Anyone got any nifty ideas for storing reels of cable? Ideally you want something that organises them neatly making good use of space, but still making it possible to get at the reel you want without having to "unthread" it from a support rail.
What is wrong with stacked up, one on top of the other?
I use broomsticks cut into suitable lengths, set into a wooden upright fastened the shed wall. Sticks set up at an angle, by drilling a hole of the right diameter into the upright & then hammering the bit of broomstick into the hole. Spaced apart to suit the sizes of drum you're using.
Same way as storing grinding wheels - two round bars, made from the material of your choice, running parallel to the wall, spaced about half the diameter of the reel apart, the back one slightly more than one quarter the diameter of the reel away from the wall. The reels will then stack side by side on the bars. If you want to be able to draw cable off without removing a reel, put the reels on such that the cable draws forwards from the bottom of the reel. They will then usually just rotate in place as you draw the cable off, although a third front retaining bar will make sure that you don't just pull the reel off the rack.
Colin Bignell
On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 05:24:51 +0100, mike mused:
In the shed I've got these things for putting things on called, umm, what were they..... oh yeah, shelves. All my cable is stacked on shelves, and the floor, and in the garage, on shelves, and on the floor. Maybe need more shelves.
We did used to use uni-strut cantilever brackets for sticking reels of cable on, depends how many you've got. That was mainly for singles though, with the twin and earths stacked at the bottom although there's no reason not to I suppose.
Probably a series of in line support axles - one per reel. Should be possible to make with little wasted space, although a deal of work. I've often wondered about this - although for 'electronic' cable where you normally just pull off the reel what's needed and cut it - unlike mains cable where you'd want to take the drum to the work. But being able to either pull off the required length or remove the reel easily would be a boon.
Of course if you never need to take cable off the drum at the storage area, something like a coat peg arrangement would be ideal with no more than two drums per peg.
In message , John Rumm writes
I tend to pull it all off the drums and throw it in a big heap in the middle of the floor.
That is kind of the arrangement I currently have... the downside seems to be that by the time you have two or three reels stacked on a high self in some inaccessible place in the workshop, it is a right PITA to get anything but the top one out for use given the weight of the stack.
nightjar Same way as storing grinding wheels - two round bars, made from the material
Yup, that sounds like a good solution... (I had been thinking of some sort of vee shaped shelf to achieve the same sort of result, but rails under (rather than through) the reels ought to be easier to build).
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