36 inch flange wooden reels

Why 36s move by the hundred

Sonoco's EcoReel packing guide answers the question every seller asks, how many reels should fit in a 53 ft van, with a table. Its top row is a 36 inch flange reel with values of 24 and 17 inches, matching the 36x24x17 in Okonite's table, and the answer is 200. No other size in the table comes close: the 42 inch reel drops to 120 and the 48 to 100.

That count is what makes a 36 lot worth moving. A trailer of 200 reels spreads one freight bill across a lot of reels, so the freight cost per reel is low and a yard with a few hundred 36s has something a buyer will send a truck for. At Okonite's published 77 lb each, 200 empty 36x24x17s come to roughly 15,400 lb, which is a light load by weight; the van fills up by volume long before it runs out of payload.

Loading a van of 36s

Sonoco provides the truck in its program, and the customer gathers and loads the reels. Its guide gives the loading tip that gets a trailer to its count: overlapping the flanges as the reels are stacked nests them, so the trailer's full cubic volume gets used. A 36 stood on its flanges is 3 ft tall, which leaves room in a dry van for a second tier if the reels are sound enough to carry the weight of the row above.

We load the same way when we arrange a pickup. The seller needs a forklift or a dock and a crew; the reels go on upright, rolled into rows, with the flanges of one row nested into the next. Every gap left between rows is reels that do not make the trip, and on a lot priced by the trailer those missing reels raise the freight cost of each one that does.

1. 01

   Sort by size

   Pull the true 36x24x17s out from the 36x18x12s and 36x28x14s. Mixed traverses nest badly.

2. 02

   Cull the damaged ones

   Set aside reels with split arbor holes or broken flanges; they cannot carry a tier above them.

3. 03

   Roll in rows

   Stand each reel on its flanges and roll it into the van, flanges overlapping the row ahead.

4. 04

   Count and photograph

   Count by row and send us a photo of the loaded van and of one reel stencil.

Footage on a 36, by cable diameter

Anixter's handbook gives one worked case that reproduces its own table exactly, and it happens to be a 36: a 36x24x16 with 2 inches of clearance and 1 inch cable. H is half of 36 minus 16, so 10 inches; H - C is 8; D + H - C is 24; and 0.262 x 24 x 8 x 24 comes to 1,207 ft. That is the NEMA WC 26 formula, Footage = 0.262 x T x (H - C) x (D + H - C) / d squared, and it is approximate by design.

The table runs it for the 36s most often in circulation. Superior Essex's charts put 3,726 ft of 0.60 inch fiber cable on its 36x30x17 and 948 ft of 1 inch copper cable on its 36x18x14, both marked as below the recommended bend radius at 1 inch.

What rides on a 36

With a 17 inch drum, a 36 takes nonshielded cable up to about 1.7 inches under the NEMA 10 times rule, interlocked armor up to about 1.2 inches at 14 times, and fiber up to about 0.85 inch at 20 times. That covers most 600 volt feeder and service entrance cable, multi-conductor tray cable, aluminum service drop, telephone cable and a lot of outside-plant fiber. Distributors use 36s as their larger cut reel; utilities see them on secondary and service conductor; fiber builders see them on drop and distribution cable.

The 36x16.38x18 Southwire calls H-13 is the odd one: a narrow traverse on a large drum. It suits stiffer cable that needs the larger bend and does not need much length.

What the stencil on a 36 does and does not tell you

Okonite's 2002 bulletin lists what is stenciled on each flange of a reel: the cable supplier's name, the reel's class, a rolling direction arrow, the dimensions as flange x inside traverse x drum, the reel maker and the date it was assembled. It then notes that on reels with flanges under 40 inches, normally only the dimensions, maker and date are supplied. A 36 is under that line.

So on a 36 the stencil usually gives the three numbers and little else. Don't expect a class marking or a rolling arrow. Measure two or three reels in a lot to confirm the stencil, because a 36x24x17 and a 36x28x14 look alike across a yard and do not nest together on a trailer.

Handling and grading 36s

Empty 36s weigh 64 to 104 lb. Two people can stand one up and roll it; nobody should carry one. A full 36 with its rated 2,000 lb of cable is forklift work, with a shaft through the arbor hole or the forks under both flanges from the drum side, and never by the top flange.

Grading is the same as on any nailed reel, but the volume makes it matter more. On a lot of 200, a 10% cull rate is twenty reels the buyer did not want to pay freight on.

• Arbor hole: Okonite's common reusable reels and Southwire's wooden reels use 3 to 3.125 inch holes; a split or oval hole fails the reel
• Staves: count missing and cracked staves; a reel with most of its staves can still carry cable
• Flanges: look for broken outer plies, missing bolts on bolted reels and nails backing out
• Drive and tie-off holes: torn ones are noted, not fatal
• Size consistency: one traverse per lot line