Reel

Typically, this is a revolvable flanged device made of wood, metal, cardboard and/or plastic that is used as a containment or storage device with a center usually but not necessarily round) for wrapping. Reels are used for winding flexible metal wire or cable, although some reels may be stationary, with the wire wound onto it by a flying arm. There are many different types and sizes of reels due to different methods used by individual manufacturers, but essentially they all are designed to carry linearly wound materials. Specially designed reels can be used for vulcanizing, enameling, tinning and bunching processes. They are used on multi-wire machines for braiding, drawing and other follow-up manufacturing operations. There is no universal agreement as to what makes a unit a reel instead of a spool, but it is generally understood that the larger sizes for any given product are reels while the smaller sizes are spools. Because of this, a spool for a large-diameter product could be larger than a reel for a smaller-diameter product. Note: reels and spools can also be called bobbins, which are generally understood to be small spools. Bobbins or spools may also be thought of as the reels that orbit around a cable or braided product while the larger unit at the take-up end is the reel.