Reels for wire, cable, fibre and rope

The product sets the reel, not the other way round

A reel is a drum with two flanges, so the same 36x24x17 could in theory hold almost anything that bends. In practice each product has its own limits. Cable diameter sets how many feet fit. Weight per foot sets how strong the flanges and arbor hole must be. Minimum bend radius sets how small the drum can go. The equipment at the far end, whether a wire cart, a utility reel trailer or a payoff stand, sets the out-to-out width and the arbor hole size.

That is why our first question on any buy enquiry is what goes on it. A rope distributor and a utility crew can both ask for a 48-inch reel and need quite different things. The rope buyer cares about traverse and a smooth drum. The utility crew cares about the arbor hole, the drive holes and whether the flanges will take a full load of medium-voltage cable over rough ground.

Six uses, side by side

The table below is a quick sort. Each row links to its own page with the detail, the questions buyers ask and what to check on a used reel for that product.

Flange ranges are a rough guide to what suits each product, not a rule. Work the footage out from the cable diameter before you settle on a size.

Where the empties come from

Nearly every reel on this site started life full. A wire and cable plant wound it, a distributor or contractor used the cable off it, and the empty was left in a yard. Some of those reels go back to their makers through take-back programs. Many do not qualify. Service Wire's return, for example, accepts only its own labeled nailed wood reels with 30 to 72 inch flanges, in full truckloads, with a sound arbor hole and most staves intact. Reels from other makers, odd sizes and part loads have no return route, and those are the reels a buyer for rope, re-spooling or a second cable run can use.

So the supply side of each use page is the same story told from a different yard. Building-wire reels pile up at electrical distributors and contractors. Big power-cable reels come off utility jobs and substations. Fiber reels stack up behind broadband crews. Wire rope reels come back from crane, rigging and marine work.

Second use is not a lesser use

A reel that has carried one load of cable is often still a working reel. Sonoco says most of the reels in its EcoReel program can be used three or more times. What decides a second trip is condition, not age: a sound arbor hole, flanges without through-cracks, staves that are present and tight, and drive holes that have not been torn out.

Some products are kinder to a reel than others. Synthetic rope is light and soft and will happily ride on a reel that a power-cable buyer would turn down. Steel wire rope and medium-voltage cable are the opposite. A buyer who tells us the product lets us offer reels that are good enough for it without paying for a grade they do not need.

Footage, weight and bend: the three checks before you buy

Our guides cover each check in full, including worked capacity examples and how to measure a reel you already have.

• Footage: use the cable or rope diameter and the reel capacity formula to see whether the length fits with clearance below the flange rim.
• Weight: multiply weight per foot by footage, add the reel, and compare that with what the reel and your lifting gear can carry. A heavy product on a tired reel is how arbor holes split.
• Bend: the drum diameter must be at or above the minimum bend diameter the cable or rope maker gives for that product. If the drum is too small, the reel is wrong, however cheap it is.
• Fit: measure your stand, cart or trailer. Out-to-out width and arbor hole diameter are the two numbers that stop a reel from mounting.

Selling reels by what they carried

If you are selling, tell us what came off the reels. It helps us place them. A lot of 30-inch building-wire reels with clean drums is easy to move to a rope or re-spooling buyer. A lot of 84-inch power-cable reels needs a buyer with the equipment to handle them, and freight on a lot like that is a bigger share of the price.

Send the flange, traverse and drum, the count of each size, a photo of the reel stencil and a photo of the worst reel in the stack. Stand them on their flanges where you can. We quote it whichever way the lot is heading.

Reading a stencil for clues about past service

The reel stencil, painted or burned into one flange, usually names the maker and the size and sometimes a weight, a job number or a cable code. That tells a buyer a good deal. A stencil from a medium-voltage cable maker suggests the reel was built heavy. Lagging nail holes around the flange rims say the same: lagging is fastened over a full reel when it leaves the plant needing extra protection, so its marks point to a reel that once carried something valuable or heavy.

Faded or missing stencils are common on reels that have sat outside for a season. They do not lower the value much on their own; we measure every size anyway. Sun-grey wood, soft spots near the bottom edge and moss on the staves matter more, because they show a reel that stood in wet ground.

Small orders and trailer orders

Each use tends to buy in its own rhythm. A wire rope shop or a theater rigger might want a handful of matched reels at once. A cable recycler re-spooling recovered copper, a fiber subcontractor or a distributor cutting building wire to length is more likely to want a steady supply, the same size again and again. Those buyers save the most by taking a full reel trailer, because freight is paid by the trailer and the per-reel share falls as the count rises.

Mixed loads are possible too. A trailer can carry several sizes if the larger reels go on first and the smaller ones fill the gaps. Tell us the spread you want and we will see whether one lot can cover it, or whether two sellers' stock will need to be combined.

What we do not trade

We buy and sell empty wooden reels only. We do not sell steel or plastic reels, and we do not supply cable, wire or rope. If a product calls for a steel reel, such as duct that its maker ships on its own steel reels, a wooden reel from us is the wrong answer and we will say so.