I recently purchased this retractable air compressor cable reel:
Sixty bucks is more than I wanted to spend, but it's a lot easier than manually winding the cable up each time. And since it's easier to deal with the cable, I find myself blowing the room clean much more often. I also like that it's wall-mounted, saving me some precious floor space in my tiny shop room.
However, if I had a little more floor space and had seen this video first, I might've been tempted to try to make this:
You reckon it's fully DIY? I was impressed at how clean the opening in the side of the bucket is; if the guy who made it has got good hands, it's possible he could've done it with a hole saw and a jigsaw, but I can't believe how clean it looks.
I poked around a bit to see if there was a comparable commercial product, but only found this one, for extension cords:
All I know about the guy who made the bucket-based air compressor cable reel is that his name is Joshua. He mentioned he'd post a subsequent video showing how he made it, but that was back in January of 2014 and it never materialized. He did, however, offer this in his comments under the video:
To be honest…its just a couple of circles with a support in the middle, Lazy Susan and bucket.
I used a battery drill and a 3/8 to 1/4 Hex adapter. But you could offset a knob from the center and be able to wind it up manually.
9" Lazy Susan bearing, 3 plywood circles. The bottom one being a snug tight [fit] and the other 2 having a 1/8" clearance all the way around. You will need a shaft going down the middle. Notch out a 5 gallon bucket. Drill a 3/8 hole in a piece of steel and file the hole square. Took about an hour to make the first one and 30 minutes for the last couple that I have made. I have them on extension cords and air hoses and they work great.
