54 inch flange cable reels

What a 54 looks like in the published tables

Okonite is the main published source for 54s. Its 2016 reel table lists the 54x32x26 in a lighter build, 36.5 inches out-to-out and 164 lb, rated for about 3,000 lb of cable, and a heavier build, 38 inches out-to-out and 234 lb, rated for about 6,500 lb. Its 2002 bulletin names the 54x32x26 as one of the five reusable reels it bought most in 1999, as a Class 1 reel with a 3 inch arbor hole, 37 inches out-to-out and 164 lb.

Anixter's NEMA table uses a 54x32x24. Sonoco's packing guide lists a 54 inch reel with values of 32 and 36 inches; since its other rows match flange x traverse x drum order, we read it as a 54x32x36, a large-drum version. Southwire and Superior Essex do not print a 54; their nearest sizes are 50 to 52 inches and 58 inches.

Three inches of clearance, and what it costs

Anixter's version of the NEMA WC 26 formula is Footage = 0.262 x T x (H - C) x (D + H - C) / d squared. H is half of flange minus drum; C is the clearance between the last wrap and the flange rim. The handbook's table uses 1 inch for 16 to 28 inch flanges, 2 inches for 30 to 48, and 3 inches for 54 to 96. So the 54 is the first size on our chart figured with the bigger margin.

On a 54x32x26, H is 14. With 3 inches of clearance, H - C is 11 and D + H - C is 37, so 0.262 x 32 x 11 x 37 gives about 3,412 ft of 1 inch cable. Had the table kept 2 inches, the same reel would show about 3,823 ft. The extra inch costs about 11% of the reel's rated footage. It is there because a heavier, bigger reel flexes more in handling, and cable wound to the rim gets crushed when the reel is dropped or rolled over a curb.

The drum matters too. Anixter's 54x32x24, with a drum 2 inches smaller, holds 3,622 ft of 1 inch cable, about 6% more than the 54x32x26. Sonoco's large-drum 54x32x36 holds only about 2,113 ft, but bends the cable much more gently. All of these figures are approximate.

Medium-voltage cable and the 26 inch drum

A 54 is often the first reel big enough for medium-voltage power cable. Under the NEMA minimum drum multiples in Anixter's Table 10.1, tape shielded cable needs a drum 14 to 20 times its diameter, so a 26 inch drum takes tape shielded cable of about 1.3 to 1.85 inches. Lead sheathed and corrugated sheath cable at 14 times also stops near 1.85 inches. Nonshielded cable at 10 times goes up to 2.6 inches.

That covers a lot of single-conductor 15 kV and 25 kV underground distribution cable, the cable utilities and their contractors pull through conduit to pad-mounted transformers in new subdivisions and commercial sites. It also covers heavy 600 volt copper feeders on industrial work. Weight decides which build: 2,000 ft of a heavy copper MV cable can pass 3,000 lb, so the light 54x32x26 would be overloaded, and the 6,500 lb build is the one to ask for.

Who ends up holding empty 54s

Underground distribution work produces most of them. A housing developer's site contractor, a utility's URD crew or a directional-boring subcontractor pulls cable off a 54 into conduit, and the empty reel is left at the staging area until someone deals with it. Industrial maintenance outages, hospital and campus feeder replacements, and pump station upgrades leave a few more. Because these reels come from several cable makers over a year, the pile is mixed, and a manufacturer's take-back that accepts only its own labelled reels clears only part of it.

The people who want a 54 are mostly respooling. An electrical contractor recovers several hundred feet of unused MV cable after a job and needs a sound reel to put it on so it can be stored or resold. A salvage crew winding old conductor for the scrap yard needs a reel that will survive a forklift. A cable plant with a short run may take graded reels for refurbishing. We match the two by size, build and distance.

Sixty to a van

Sonoco's guide puts 60 of its 54 inch reels in a 53 ft van, the same count as its 50 inch reel and down from 100 at 48 inches. A 54 standing on its flanges is four and a half feet tall, so a second tier is out in most vans and the count comes from rows on the floor, flanges nested.

If those 60 reels weighed what Okonite's 54x32x26 builds weigh, the load would be about 9,800 to 14,000 lb, empty. At this size a trailer of a single size is still the cheapest freight per reel, but a flatbed starts to make sense when the reels are going to a site with a forklift and no dock, because a flatbed can be unloaded from the side.

Lifting a 54

A 54 is past what any crew should move by hand. Empty, it is 164 to 234 lb and over four feet tall; rolled carelessly it can tip and land on someone. Anixter's handling notes call for storing and shipping reels upright on both flanges and hoisting with a shaft through both flanges, never lifting by the top flange. Corning adds that a forklift should never pick up a reel from its tail-flange side. Full, a 54 with 6,500 lb of cable is a job for a forklift with matching capacity or a reel trailer with a hydraulic lift.

MIL-DTL-12000, the military spec for cable packaging, asks for the arbor hole in wood and plywood non-returnable reels to be reinforced with a metal bushing or plate once gross weight reaches 2,500 lb. A full heavy-build 54 is well past that, so look for the bushing when you grade one.

Grading a used 54

• Build: measure flange thickness and weigh one if the class is not stenciled; buyers pay for the 6,500 lb build only if they can confirm it
• Arbor hole: round, unsplit, bushing or plate in place if it had one
• Staves: count missing and broken staves on the drum
• Flange: look for cracks from the arbor hole toward the rim, the common break when a full reel was dropped
• Drive holes and tie-off hole: note any torn out
• Lagging nails: pull any left in the flange rim from the full-reel lagging