Reel saver

[glen.mason]

Guys, I briefly saw a great product at the Elex this year but for the life of me I can't track them down. There called Reel Savers- you know, they support cable reels from collapsing and then unwinding themselves in the van! Has anyone got a link please?

 

[jase]

Reelsaver

 

[cbw]

I have one of these! Arrived a week ago.

Have used it on a big roll of 10mm T+E and now using it on a little roll of 2.5 single, not sure how long it will last as it is getting a bit of abuse allready!

I had previously tried to buy these from the US but they wouldnt ship small quantities.

I am really pleased with it!!! I have had a good personal service from this company, as had issues over delivery, I think they have sorted this now?

Reminds me I must fill in their customer feedback form!

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[BLBelfast]

What price are they? Couldnt see them on their site

 

[cbw]

I paid £23.49 including delivery and VAT for mine, I am not sure what the final RRP will be as I believe I was part of a trial run!

Using it again today on some 2.5mm2 T+E getting on well with it, as previously stated I do wonder how long it will last the way I abuse stuff!

 

[rocker]

Is it metal or plastic?

 

[pennywise]

ABS plastic. spoke to the guys at the elex show and they said it was easier using injection molding rather than making it out of metal it brings the costs down and it's made in the UK, plus it engineers a life expectancy into the product you don't want the thing lasting forever from a manufacturers point of view.

Mind you if you do brake off a spoke there are a number of small holes surrounding the inner hub, all you would need to do is rip off the other spokes keeping the inner threaded hub and replace the sides with ply then screw them to the hub.

 

[rocker]

Uh huh, but if they made it from metal and cdharged an extra tenner I would probably buy one, but they make it from plastic so I'll probably stick with the '2 bits of wood' method.

 

[pennywise]

Uh huh, but if they made it from metal and cdharged an extra tenner I would probably buy one, but they make it from plastic so I'll probably stick with the '2 bits of wood' method.

I said the exact same thing at the show!!!. I can see it from their point of view though to make something out of metal would bump the price up alot!! maybe £50-£60 at a guess,they are a small privately financed company this may not have been financially viable, plus the price would put off a hell of alot of people, not me mind would love the thing to be made from metal!!. Then again they don't want to just sell you one and that lasts a lifetime. You can go two ways I guess make something which is for the mass market easy to produce cheap and lasts X amount of time before it breaks. The other way is to make something that costs alot to manufacture costs a fortune to buy and lasts a lifetime, then people don't mind spending the extra cash as they know what there paying for. Going form experience within the industry there are more tight fisted sparks out there than you can shake the proverbial stick at so I think they went for the right option in who their target market was.

 

[cbw]

Still not broken mine!

Now rolling around in the van.....................

Will see how long it lasts, as said still very pleased with mine!

Did have those delivery issues though.....

 

[rocker]

Did have those delivery issues though.....

You'll probably find that at this stage they manufacture them to order.

 

[cbw]

They were on the phone and email about the problems with delivery, I believe they actually dispatched 3 seperate items to me!!! Excellent customer service!!!

As said, new company so will have to find which courier is the most reliable!

 

[sparkydude]

£24 for 1 unit ???? That seems a lot of money for a piece of injection moulded plastic. I realise it is a new company and they have overheads, but sureley if they sell them cheaper they will sell more <i would buy them at around the £10-12 mark, but no way for £24.

Nick

 

[cbw]

Not sure I agree with you, nothing worse than trying to pull a run of 2.5mm2T+E through joists when it keeps looping off a busted reel?

Kinks galore..... I feel all said and done it is good value and intend to buy another.



Just to add my families business has allways been injection moulding, mostly vehicle parts and more lately the motorway gantry signs, a mould tool the size required to make these items would be tens of thousands of pounds, even if it were a soft alluminium tool. (Which I doubt as the item is a hard plastic and would quickly kill an ally tool). The piece part as you rightly say would probably be high pence/low pounds, but that is just raw material cost, I still feel it is good value! (If it was my company I would mould them in black as it is easy to colour reground plastic in black, it also does not show up spots or burns)


Oh its all coming back to me as a nightmare......working for dad in the 80s....small run on an item like this, 2 hrs getting the tool in, ages purging the previous plastic through, setting the machine up, running off a couple of hundred items and then changing the tool and plastic all over again....can smell it now!!!!!!!

Mind you I also remember debbie one of the machine operators and a pallet of rubber granuals on a night shift..........................

 

[Reelsaver]

Hi guys
From the point of view of making the product out of metal there are 3 issues.
1. Cost - it would be very expensive.
2. Durability - once the teeth start to get damaged the thing wont work, so you would have an expensive product that DOESN'T last for ever.
3. Functionality - the ABS product pushes together, saving time when working, this is possible because the plastic is flexible - a metal product wouldn't work.

I can honestly say that we have not designed in a life expectancy and we welcome all feedback, including durability, so that we can continue to improve the product.