Wooden cable reels for sale
We sell empty wooden cable reels by flange size, from small plywood reels for building wire up to nailed wood reels with 96 inch flanges for power cable, in lots written up by size, count and condition. Give us the flange, traverse and drum in inches and how many you need, and we will quote a matching lot with freight to your ZIP.
How wooden cable reels are sized
A wooden reel is named by three numbers in inches: flange diameter, then traverse, then drum diameter. A 48x36x24 has 48 inch flanges, 36 inches of winding width between them and a 24 inch drum. That order comes from the NEMA WC 26 / EEMAC 201 packaging standard that governs wire and cable reel sizes in the US and Canada, and it is the order every reel stencil and every quote on this site uses.
The flange sets the reel's height and how much cable can be stacked on the drum. The traverse sets how wide the wind is and, with the flange plies, the out-to-out width that has to fit a trailer, a payoff stand or an unwinder. The drum sets the smallest bend the cable takes at the inside of the wind, which matters for stiff power cable and for fiber with a minimum bend radius.
Two reels with the same flange can be very different reels. A 48x24x24 and a 48x48x30 share a flange and nothing else. That is why we never quote a reel from one number.
Reels by flange band
Flange is the first number buyers give us and the one that decides handling and freight, so this is how we sort what we sell. The bands below are broad; drum and traverse vary inside each one.
| Flange band | Usual build | What they usually carry | Handling |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 to 24 inch | Plywood, some nailed | Building wire, control cable, small rope | By hand or on a reel cart |
| 24 to 36 inch | Nailed wood or plywood | Building wire in larger lengths, MC cable, small fiber | By hand on a dock, pallet jack or forklift |
| 36 to 48 inch | Nailed wood | Secondary power, URD, feeder cable, fiber | Forklift or reel stand with a shaft |
| 48 to 60 inch | Nailed wood, 3 or 4-ply flanges | Primary power, large fiber counts, wire rope | Forklift with long forks or shaft and spreader |
| 60 to 96 inch | Nailed wood, heavy plies, often lagged when full | Transmission, submarine and oil and gas cable | Heavy forklift, crane or reel trailer |
Sonoco lists nailed wood reels with flanges from 14 to 116 inches and plywood reels from 10 to 60 inches; Ely Reel builds nailed reels from 14 to 120 inches.
Nailed wood reels and plywood reels
Most of what we trade are nailed reels. A nailed reel's flanges are built from layers of boards, called plies, laid crosswise and nailed together, and its drum is a ring of staves nailed to the flanges. Ely Reel builds them in Southern Yellow Pine with 2, 3 or 4-ply flanges. The build is cheap to repair: a loose stave gets new nails, a split ply board can be replaced.
Plywood reels use sheet plywood flanges joined by a drum and usually bolts or tie rods through the flanges. They run smaller, up to about 60 inch flanges in Sonoco's range, and they are common for building wire and telecom cable. A plywood reel has a cleaner face and holds its shape well, but a delaminated flange is harder to fix than a nailed one.
When a buyer asks for a particular build, it is usually because of equipment. A payoff stand may expect a plywood reel's flat flange face, or a shop may want nailed reels it can patch itself. If the build matters to you, say so on the request form and we will write it into the lot.
Ply count, flange thickness and out-to-out width
Ply count tells you how much weight a flange was built to hold. A 2-ply flange suits lighter cable; a 4-ply flange is built for heavy power cable and big reels. More plies also add thickness, and thickness adds to the out-to-out width.
Out-to-out is the overall width across the outside faces of both flanges, so it is the traverse plus two flange thicknesses, plus any bolt heads or hardware. It is the number that decides whether a reel fits between the arms of a reel stand, inside a dry van, or across a trailer deck with others. If your equipment has a fixed width, give us the out-to-out limit as well as the size, and we will check each reel against it rather than against the stencil.
Arbor hole and drive holes: will it fit your payoff?
The arbor hole is the hole through the center of both flanges and the drum where a shaft goes to lift or turn the reel. Arbor holes vary by maker and size, and a hole that is too small for your shaft makes the reel useless to you no matter how good the rest of it is. A hole that is chewed out of round from years on a shaft gives a reel that wobbles when it turns.
Drive holes are smaller holes in the flange, off center, where a pin engages so a powered stand can turn the reel. If you run a driven payoff or take-up, check that the reels you buy have drive holes in the right place and that the wood around them is not torn out. Torn drive holes are one of the first things we note on a reel, because they lower its value to buyers like you.
Send us your shaft diameter and drive pin spacing if you have them. Matching those is easier before a lot ships than after.
Reading the reel stencil
The reel stencil is the painted or burned marking on a flange. It usually carries the size, the reel maker and sometimes a weight, a reel number or the cable plant's job data. On a reused reel there may be two or three generations of stencil, painted over or crossed out.
Stencils are where we start a write-up, but we measure too. A flange that has been repaired, or a reel built to a plant's own spec, may not match a stock size exactly. Photos of the stencil help both sides: a seller's photo tells us what the reel was built as, and the tape measure tells us what it is now.
When the exact size is short
Used reels come in whatever sizes the cable plants shipped, so a perfect match in the count you want isn't always sitting in one yard. When it isn't, we offer the nearest substitutes and say exactly how each differs, so you decide.
The safe swaps are usually a slightly bigger flange at the same traverse, which holds more and still fits most stands, or a slightly smaller drum, which adds footage but tightens the inside bend. The risky swaps are a wider traverse, which can break an out-to-out limit, and a smaller arbor hole, which can rule a reel out entirely. Splitting a lot between two close sizes is another option, if your crew can keep the two apart in the field.
We won't quietly substitute. Any swap is written into the quote before you accept it, and the written lot is what gets checked at unloading.
Ordering a lot by size
- 01
Measure or copy the size
Read the stencil on a reel you already use, or measure flange, traverse and drum with a tape. Give the out-to-out width if your stand or trailer has a limit.
- 02
Say how strict the size is
Tell us whether only the exact size works, or whether a slightly larger drum or wider traverse is fine. A little flexibility often finds a closer lot and cheaper freight.
- 03
Name the build and the condition
Nailed or plywood, ply count if it matters, and the condition you can accept. Most cable buyers want sound arbors and full staves.
- 04
Give count, ZIP and unloading access
We quote the lot delivered, with freight on its own line. The request form on this page takes all of it.
Questions people ask
Which number in a reel size is the flange?
The first. Sizes are written flange x traverse x drum in inches, so a 42x28x20 has a 42 inch flange, 28 inch traverse and 20 inch drum.
Can you supply a reel bigger than 96 inches?
Reels that large are rare in the used market. Reel makers build nailed reels up to 116 or 120 inch flanges, and for that size a new reel from a maker is often the realistic route.
Do nailed reels last as long as plywood reels?
Both last for several trips if they are stored dry and handled with the right gear. Sonoco says most reels it takes back can be recycled three or more times.
Will a reel with a different drum size still work?
Often yes, if the cable's bend radius allows it and the footage still fits. A larger drum holds less cable at the same flange; the capacity calculator shows by how much.
Do your reels come with lagging?
Empty reels rarely keep their lagging, since it is cut off to get at the cable. If you need lagged reels, tell us and we will ask sellers for them.