I bought one on impulse the other day. Anyone have one of have experience with one? I think it can handle 36" in length so I can try making some tiller arms or something.

I didn't even know there was a small winding machine. Who makes it what, where do you buy one,...

I did my winding by hand, which is actually relaxing.

A guy I know was making his own fishing rods and had a machine to do the winding with. Same thing??

It's an entec composites pw series. I bought it from Georgia Tech.

http://www.entec.com/pw.html

You can make a lot more than tiller arms with this. I have seen them used to make composite over wrapped pressure tanks.

I have always ignored these type machines when I see them surplus. I assumed they would be more trouble than than I wanted to deal with. I would like to hear this works for you.

(FYI, I remember reading that one company debugs the winding using nylon)

Ya, it probably is more trouble than its worth. But I would like to figure out how to make at least something with it.

What kind of mandrels do you have with it?

None as far as I can tell, I have not picked it up yet. I figure I will have to turn something on the lathe to make one.

here is a link to it
http://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/auction/view?auc=758694

That looks like a good deal...but, that 480V 3Phase power is going to be tough at the house...do you have 480V somewhere accessible?

That thing looks like it can do a lot of stuff - tons of automation in it.

I have 3-phase, just gonna have to hook it up with a transformer. My dad has a 60kw generator capable of 480v to test it to make sure it powers up.