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Perfect $10 spring

I needed a way to control the lash of 3 flat wires being fed from dancer controlled, power fed 250 lb. spools into a machine that jerks 3" at a time. I tried different ways of taking the inertia out of the wire to keep the feed queue smooth and low tension and have even posted a man on the infeed. Today I had an inspiration, walked out to the van and retrieved the perfect solution...a FISHING ROD!!! The wire now loops through a bearing race tied to the rod tip with "Spider Wire". I did stop at Wally World and picked up a $10 rod to replace my $120 MW Pike rod. Now I'm looking for a mannequin hand to permanently use for a rod mount. I may have to buy a bunch of rods and field test them for a few years before I put them into service in the plant. This will forever quell the" "What do you need ANOTHER fishing rod for?" Which sounds just like: "What do you need ANOTHER gun for?"

Reply to
Tom Gardner
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Do you remember the old vacuum column tape transports of computers gone by? They worked by using sensors to keep a loop of tape free of tension between the two spools.

Also the mechanical solution you have is pretty elegant-look into those curved fiberglass strips they use to hold reflectors between the highway that look like venetian blind slats and the fiberglass rods they sell in home depot to mark driveways for the snowplows.

Reply to
bamboo

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