[SEL] Looking for maypole/whip braiding machine
Richard Allen
linstrum55 at yahoo.com
Fri Jan 7 20:39:16 PST 2005
I have been trying to find a small bench top size maypole-type braiding
machine run by a hand crank or fractional horsepower electric motor.
The so-called maypole braid is what is used for making shoe laces,
braided polypropylene utility rope, braided leather bolo neck ties,
police whistle neck lanyards, key ring lanyards, whips, and other such
items. The braid is round and hollow (shoelaces are flattened by
ironing them), and always composed of even numbers of flat or round
lacing braided under and over each other, not twisted as for rope.
Other examples are the braided steel wire reinforcing for high pressure
hydraulic hoses, the shielding braid on coaxial TV-VCR cable, garden
hose reinforcing, etc. I hope those are enough examples to get across
the idea of what kind of machine I am looking for. The commercial
machines are manufactured by Wardwell and sell for about as much as a
new car and are capable of making miles of braid per day, but I neither
need nor can afford one of those. I know the hand operated ones exist
because one of my childhood neighbors had one for braiding leather
bullwhips. I have done exhaustive Internet searches and have been
looking on eBay and other places for both new and antique machines for
several years and the results I get are rumors that the only places
where they regularly show up is at antique engine/equipment shows. If
anyone runs across the whereabouts of one of these elusive maypole/whip
braiding machines, please email me at:
linstrum55 at yahoo.com
Thanks!
Richard Allen
More information about the sel
mailing list