Belt-Driven Wire Rolling Spool FENCING Miscellaneous 17-4-4 An electrical cable spool and an old steel wagon wheel are at the heart of a giant belt-driven wire roller built by Valley Springs, S. Dak., farmer Carl Palmberg. "I built it in 1974 and I've rolled and unrolled many miles of wire with it since then," says Palmberg, who used all salvaged materials to build it. The wheels and main frame were taken from a portable highway construction sign. The roller is just a standard cable spool. A steel wagon wheel bolts to one side of the spool, acting as a giant pulley. The pto and gearbox were taken from a front unloading manure spreader. Drive pulleys came off an old threshing machine and the discs on either side of the main pulley were taken from a grain drill. The spool holds 3 miles of barbed wire at a time and Palmberg says it will roll or unroll as fast as you can drive. He made a slip clutch for the main drive pulley which is a spring-loaded rectangular-shaped piece of wood held in place by a spring on the side of the pulley. By turning a nut on the end of the spring, he can adjust how fast the wire unrolls when the spool is free-wheeling. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Carl O. Palmberg, Rt. 1, Box 680, Valley Springs, S. Dak. 57068.

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