Extension Cord Reel

Brent Dowell

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Reno NV
So, I've got this shed project reportedly under progress. One of the problems with it is it's pretty far from the house. Regular extensions cords have some significant voltage drop. That means I can't run my little hot dog compressor out there, and the miter saw runs mighty slow.

So I bought a couple 100' 10 gauge extension cords. The problem with those is that they are pretty difficult to wind up and to handle. These kinds of cords aren't cheap, so I really didn't want to just leave them laying out any where getting all beat up.

So I made a little cart for them. Looks like I overestimated the size of the reel I needed, but oh well. But this should do the trick.

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Very good idea. Yes, these days extension cords are quite expensive. I have picked up a few at garage sales as a hedge against inflation. You guys can have yer gold coins, I'm investing in extension cords. :rolleyes:
 
I'm a little late with this reply Brent, but i just
had to say well done on making the cart, it looks
like it will work great. :thumb:
I'd also like to add a word of caution to anyone
who does'nt know, you should always fully unroll
the cord from any extension reel/cart as the cord
can/will heat up and catch fire if left rolled up. :)
 
I'm a little late with this reply Brent, but i just
had to say well done on making the cart, it looks
like it will work great. :thumb:
I'd also like to add a word of caution to anyone
who does'nt know, you should always fully unroll
the cord from any extension reel/cart as the cord
can/will heat up and catch fire if left rolled up. :)



That's interesting. I never knew that :eek:
 
Kevin, I have debated with myself about saying anything. My dad had one of those plastic things you reel your cord up with. One day he was using a 4" grinder and didn't have but maybe half of the cord out, it melted it into a useless pile of plastic! I thought maybe it had become like an electric motor and a winding. Whatever the reason, I don't know how the retractable ones in my shop work as we don't pull all of the cord out everytime yet they have never done that. But I do second Kevin's advice.
 
Very interesting.

I would think that you'd probably have to be overloading the cord a bit, amp wise for it to heat up like that. I.e. using too long and too small of a cord to get that to happen.

Anyway, the main reason I got this cord is sometimes I need to use items far away from the house. I've got several other shorter cords I can use around the shop.
 
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