2 Cool Fishing Forum banner

Power wrapper

3K views 23 replies 10 participants last post by  BillGulledge 
#1 ·
Anyone willing to sell they're old power wrapper to a fellow 2cooler ? Haha.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#7 · (Edited)
Just some thoughts for you guys looking at possibly getting a powered wrapper. I got one years back and I still have it today. Unless you do a lot of under wraps for surf rods (heavy surf chunkers) or big game rods there isn't much need for power, at least for me anyway. I used to build quite a few 10 ft. beefsticks for the beachfront. A lot of them have decorative crosswraps and depending on the crosswrap, I would sometimes underwrap the area where the crosswrap would be. Also I would underwrap where the heavy guides would be, so that the blank would be protected form the guide feet during a fight with a heavy fish, especially roller guides on big game rods. That is all I ever use "power" for. If you are really good with with it and prepare your guide feet well, you can "power" wrap guide feet but I never got thread to lay on guide feet to my liking when using power so I went back to hand turning for more control. When it comes to lighter weight rods such as your typical inshore red/trout rods or bass rods, I don't ever use power. ... I tried and practiced a lot but finally gave up. I still underwrap with it but that's it. Your'e mileage may vary. BTW I use a Custom Power Wrap from Anglers Workshop or Cabela's tackle craft dept. It's a great machine, I just don't use much power. With most of the small single foot guides and especially micro-guides it is impossible to power wrap them with any sort of decent results.
 
#9 ·
I've had several people tell me the same thing. I just thought it would be a little faster with basic guide wraps.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I tried and tried just see if it could make things faster or easier. I just never could see any advantage and actually seemed to notice a disadvantage. When you get an over run or your thread overlayed another, by the time you notice and lift your foot off the gas pedal, you probably will need to back up about 10 turns to straighten everything out. Ideally a powered chuck should have a speed range of say 0-500rpm with infinite smooth control throughout the speed range especially on startup. Most of them start sort of herky-jerky so getting the first few wraps started can be difficult. I'm not trying to talk you out of it, I just want to tell my experiences with one. At a minimum you need a good quality chuck. Most makers will offer a upgrade chuck. GET IT. Second, direct drive is not your friend. It needs to be belt driven. Small pulley on your motor, larger pulley on your chuck drive. Like I say these are my experiences only.
 
#13 ·
Was really easy. Just bought at 10' extension cord, cut it, and spliced it on the foot. Not nearly as fast as the other ones, but fast enough for me. And slow enough so you can catch any mistakes. I also use it for my drill lathe to turn cork handles and to ream out handles.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#19 ·
The powered wrapper is great for underlays; but you just can't keep the thread from jumping a thread when doing a guide. Hand operation only like the man said. But I love the smooth ball bearing turning of the the big Alps chuck. It's the drying motor that's worth it's weight in gold for the epoxy coat instead of turning that rod ever fifteen minutes for five hours.
If you are gonna' build rods, get a machine. You will love it.
 
#24 ·
Power Wrapper

I hand turn my rods, on a homemade stand. I have four adjustable supports with rubber wheels on ball bearings. Works better than my previous model, but my thread tension device is not consistent. I use opposing magnets to supply pressure against the thread spool - works better than springs but still not perfect. Because all my rod blanks are tapered, the rod tends to "travel" laterally (left or right depending on the direction I am turning) since there is no chuck to hold the rod in position. Also, If I need to pause in the middle of wrapping a guide, the thread tension tends to cause the rod wrap to unwind. I have several jury rigged ways to keep the rod from unwinding, but they are cumbersome to use and don't work very well.
I spiral wrap many of my rods, and getting the angles correct is by guess.
A machine with a chuck would seem to solve some of these problems, even if I continue to hand turn -- (can you hand turn a rod if it is in a chuck or would the resistance make hand turning difficult?)
Any or you more experienced rod builders have any thoughts?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top