Should the tip guide be placed first and the others lined up accordingly? Is the hot glue that came with my kit the best to use of should I use two part epoxy?

Gene,
I would use the glue that came with your kit. I have used two part epoxy in the past and melted the tip of the rod while trying to remove the tip guide. You also have to be careful trying to remove a tip that has been glued with epoxy. I have seen the tips come off like bullets when the epoxy heats up.

Gene... I do the tip top first, being very careful to line it up with the spine (marked with masking tape), and I do use the tip top to align the rest of the guides. I have used epoxy and the glue sticks for this, but the jury is out for me on this. I prefer the glue stick hands down. You can use a razor blade to VERY carefully remove the excess glue that inevitably pushes its way out of the tip top. Best, Vance

Gene, With enough force and heat, any glue or epoxy will release the tip guide. :>)
I used to use the hot melt glue, now I use two part epoxy to install the tip guide, which I do before I wrap the other guides. I find it is much easier to spine, align the guide to the spine, and then align the rest of the gude with the tip top guide. The main reason is because my eyes are not what they were when I started rod building, and I am confident that an adequate amount of bonding has taken place. Tip tops will come off in 190 degree water after a few minutes. Dip it in for a few minutes, and check it by gently pulling and twisting until it comes loose.

I was just looking at hot-glue guns at W-M the other day. They had sticks with a LOW-Temp melt of 260'F and a HIGH-Temp melt of 380'F. These are not pure substances, but a a mixture and range of melts, so they can begin to soften & lose adhesion at temps below their melting point. Which is all we need to achieve anyway: soften & loosen.

Has anybody experimented with these glue sticks of known melting points? Or read an oven thermometer placed in the hottest spot in a car that a rod's tip-top is likely to get stuffed - the dashboard or the rear window shelf, on a brutally hot, sunny day. I'm thinking to find the lowest melt point that holds the tip-top under the worst heat exposure, but to use the lowest melt temp hot-glue that will do the job. That should make replacing the tip-top easier and safer on the rod blank.

Water boils at 212'F, and will not get any hotter. (But the bottom of the pot may be >> 212'F because of direct contact with the heating element.). Do most brands of graphite or glass rods tolerate boiling water very well? (I guess a painted blank may not.) -Cliff Hall-.

Glass rods are no problem Cliff. Graphite rods will certainly tolerate 212 degrees; but not a lot more. Heat guns can damage graphite blanks if not used carefully because they put out temperatures much higher than 250 degrees.
I know KatDawg wrecked one; read his post on it.
I believe the epoxies used in graphite construction are good up to (don't quote me-Alzheimer's kickin' in) around 260 degrees???

Putter

Putter - Thanks, buddy. It's the low-temp melt (260'F) first for me. That should get soft enough from boiling water to let go and keep the rod OK.

The water doesn't have to get to boiling point to remove objects from a rod blank. And it would take a long time to ruin any rod blank, glass or graphite. The trick to removing handles, reel seats, etc., from a rod by using hot water is immerse the rod for short periods at a time. Unlike heat from a blow dryer, or direct flame, heating by immersion usually means the same degree of heat aompletely around the rod. Forced air from a blow dryer or direct flame means hot and cold spots. It works for me every time (6x's) and I have been able to use 100% of everything I removed. It doesn't damage cork or the glue holding the cork rings, and it certainly doesn't damage tip guides.
Patrick Vernacchio

I use five minute epoxy for my tip placement. It will still come off using a little heat. Take a strong rubber band and secure one end and use a hook to hold the tip under pressure. Apply a little heat to the tip guide frame. It will pop off the moment it reaches temperature. It wont damage the blank if you increase the temperature slowly.

Good luck

Bruce Young
Landing Gear

I put the tip top on last because I use surgical rubber bands to hold the guides on. No problem lining guides up via the reel seat. I have never had a problem with flexcoat's sticks. Just cut off strips and stuff them in the top tube, heat the tube over a flame and stick it on. If you ever do many repairs, you learn to hate people that epoxy tops on. John Butterfield