Small cable reels?

[LX3]

Anyone have any suggestions for really *small* cable reels?

I need a couple of reels to make rigging and packing of long-ish mic cables faster. The cables I'm talking about are only 20-30m (i.e. up to 100') long, but patch cable diameter to save weight/bulk.

They're a nightmare to pay out and coil again single-handed. Even if they were 6mm, there comes a point (about 20m I'd say) where coiling by hand becomes far slower than it need be. And you've got to be so careful when paying them out too.

I've never found a cable reel small enough to make sense though. Even the smallest reel I can find would take 100-150m of this stuff. Is there some sort of small plastic reel in use by another industry? I've tried fishing, kite-flying, boating...

[lampmeister]

I've heard of people having good luck with gardening hosepipe reels from B&Q.

Let us know if you find anything 'cos I'm after something similar soon.

[LX3]

Thanks for the suggestion. Had a look at hose reels online - would suit multicores, but still much too big for single mic cable.

(They're not all that cheap either by the way... at that price you might as well get a proper audio cable reel)

The search continues... one option I found, which sounds crazy, is to buy a cheap mains reel - you can get small-ish steel ones with just 15m of cable on them - then take all the cable off it! Still cheaper than any empty audio cable reels I've found (and I've found some really cheap ones... they're just still a bit big.)

Anyone want 100' of 3-core 10-amp orange mains cable?

[Lunatic]

Electrical contractors buy all sorts of wire and that wire comes on all sorts of reel sizes. For example, here in the states, I am an electrical apprentice. When we buy, say, 100 feet of #6 wire it comes on a small but robust reel that I think might work well for you. Check your local electrical parts suppliers. See if you can get some for free without the wire of course or offer them a little money. Heck, if they have a surplus of them you might just be helping out!

Some of the big suppliers in this town that *might* be overseas are Graybar, CED, and GE.

I have seen extension cord reels done successfully. These are NOT the garden hose reels but the reels you find at your home improvement store (Home Depot, ACE, and Lowe's over here) in the extension cord isle. They are much smaller than garden hose reels. A guy I know that does live sound uses them. He has one for each length of mic cable. Then, he just connects each mic cable, end to end, and then reels them up. Works like a charm.

-Brad

[lampmeister]

That mains cable reel option sounds good!

But what am I going to put my mains cable on?

I have a few lightweight cardboard empty reels from old bulk cable reels in my attic. They seem reasonably strong and weigh almost nothing.

Baldrick, I have a cunning plan....

[you just beat me to it Brad]

[hughesmr]

Try this:

http://www.tecnocem.com/image/cable-...cable-reel.jpg

[lampmeister]

Try a search at Farnell, they seem to do everything under the sun.

[MBishopSFX]

Try Home Depot, etc for orange, plastic AC extension cable reels. They're lightweight and easy to reel and store. The reel has a sliding handle at the center of the reel and you simply turn the outside "crank" to reel the cable in. I put a single heavy 150' mic cable on each. Stagehands love these things.

[max cooper]

Originally Posted by LX3

I need a couple of reels to make rigging and packing of long-ish mic cables faster. The cables I'm talking about are only 20-30m (i.e. up to 100') long, but patch cable diameter to save weight/bulk.

Often when I buy small diameter cable off of the reel, they try to cut the length from an almost empty reel which means the cable is going to want to coil up really small since it's been wound around the inside of the spool.

In those cases I'll ask for the length to be cut from a new reel.

Just in case it helps.

[LX3]

Originally Posted by max cooper

Often when I buy small diameter cable off of the reel, they try to cut the length from an almost empty reel which means the cable is going to want to coil up really small since it's been wound around the inside of the spool.

In those cases I'll ask for the length to be cut from a new reel.

Just in case it helps.

Yup, I know what you're saying - it's a pain when that happens (buying mail order, you don't get to find out where it's come off the reel). I find, if things get really desperate, I can bung the whole pile of cable - other than the cut ends - in a bath of really hot water for a couple of hours, then coil it much more loosely.

Lampy - yes, Farnell were going to be my fall-back option. Their smallest empty reel is fairly small (and reassuringly cheap) - but still, will take 150m of the kind of cable I want to put on it. I'm ideally looking for something smaller still - perhaps 8" diameter - to take 30-50m.

Multiple cables on one reel might be a solution. Thought about it. Fine if all the cables on the reel are the same length. In fact, maybe the answer is to make all my long cables the same length and be done with it

Empty cable reels from bulk cable - possibly, but don't have a winding handle or spindle. A bit of improvisation maybe.

Great suggestions everyone. I'll keep working on it.

[orange]

anything in this lot ?

http://www.canford.co.uk/commerce/ca...2_2000153.aspx

or

Online Catalogue (BD SK300 - is suitable for 100m mic cable)

or

8063 | PRO ELEC | Extension Leads/Sockets & Distribution Units | Electrical, Lighting & Security | CPC - cheap at £9.31

[LX3]

Originally Posted by orange

anything in this lot ?

8063 | PRO ELEC | Extension Leads/Sockets & Distribution Units | Electrical, Lighting & Security | CPC - cheap at £9.31

All the reels at the usual suspects (Canford, Studiospares, RS, Bryant - who by the way made the custom casework for my splitter) are all big-ish affairs... but that last one - possible result there. Thanks for the link.

There's no specs on the website unfortunately (apart from "50m of 1.5 sq mm cable" - which I guess is referring to mains cable) but at that price it's worth getting a couple just to see what they're like.

Funny how it's on the CPC site, but not at Farnell - since they're both effectively the same company.

I'll let you guys know how they work out.