Down and Dirty Power Chord Reel

Intro: Down and Dirty Power Chord Reel

When it came time to fix a bad breaker button on my power chord reel I decided I would prefer a larger reel.  Functionality was important.  Looks was not.  I managed to build a monster sized power reel that can hold hundreds of feet of chord with wheels from stuff I had around the shop.  It ain't purdee but it works!

STEP 1:

The first thing I made was the frame for the reel.  I used a couple of pieces of 2x6 put together with lag bolts.  For the reel axle I found some 3/4" pipe.  I cut a long piece, around two feet, and another about six inches.  I connected them with an elbow and mounted them on the frame with lag bolts.  The vertical piece gives strength to the axle.  The wheels I found were quite handy.  I mounted them on the bottom of the frame and then screwed a cross piece for stability.  Finally I mounted a handle using a couple of lag bolts.  The handle came from an old generator.

STEP 2:

To make the reel I made a hub out of some plywood and a couple of squares of 2x6.  I cut holes in the centers of the 2x6 squares and screwed pieces of plywood to them.  I left an inset on the front of the hub for electrical chord access.  I cut two larger pieces of plywood about 20" square for the sides.  I simply cut a hole in the center of one and mounted it over the hole in the back of the hub.  I cut a square section out of the other side to work over the inset of the hub.  I screwed the sides down, staggering the corners so they would hold the chord on the reel.

To mount the reel on the frame I simply put a couple of rubber washers I had on hand on the axle, slipped the reel on and put two more rubber washers.  I hole through the end of the axle holds a nail that serves as a pin.  I also drilled a hole through the bottom of the pipe elbow and inserted a pin so it would not sway back and forth.

Rather than going to the trouble of wiring in a plug I decided just to install a power strip.  I drilled a hole through the hub for the plug and mounted the strip on the side of the reel.  I made a turn handle from part of an old paint roller, an eye bolt and a couple of nuts. The last thing I did was screw down a hook on the base to route chord to the reel.

STEP 3:

With our not so pretty but very usable chord dolly finished we rounded up our hundred foot chords and spooled them on there.  Should come in handy very soon!

Comments

[Reffner]

Great job. I have a few really long cords I'm gonna use this for. Oh, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? I think it looks good and would fit right in with my workshop! Thanks for posting this.

[TheLandYacht]

No no no...beauty is in the eye of the BEER holder!

[trailerparkscholar]

Your welcome, glad I could give some ideas.

[Phil B]

This is pretty heavy duty, but if you have 100' cords that is appropriate. Well done! I wanted to give you a rating, but that feature does not appear to be available right now. I will try to come back later and do that.

[trailerparkscholar]

Thanks. I have several long chords so I needed the big reel. My small one was overloaded with one hundred foot chord.