5 Main Uses of Wooden and Plywood Reels

The wooden and plywood reels made at Anderson Forest Products are made-to-order, allowing each customer to specify their exact needs. The top five industries that use wooden and plywood cable reels are:

• Wire and cable manufacturers
• Industrial and elevator cable manufacturers
• Rope manufacturers
• Rubber tubing manufacturers
• Telecommunications manufacturers

We cut the flanges for our reels on CNC routers, making our process highly efficient. This process keeps our costs low and allows us to offer products to customers at a low price. The CNC routers allow us to write a unique program for each product, so our customers can specify exactly what they need. We can change the size and/or location of arbor holes, start holes, and bolt holes on any wooden or plywood reel.

Wooden Reels

Wooden reels are made out of southern yellow pine lumber here at AFP. They typically range from 20” to 96” in diameter. The flange thickness generally ranges from 1 ½” to 3”, but we can produce flanges up to 4” thick. Each stave in the barrel is molded to the correct specifications in our plant.

Wire and cable manufacturers use our wooden reels to facilitate the manufacturing process as well as to package finished products. Multiple strands of wire are needed to produce cables, and each one is stored on its own reel. The reeled wire is fed through a machine that winds the individual strands together and wraps the new, thicker wire around an empty reel. At the end of the production process, the wire is coiled around a wooden reel for transport to the consumer.

Plywood Reels

Plywood reel flanges are made out of either southern yellow pine plywood or Russian birch plywood. The flange thickness can range from 12mm to 24mm. The drum can be made of lumber, plywood, or spiral-wound paper. Paper core diameters can range from 1.5” to 14”, and the wall thickness can vary from 1/10” to 5/8”. We manufacture the paper cores in our plant, allowing us to produce them according to customers’ exact needs.

Plywood reels are commonly used by rope and rubber tubing manufacturers. After rope is braided by machines, it is wrapped around reels for transportation and storage. In a similar way, rubber tubing is coiled around plywood reels after it has been produced. Depending on the size and weight of the rope and rubber tubes, a wooden reel may be preferred over a plywood one.

We pride ourselves on offering the highest quality wood products available, at a competitive price. Whether your company needs reels for fiber optic cable, elevator cable, or anything in between, let Anderson Forest Products provide the solution.

To request a quote for custom-built reels, visit this page to fill out the online form, or give us a call at (800) 489-6778.