REELEX II®

REELEX II is a trademarked term which incorporates both the tube design and the coil itself. REELEX II coils are made by weaving a much larger payout hole into the coil and thus require a larger diameter tube.

This winding method was developed in 1999 to improve payout performance of all products and to increase the bend radius of Category cable. The larger payout hole and tube was found to help significantly with LAN cable signal performance while also smoothing the payout of cables with inherent twisting.

Today it is the most commonly used REELEX package, as it vastly improves payout performance of all products with minimal sacrifice in package size.

REELEX II packages have been used to package many types of products including building wire, fiber optics, and steel cabling, and the package itself is extremely flexible. Because REELEX II packages do not require "cones" like REELEX "I" boxes do, package designs are highly flexible and can include both end-loaded and side-loaded box designs. Boxes packaging coils up to 21-inches in diameter are common, and larger boxes are possible with some large-diameter products such as conduit.

Learn about the NEW Side-Load REELEX II Box Design

REELEX II Specifications
Typical Products Most high-performance LAN cables including Category 5e, Category 6, Category 6A, Categogry 7, Fiber Optics, Conduit, Coaxial Cables
Typical Coil OD Sizes 12" to 21" and larger.
Payout Tubes Round and Diamond-Shaped REELEX II Tubes including the Fiber Tube (RF60)
Payout Hole Size 80+ Degrees
Typical Hole Size Settings (LAN Cables) 385 to 395 (Pre-1999 machines), 335 to 345 (Machines built since 1999)

Coil Adjustments

Hole Size: The hole size setting on all REELEX machines can be adjusted in degrees. The larger the seting, the larger the payout hole, however the coil size will also increase. If the hole size is set too large, the REELEX machine may produce a coil that can collapse or cause the product to slip. The holesize should be chosen so that the machine or operator can easily insert the appropriate payout tube.

Older REELEX machines are capable of producing REELEX II coils by increase the hole size setting above 80 degrees.

On newer machines featuring REELEX II-enabled software, the hole size setting is already offset by 50, so that the hole size in degrees is equal to the setting plus 50. Thus, to create a coil with an actual hole size of 110 degrees, the hole size setting on the machine would be 60, because 50+60 = 110.

Hole Shift: The hole shift setting is the hundred digit of the holesize setting and adjusts the slant of the hole.

For more information and details on these settings and more, please download the REELEX Packaging Guide:

REELEX Packaging Guide

Making a REELEX II Coil

REELEX II coils feature payout holes up to 4-inches/101mm in diameter, and can be produced by all modern REELEX machines.

However, most REELEX machines produced since 1999 have upgraded software in which the hole size setting is offset by 50.

To produce REELEX II coils using old software, typical hole settings are:

A “99” hole size setting will produce the largest possible hole on this software. If a larger hole is required, a software upgrade is needed.

To produce REELEX II coils on machines built since 1999, typical hole settings are:

Keep in mind a hole setting of 340 using the new software will produce a coil with a 90-degree hole, because 50 (the software offset) added to 40 (the setting inputted into the machine) will equal 90.

REELEX II Assembly (Top Loaded Example)

Other methods and examples are described in the REELEX Packaging Guide.

REELEX Packaging Guide