Wooden Water Hose Reel Cart

I decided I needed a hose reel cart for the garden and decided to make it myself from wood available at home. I keep wood pieces in my shop just in case I need it. I had pieces of cedar that was once a guest bed. I decided to use it because it is lightweight and reasonably resistant to water and weather.

I have some electrical tools at home including a table saw. I was the first time I cut a round part in my table saw and also made a tenon and mortise joint for my wood work piece.

I won´t cover woodworking process because it depends on your skils and your tools availability, but I hope to inspire you in the construction of a similar part and to provide initial inputs.   I benchmarked dimensions of reel-carts in the internet . I dimensioned my cart according to what I thought was best and compatible to the wood pieces I had available. I also used PVC pipe and hose swivel connectors commonly available.

I think the big challenge was to make the holes that support the reel barrel and  making these holes concentric, so the barrel can rotate without problem.  The cart as built can accommodate a 30 meters long garden hose external diam. 17mm.

Check proper dimension of barrel and radial piece to confirm they can accommodate the total hose length required. I benchmarked the commercially available reel carts and decided I would have, flange diam. 380 mm, barrel 200 mm and transverse dim. 250 mm.   

There are some capacity calculators in the internet, you may try it, they are not specifically for hose garden, but it works.. For my reel dimensions they estimate 70 m length capacity. I believe it is because wire cables are tighter when they fit to the industrial reels.  (ref. https://www.copely.com/tools/hose-drum-and-reel-capacity-calculator/)

I joined two wood planks and then cut the discs using my table saw. There are several instructions on how to make a wooden disc.  Find the most suitable one to you. 

It is important that the barrel discs are centralized and that the assembly is not twisted. This will guarantee that the finished barrel will rotate freely.

Align the barrel discs (10) one on top of the other, make sure they are aligned and symmetrical, make reference marks on discs so you may keep track of position and where parts must be assembled.

Fix the radial pieces (11) making sure they are symmetrically opposed. To prevent discs misalignment and guarantee concentricity, use the pvc pipe.

Pass a PVC pipe through the discs and place the spacers between the discs.

 I used elastic bands to position the discs aligned and to equally distribute the spacers.

Support the discs on a flat surface using the radial pieces that should be fixed to the disc. 

Place a spacer piece on the bottom and using a square rule, define the position and the alignment of the upper spacer. Mark the spacer and its disc position. Do this for both sides and all the spacer bars. 

Assemble the cart frame with glue and fix with screw. Check barrel rotation and alignment, make adjustments if possible.   Try out the assembly of hose conectors. Assemble the pvc pipes and swivel connector, use washers as spacers. I also used pvc spacer made from pvc connectors but you may use a cotter pin passing thru the pvc pipe. Finish surfaces by sanding. Paint in your favorite color

Fix pvc connectors and pipes with PVC adhesive. You are ready to go. Congratulations !