Review on Woods 22849 Metal Extension Cord Reel Stand: Black Heavy Duty Design, Snap Together for Durability. Holds up to 100ft, 14/3 Gauge Cord. by James Naylor

My previous cable spool was the ubiquitous orange plastic. My K-100 is molded from plastic. The handle on him broke as he fell about four feet to the concrete floor. I was looking for something nicer. As many reviewers point out, the tube on the stand for this product is metal (presumably stiff and strong enough for a simple task), but the spool, cable clips, and turning knob are all plastic. . While the plastic seems up to the task, by direct comparison the spool side plastic feels a bit more flexible and not more durable than my orange spool. Capacitance varies by brand (not all 14/3 cables have the same outer dimensions). My cable is 100' brand Romex (yellow jacket) 14/3. It fits my orange spool with some space. On this Woods 22849, the spool edges are a bit further apart, but the spool OD is slightly smaller than the orange one. When I spooled the Romex I had about as much free space as the orange spool. I was maybe a bit sloppy connecting the cable so if I did better there would be more room. If you're calibrated for orange drums, I suggest that you plan on about the same overall capacity for that drum, just wider and less deep. My cable worked fine. I like that there's a second one, so if I break the first one I still have something. For the first time on a spool of cable, I'm following the advice of many reviewers here to fold the cable in half, secure the center point on the spool and roll up so you have both ends available and only unwind what you need. It works out. However, all people who promote this method should warn you: THIS IS FORBIDDEN BY THE MANUFACTURER. Both the orange K-100 reel and this Woods 22849 have instructions on the side stating that the cable must be unwound to its full length before use. The reason is security. thermal mechanism. For ANY extension cord, not extending it means that the heating of the conductor by the load current interacting with the resistance of the conductor makes it hotter since the heat has a worse escape route. This in turn reduces the maximum safe current. Since I feed a humble trimmer that works intermittently, I think I'm safe. If you use a heater or other device that uses a lot of energy, do not use it. If in doubt, touch the folded cable after your device has been running for a while. If it gets noticeably hot, be careful.