Wooden cable reel sizes

Reading the three numbers

The first number is the flange: the diameter of the two large discs at the ends. It is the number people use when they say a 36-inch reel or a 96-inch reel. The second is the traverse: the clear distance between the inner faces of the two flanges, which is the width the cable winds across. The third is the drum: the diameter of the barrel the cable sits on, made of staves.

In the US and Canada the packaging standard that governs wire and cable reels is NEMA WC 26 / EEMAC 201, a binational standard; the 2008 edition is the reference most makers cite. Its full text is sold rather than free, so most buyers never read it, but its naming convention is the one you see on reel stencils and in maker catalogs: flange, then traverse, then drum.

Not everyone writes it the same way. A price list may give only two numbers, like the 24x30 on one Florida buyer's sheet. Sonoco's trailer table heads its columns flange, drum, traverse, yet its figures, such as 36, 24 and 17, match the flange x traverse x drum sizes in Okonite's and Southwire's tables. When a size matters, ask which number is which, or measure. We always quote in flange x traverse x drum order.

Real sizes from maker reel tables

There is no single public list of every reel size, because makers build to the cable plant's order and NEMA WC 26 leaves room for many combinations. Cable makers do publish the reels they ship on, though, and those tables show the shapes in circulation. Okonite, which says it bought over 100,000 wooden reels in 2015, prints dimensions, empty weight and rated cable weight. Southwire lists its non-returnable wooden reels with arbor holes. Superior Essex lists the wood reels its outside-plant fiber and copper cables ship on.

Notice how many sizes share a flange but not a drum or traverse, and how the same Okonite size can appear twice: a lighter and a heavier build with different ratings.

Size ranges from the makers

The makers' catalogs set the outer limits. Ely Reel builds nailed wood reels with 2, 3 or 4-ply flanges from 14 to 120 inches in diameter, in Southern Yellow Pine, and ships them assembled or as kits. Sonoco lists nailed wood reels with flanges from 14 to 116 inches and plywood reels from 10 to 60 inches, for power, telecommunications, building wire, elevator and oil, gas and marine cable. Service Wire's return program covers its own nailed wood reels with 30 to 72 inch flanges.

Our size chart runs from 18 to 96 inch flanges, which covers most of the empties that come up for sale. Smaller reels exist, many of them plywood or plastic spools for premises cable, but under 18 inches a reel is often cheaper new than shipped used. Over 96 inches very few buyers have the gear to move one.

Four size bands and what lives in each

It helps to think in bands rather than single sizes. Each band has its own handling, its own buyers and its own freight economics.

Bands are a rule of thumb. A 30-inch reel with a wide traverse can need a forklift; a light 54-inch reel can be rolled by two people.

How flange, drum and traverse trade off

Capacity lives in the depth between drum and flange rim, times the traverse. Raise the flange and you add depth; widen the traverse and you add width. Both increase footage. Shrink the drum and you also add depth, but the drum has a floor set by the cable's minimum bend diameter, so a reel maker usually picks the drum first and builds outward from it.

That is why reels of the same flange can hold very different amounts. A 48x36x24 and a 48x24x30 share a flange but not much else: the second has a narrower traverse and a fatter drum, so it holds about half as much of the same cable. Always compare whole sizes, not flange numbers alone.

Out-to-out width sits on top of all this. It is the traverse plus both flange thicknesses, and it decides whether the reel fits a stand, a trailer, a payoff or a doorway. Thick multi-ply flanges on a big reel can add several inches to the traverse figure.

Choosing a size, in order

1. 01

   Find the drum floor

   Read the cable or rope maker's minimum bend diameter. The drum must be at least that.

2. 02

   Find the footage

   Use the capacity formula with the outside diameter and 2 inches of rim clearance to see which flange and traverse hold your length on that drum.

3. 03

   Check the weight

   Weight per foot times footage, plus the reel. Pick a reel and lifting gear that can carry it.

4. 04

   Check the fit

   Out-to-out and arbor hole against your stand, cart, trailer or payoff.

5. 05

   Check the freight

   The smallest reel that passes every test is usually the cheapest to move. One size up is often worth it for margin.

Metric reels, imported reels and odd conventions

Cable made outside North America often arrives on reels sized in millimeters, and some European catalogs list drum first or give the overall width rather than the traverse. A reel stenciled 1250 x 900 x 630, for instance, needs a conversion and a question about which figure is which before it can be compared with an inch-sized reel. Divide millimeters by 25.4 for inches and round to the nearest whole inch; a 1,250 mm flange is about 49 inches.

Once converted, they trade by the same three measurements as any domestic reel. What changes is the buyer pool, because a reel whose arbor hole or out-to-out was built to an overseas standard may not suit every domestic stand.

How a size line looks on our lot sheet

When we write up a reel lot, each size gets one line: count, then size in flange x traverse x drum, then arbor hole, then condition grade, then a note. A line might read 24 pcs, 42x30x20, 3-inch arbor, grade B, two with repaired tie-off holes. Buyers and sellers both see the same line, which keeps the price conversation about the reels rather than about what anyone meant by big.

Sizes on a used reel are not always what the stencil says

The stencil gives the size the reel was built at. A reel that has been repaired, re-staved or rebuilt can be different, and wood swells and shrinks with moisture. Flanges also wear at the rim from being rolled. For most purposes the stencil is close enough. For a tight capacity calculation or a stand with little spare width, measure.

When you sell us reels, the stencil photo is enough for us to start. We confirm sizes when we write up the lot, and the quote is made on the measured figures.