Pallet wrapper

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My daughter came in today to help wrap pallets. I walked into the office just in time to over hear the conversation about how hot wrapping makes her fingers... even with gloves. Then the wish of wouldn't it be nice if they made something for holding the wrap. I know they do sell such devices... it's called a pallet wrapper... but I've never bought one.  So out to the shop I went and whipped up a quick homemade version. Quick plama cut shape, some 1.25" EMT, and done.Now the pallets are done. The only thing it needs is possibly something to provide some drag resistance to allow better film stretch.Not much of a project... but maybe someone can use the idea. Attached Images
Reply:Nice job, some foam bike tape can help on the handle. Never personally liked the store bought ones myself. I always simply held the roll in my hands and adjusted tension that way. If your hands are getting hot, you are holding the roll too tight. My biggest problem was getting dizzy going round and round to get things wrapped. My biggest gripe with shrink wrap was the people who didn't take care of the rolls. Drop one and ding up a corner or have one go rolling down the parking lot and they'd never wrap right again it seemed unless the damaged area was removed.I used to get the "trashed" ones and cut them up at home for personal use. 6" wide rolls make a great way to wrap steel and lumber on a rack for transport.When I did concrete, we used to use shrink wrap to "tie" up bushes and shrubs to get them out of our way. You can make most "soft" bushes 10 x smaller using shrink wrap and as long as you don't keep them wrapped up forever, it doesn't hurt the plants much at all. Also makes a great "masking" for hard to mask items like decorative columns, stone piers and so on.We also used it to shrink wrap the boss's 14 year old nephew in a wheel barrow one day on a job when he got to cocky.  Rolled him out front and left his sitting in the shade on the front lawn for about 30 minutes waiting for the concrete truck to arrive... Don't pi$$ off the boss, even if he is your uncle...    .No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWNice job, some foam bike tape can help on the handle. Never personally liked the store bought ones myself. I always simply held the roll in my hands and adjusted tension that way. If your hands are getting hot, you are holding the roll too tight. My biggest problem was getting dizzy going round and round to get things wrapped.
Reply:If I was going to make a wrapper, I'd do one of the nice turn tables. Sit the pallet on the table and spin the pallet while holding the wrap. Probably wouldn't be too hard to do with a few heavy duty swivel casters to support the weight and a center pivot.Nice to hear you are getting your daughter involved. I think it's great for kids to learn where money actually comes from and what it takes to earn a living. They certainly aren't learning that in school these days.Last edited by DSW; 08-07-2012 at 08:48 PM..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWIf I was going to make a wrapper, I'd do one of the nice turn tables. Sit the pallet on the table and spin the pallet while holding the wrap. Probably wouldn't be too hard to do with a few heavy duty swivel casters to support the weight and a center pivot.Nice to hear you are getting your daughter involved. I think it's great for kids to learn where money actually comes from and what it takes to earn a living. They certainly aren't learning that in school these days.
Reply:kind of looks like a paper towel holder
Reply:Shrink wrap can be a great tool for a practical joke. A friend left his jeep in the parking lot one night to go riding with a girl. I happened to have a large roll of shrink wrap that got left on my trailer. Me and three other guys shrink wrapped his jeep from front to back top to bottom and all the way around it several times. Took about 20 min to wrap it completely. Even had a police officer pull up and watch. He said he wasnt going to ask why, just make sure the shrink wrap found its way to the trash when the guy cut his jeep out. The look on my buddies face when he pulled up was priceless. Especially since he was in a hurry to continue on to a meeting place with the female he had been riding with.Making as much progress as a one legged duck in the middle of a pond, just going in circles.
Reply:Worked on the tension system today. First I cut some disks from some polycarbonate scrap.  Then I trued them up on the lathe mounted to a simple mandrel. Turned the center hub both right and left so I'd have two mirrored parts. One for the top and another for the bottom. Bored the bottom part to 1.5" and relieved it to clear the weld. Bore a relief into the top part to keep the handle centered. Turned a quick threaded bushing for the end of the tube. More pictures to come... Attached Images
Reply:Tig welded the bushing onto the tube. Turned the shoulder back on the handle because the thread was just too short. Originally I had planned on using a spring and bolt to provide tension but while I was installing the spring arrangement... I noticed the grinder handle sitting under the bench... so it was sacrificed (not really... I have a half dozen floating around). Now the wrapper is starting to look like one of the commercial units. Works good. You can adjust the tension while wrapping and can get a good healthy stretch without a problem. Attached Images
Reply:I liked the handle on the tension side of the wrapper... I decided to finish the wrapper with a second handle. The second handle did the trick. The wrapper works great. Now I just need to see how my daughter likes it... Pic1: Turn bushing, drill and tap.Pic2: Flipped bushing around and faced it.Pic3: Tig welded the bushing to the tube.Pic4: Wrapper version 3.0... ready for work.  Attached Images
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWIf I was going to make a wrapper, I'd do one of the nice turn tables. Sit the pallet on the table and spin the pallet while holding the wrap. Probably wouldn't be too hard to do with a few heavy duty swivel casters to support the weight and a center pivot.
Reply:My girlfriend has asked me to build one for her job.I was wondering how much yours weighs,and whatadvantage there is to that design,as opposed to asimple shaft with grips on either side of the roll.Miller a/c-d/c Thunderbolt XLMillermatic 180 Purox O/ASmith Littletorch O/AHobart Champion Elite
Reply:Originally Posted by jpump5My girlfriend has asked me to build one for her job.I was wondering how much yours weighs,and whatadvantage there is to that design,as opposed to asimple shaft with grips on either side of the roll.
Reply:Originally Posted by jpump5I was wondering how much yours weighs...
Reply:I was going to suggest the spring plate tension idea but you got there first, (not just another pretty face). You know what they say nessesity makes for a mother of an invention.Miller thunderbolt 250Decastar 135ERecovering tool-o-holic ESAB OAI have been interested or involved in Electrical, Fire Alarm, Auto, Marine, Welding, Electronics ETC to name a just a few. So YES you can own too many tools.
Reply:Speaking of pallet shrink wrapping (your build is a good one), I need to build a bale wrapper for bales that have rotted, or the string has been cut by rats/rotted.  Have a stack of napkins with the blueprints on them, and the final design is in the works.Keep up the great posts"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Originally Posted by farmersammSpeaking of pallet shrink wrapping (your build is a good one), I need to build a bale wrapper for bales that have rotted, or the string has been cut by rats/rotted.  Have a stack of napkins with the blueprints on them, and the final design is in the works.
Reply:My approach is to keep the bale stationary while wrapping it with string.  Bale on the loader, and wrapper on the ground.  Rotating arm around the bale with needle feeding the string.I felt this would be better because by the time the bales need to be re-wrapped they've partially disintegrated, or can't be moved because they'll fall apart.  Spinning the bale would maybe be a real disaster.Need to be hand operated, and with enough punch to wrap around hanging rotted hay on the bottom of the bale.What are your thoughts?"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Originally Posted by farmersammNeed to be hand operated, and with enough punch to wrap around hanging rotted hay on the bottom of the bale.What are your thoughts?
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWNice job, some foam bike tape can help on the handle. Never personally liked the store bought ones myself. I always simply held the roll in my hands and adjusted tension that way. If your hands are getting hot, you are holding the roll too tight. My biggest problem was getting dizzy going round and round to get things wrapped.  ....