Bungee Reels

I'm currently putting togeher the shopping list for parts for bungee
reels, and have a couple of questions for anyone who has experience of
same.

Firstly, I have two choices of bungee cord - 3/8" and 1/4". The 1/4"
is much more elastic than the 3/8". Which is likely to be the better
suited?

Secondly, the conductors. I've seen mention of phone wire, and
microphone wire. It sounds like phone wire is not capable of taking
the amount of abuse it's likely to suffer in use, and the best
microphone wire I've found so far is still rather stiff. The best
option therefore would seem to be reel cable, which the Fencing Post
lists as 20 metres in length and about the same price as microphone
cable would be. Is there any good reason why reel cable wouldn't be
well suited to bungee reels?

Thanks all

I made 2 set of bungee reels for our club this past April and here is what I
did and used.

"Spiggy Topes" <noway@jose.ca> wrote in message
news:tf4prv0trfe09kn40qg04sdiqfqscm1adm@4ax.com...
> I'm currently putting togeher the shopping list for parts for bungee
> reels, and have a couple of questions for anyone who has experience of
> same.
>
> Firstly, I have two choices of bungee cord - 3/8" and 1/4". The 1/4"
> is much more elastic than the 3/8". Which is likely to be the better
> suited?

What I made were floor reels because we rent a school gym and we can not
leave our equipment set up.

I used the 3/8" because it appeared to be better able to withstand the
pounding.

>
> Secondly, the conductors. I've seen mention of phone wire, and
> microphone wire. It sounds like phone wire is not capable of taking
> the amount of abuse it's likely to suffer in use, and the best
> microphone wire I've found so far is still rather stiff. The best
> option therefore would seem to be reel cable, which the Fencing Post
> lists as 20 metres in length and about the same price as microphone
> cable would be. Is there any good reason why reel cable wouldn't be
> well suited to bungee reels?

I went cheep on the wire. I thought about reel cable and then saw the price
and decided, not. What I did use was standard 50', 18 guage 3 conductor
shop extension cord. 2, 50' extension cord were less than $10 each. Cut
off the ends and fit the plug and socket on each end and so far I have had
no problems with either set. The bigist expense doing it this way is the
plugs and sockets. We had 2 spare sets of old chalenger reel cords and a
couple of spare plugs and sockets I could canablize so that droped the price
way down.

Having some of the more expensive items on hand (the plugs and sockets), and
getting the bungee cord at half price, both set of reels only cost about
$150 total.

>
> Thanks all

Spiggy Topes <noway@jose.ca> wrote

>
> Firstly, I have two choices of bungee cord - 3/8" and 1/4". The 1/4"
> is much more elastic than the 3/8". Which is likely to be the better
> suited?

Our club has one system ( bought from Triplette ) which uses the
former and another we made ourselves which uses the latter...in fact
it may actually be slimmer than 3/8". Both work pretty much alike and
have held up to wear about the same. The only job the bungee does is
pull back a pulley and a bit of wire toward the end of the strip when
you retreat. Not a really tight-spec task.

Now, the lighter-pull cord would probably be less likely to need a lot
of anchoring. Apart from that, six of one, a half dozen of the other.





> Secondly, the conductors. I've seen mention of phone wire, and
> microphone wire. It sounds like phone wire is not capable of taking
> the amount of abuse it's likely to suffer in use, and the best
> microphone wire I've found so far is still rather stiff. The best
> option therefore would seem to be reel cable, which the Fencing Post
> lists as 20 metres in length and about the same price as microphone
> cable would be. Is there any good reason why reel cable wouldn't be
> well suited to bungee reels?

We've tried just about every sort of wire available at Home Depot and
such like stores. None has held a candle to reel cord for durability
and reliability. Despite the expense I'd recommend you go with that.
Fewer headaches that way.

Sounds good to me - the 1/4" is 49c CDN per foot, which I guess comes
to less than $25 per strip, $55 for the cable, $20 for pulleys and
suction cups, and $105 for the terminators for both cables (that
strikes me as pretty obscene, by the way - I guess the gold plate must
have worn off all the ones I've ever seen). So just over $200 CDN for
both ends - two strips for the price of one cheap Favero reel. Sounds
too good to be true... Am I missing something?


On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 17:59:06 -0600, David Neevel <neevel@execpc.com>
wrote:

>I'd lean towards the 1/4" bungee cord myself-- the greater elasticity is
>preferable, and it'll stay in the pully-tracks
>better.
>Phone cable is better than you might think at holding up to the stressed
>involved, but you are correct that it will
>need to be replaced more often that wire designed for use in reels. The
>cheif advantage is that it's very cheap and
>readily available. Cable designed for use in reels would be the ideal. The
>key thing you are looking for is cable with
>a non-conductive core strand (such as the nylon in the braided
>Prieur-style wire, or the kevlar in the Uhlmann/Allstar cable)
>that takes the tension instead of the conductors themselves.
>
> -Dave
>
>Spiggy Topes wrote:
>
>> I'm currently putting togeher the shopping list for parts for bungee
>> reels, and have a couple of questions for anyone who has experience of
>> same.
>>
>> Firstly, I have two choices of bungee cord - 3/8" and 1/4". The 1/4"
>> is much more elastic than the 3/8". Which is likely to be the better
>> suited?
>>
>> Secondly, the conductors. I've seen mention of phone wire, and
>> microphone wire. It sounds like phone wire is not capable of taking
>> the amount of abuse it's likely to suffer in use, and the best
>> microphone wire I've found so far is still rather stiff. The best
>> option therefore would seem to be reel cable, which the Fencing Post
>> lists as 20 metres in length and about the same price as microphone
>> cable would be. Is there any good reason why reel cable wouldn't be
>> well suited to bungee reels?
>>
>> Thanks all

In article <3FC29B4A.BBB23E54@execpc.com>, David Neevel <neevel@execpc.com>
writes:

>I'd lean towards the 1/4" bungee cord myself-- the greater elasticity is
>preferable, and it'll stay in the pully-tracks

We have been using even smaller at the Boston FC and it is holding up well.
Besides, it is cheaper. So even if it doesn't last as long it may still be cost
effective.

I think ours is 3/16" if not 1/8".

Bill Hall

In article <5f56svgb13tvdrn0d4sl0l2dbrppp6svrl@4ax.com>, Spiggy Topes
<noway@jose.ca> writes:

> Am I missing something?

No, bungee systems work well in permanent locations, not as well where they are
set up and taken down every time you fence.

The Boston Fencing Club has 14 bungee setups in its Waltham location for two
plus years.

The USFA New England Division uses reels and has a whole strip in a 21 inch
wheelie suitcase. SG-12 machine (in its own case), two Uhlmann reels (one
upside down) and two floor cords. This is much better where you have to set up
and take down every time you fence.

Bill Hall

Spiggy Topes <noway@jose.ca> wrote

> $105 for the terminators for both cables (that
> strikes me as pretty obscene, by the way - I guess the gold plate must
> have worn off all the ones I've ever seen).

In a pinch you can use epee sockets to rig up the connections. Much cheaper
( albeit not as pretty and takes a bit more work to assemble ).

In article <dc7987e.0311251908.3d2651b3@posting.google.com> ,
trebuchet30303@yahoo.com (William Marshal) writes:

>In a pinch you can use epee sockets to rig up the connections. Much cheaper
>( albeit not as pretty and takes a bit more work to assemble ).

If you use Epee sockets, remember that the A line is shorted to the bracket.

Bill Hall