Abstract: An apparatus for coiling successive lengths of metal strip onto mandrels changes the strip path from a path leading to the mandrel currently being wound to a path to a new mandrel when the current strip ends and a new strip appears. The new mandrel has a mandrel strip guide that includes a chain of driven mandrel guide rollers located around the new mandrel in its initial position to receive the leading edge of a new length of strip and guide it around the mandrel. Adjacent rollers in the chain have interlocking grooves and flanges. Similar chains of rollers are used to guide the strip between the shears and the mandrels. The new mandrel is positioned in an initial position such that the strip path to it is a straight path, and the mandrels are mounted on a carousel which moves that mandrel to a second position such that the strip path to it is an angled path, the first segment of which is common with the first part of the straight strip path.