock. With the right design, all of these different motor positions have all been used over the years.

In later years, there has been a migration from AC motors to DC motors. Ac motors have been widely available for many many years and in all but the earliest years, had the ability to have their speeds controlled by various simple or complicated methods.
However, for the classic AC motor - there was one glaring defect. Tough to have the motor run in reverse. There are ways to reverse the AC motors, but most have relative significant complications.

Then, came time for DC motors. Dc motors have a few nice characteristics. The speed and direction of a DC motor is directly proportional to the polarity and magnitude of the applied voltage. Thus one could use a variable voltage power supply and get very very nice smooth speed control. By using a simple double pole double throw switch and appropriate wiring it is simple to revere the motor direction.

Then, in more recent years, semi conductors came along which provided by easy implementation of variable width pulse dc speed control. Then, as mass production evolved. the price of these speed control devices plummeted, to allow for the creation of very high quality systems for variable dc motor speed at very affordable prices.

Then, as time went by, these DC motors were made smaller and smaller and small compact high quality gear trains were added and integrated with the similar small high quality DC motors - and thus the ability to create very nice well controlled motor systems that allow a dc gear motor driven chuck to have a nice reversible precise speed that varies from one rpm to a much higher rpm.

Such is a short history of electric power wrappers and similar systems that are all part of the rod building industry.

Best wishes.

Stan,
Here is a system that I made which started with an Alps power wrapper in 2015.

I created a more contemporary system for myself that employed a very small dc gear motor under the head stock that was connected to the head stock by using XL cogged pulleys and belts.
The system employs a dc motor supply and speed controller along with a very high quality foot pedal.

Then if you notice the small box with the switch on the side with the white cord coming from the box; this is a reversing switch that one moves with the builder up and down the rod, so that the reversing switch is always right in front of the builder while working on a particular guide or location on the rod.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

All of the different systems that I have used for myself all use a reversing switch. In this particular case, I simply removed the switch from the control box, placed it into a separate box and connected the two boxes together with a high quality multi strand cable that travels with the builder up and down the rod.

For example in the Case of the Flex Coat power wrapper system, the switch could be removed from its case, moved to a separate case and be connected to its current electronics by use of an appropriate multi cable switch.

The schematic diagram for the implementation of such a switch.

[rollertrol.com]

IN this particular case, simply take the two wires going to the power and the two other wires going to the motor and use a 4 conductor cable to carry those signals remotely as needed to different locations on the rod bench with the stand a lone switch in a box.

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One particular issue with gear motors is gear NOISE. i.e. many dc motor systems have a significant amount of noise that don't detract from the system performance, but may be irritating to some individuals. The good news is that in recent times, the price goes down and the quality of the gears go up and as a result the noise level is reduced. With high quality well made gear trains the noise level is reduced.

Best wishes




Best wishes.

I don't think a post about wrappers is complete until we include Renzetti/Clemens wrappers.
I know a current unit is more expensive than the posters budget, but you can still find old Clemens units out there occasionally for less.
And the quality of these units, well, is phenomenal to say the least.

Stan

Give me a call and lets talk about your needs. 512-858-7742

Flex Coat Company
Professional Rod Building Supplies
www.flexcoat.com

I like the clean look of the flex coat supports and the alps chuck ;) oh well. I have often wondered if the flex coat supports would fit my garage tool holder track. Might just order a support to see.

Roger,

Thanks for the info about the remote switch. I should be able to make something that will allow me to make this upgrade!

Stan

Stan:

[www.amazon.com]

[www.amazon.com]

The switch listed above will work. Depending on your skill, you may be able to use one of the three boxes shown on the next link to accommodate the switch. With a top cover, one can cut a window in one side of the box and slide the switch in sideways. These switches work best with slip on electrical connectors. It is not in your best interest to try to solder wires to these switch contacts. It simply does not work well. But the push on contacts work well. For a tight installation, sometimes it works best to use right angle push on connectors.
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Here is a listing for 2 conductor silicone insulation 20 gauge wire. Even though it is 2 conductor and you need 4, this wire has the advantage of using silicone insulation which is extremely flexible. Thus, this is excellent wire to use for a switch extension. Just use a 1/2 inch length heat shrink tubing about every 4-6 inches and you will be set. Flexibility for this wire is really an asset for this particular application.

[www.amazon.com]