Is there any easy to line up guides like a jig our something?

If there is, I haven't dreamed one up. I've tried thread, chalk lines, tape, etc. They all work to get an initial location but for me there is always some tweaking to do. The key to a good line up for me is before taping on guides, make sure the tip is exactly where it needs to be. Perfectly level with the reel seat.

When all the guides are wrapped, sight it down using the reel seat and tip like rifle sights and shift any guides a little, sight down the rod, repeat as neccessary. I've had terrific line up with just one shift and I've also spent a couple of hours to get a rod just right.

LOL yes i fell you i am good at lineing them up.But was just wondering if there was a 100% accurate way?

Outside of pure luck, I don't think so John. The closest way I can think of to do it is to mark top dead center of the blank and then tape glue the guides to that mark.

I've done it with tape and tubing, but there's always at least one guide that needs at least a bump over once the wrapping is done to get them perfectly lined up.

One of the first things every person has done on getting one of my rods is hold it out at arms length and sight down the guides, even the people who know nothing about rods. If just one is off, it's visible even to a kid and not acceptable.

Hello. I had the same problem and recently thought up a way that has worked for me and is pretty much fool proof. I bought a wooden dowel thats about 8.5 feet long and the width of the smallest guide. I wrap the first guide nearest the tip top and the last guide nearest the grip. Then I line the guides up on the dowel and put the dowel through the first and last guide and then tape the remainder of the guides in place and they come out perfectly straight every time. Sounds more of pain than it really is. Just a suggestion.

I could see where the dowel would work perfectly as long as all of the guides are the same size. And the dowel has no warp. Heck, I can't buy a 8' 2x4 without some warp being involved!

It does warp but it's towards the blank and hasn't seemed the cause me any problems. It might be more of a pain than it's worth, but it works for me and they've been coming out straight thus far. You could even get a shorter dowel, say a foot or two and work from top to bottom.

Ryan, how do you attach the guides after you dowel them?

There are two theories about where the guides should be.
The first that the guides should be straight relative to each other regardless of how straight the blank is. If you subscribe to this approach then sighting directly down the guides to insure that they form a straight line relative to each other is probably the best approach.
The second suggests that the guides should be directly on top of the blank, in the case of casting guides, bottom with spinning guides. If there is some amount of crookedness in the blank, and I think that there almost always is,then the guides will not necessarily appear to be perfectly straight when sighting down the guides. To allign the guides so that they are straight relative to the blank, not necessarily straight relative to each other, I sight down the blank with a good light behind the blank and see that there is an equal amount of light on each side of the blank while looking through the guides. Using this approach all of the guides will be directly on top or bottom of the blank regardless of how the blank may curve.
I think that you can make an argument for either approach but personally I prefer the second. It seems to me that there is less stress on the blank while under a load using the second approach, particularly if the blank is not very straight.

I got an early Christmas present that I'm playing with. It's a Ryobi air grip laser level (ELL0001). I got this gift for helping out with various projects (most of which needed "alignment"). This laser level projects a sharp vertical or horizontal beam - rather than a "dot" like most laser levels. I got it last night, loaded the batteries in it and thought "gee I wonder what I can check with this". Took it downstairs to the shop and checked a rod that was turning/drying. I used the same method that Emory describes above (50/50 or one-half the guide visible on either side of the blank) to set the guides on this rod. I was amazed that the guides were almost perfect. In sighting down the rod (rifleman's approach) there was no way to see the slight variation on one guide (4-th from the tiptop). So, I guess I'll use the new laser toy as a "final check" but Emory's way works just fine.

If you take the second approach you can mount the guides so that they are straight relative to each other AND straight relative to the blank, assuming that there is only one curve in the blank. That is to ignore the spine and mount the guides so that they are on top of the curve in the blank. I hope that I said that clearly. I am not always the best person in the world at explaining things.

Ken,
If you were given a laser allignment device as a present after all of the remodeling you have done recently I am very suspicious that everything is not exactly square in your shop.
I guess that I am going to have to buy one of the lasers levels. I bought a laser to use in making resonant frequency measurements but the little bugger eats batteries.

Ken, congrats on a really cool toy!

I tried laser alignment on guides before but I couldn't get past the comedy of a guy in a weaver stance aiming his pistol down a fishing rod.

Emory, I get what you are saying. I'm a visual guy. If I can't see it, it's hard for me to learn or explain. On straight rods I go with spine. On curved rods, I usually go with "what gives me the straight lines", unless the guy really knows what a spine is and doesn't care.

As an old saying goes, (which I truly hate and do not like to follow, even though it is true) perception is reality.

In a straight rod, it's easy to see. In a crooked rod, you notice that the guides don't line up... because the rod is warped. Many times, a crooked rod reflects on the buider. Not fair, but true.

Hey gents, it seem that your making a mountian out of a mole hill, the answer to all of your prolbems is a lazer, you can pick one up at any home depot or your friend hardwear store, take it out of the level, mount it on your power wrapper and whem you are finished wrapping take a peice of paper set it behind the last guide and site thru your guides. the light wont lie and the guides will be straight and in line.

tom gratton/rainbow rods

The slickest tool this poor ole prairie boy (or technologically challenged guy) has found to help with this task is an old junk reel. Cut the foot of the reel off, leaving a bit of it sticking up past the reel seat and use any/all of the above suggestions along with this inexpensive laser/gunsight to help with the alignment.
The tiptop must be in alignment with the reel seat!!!

Putter
Williston, ND

Mick,
I agree with you. Unfortunately most blanks will have a little bend and if you put the guides on the spine, the spine and the curve in a blank almost never are the same. It also naturally depends somewhat on how strong the spine is and what type of rod you are building but I tend to compromise on the spine to get the guides alligned well. I know though that others take the opposite approach.
If you have a blank that bends in two different directions, and I have some that do, there is no way to win. It is going to look like %@#&* whatever you do.

Randy,
I use an old reel as well.

Tom,
A laser will help in alligning the guides relative to each other. It is useless in alligning the guides relative to the blank except possibly as a starting point.

Well i posted because i was trying to find out and easy way.I've head of a V shared jig you can press the rod down in to with the guides lineing up by them self.

Exactly Emory!

A blank where the spine is the same as the bend is a rarity. And now I live in a world full of rednecks that think that shoving their fist down a catfish's throat and pulling them into the boat is good sport! These are the same guys who complain that their rod isn't "aligned" properly. I need to go back home... LOL

Compromise is a term that I hate, but have to live with. I've always said that you can teach a horse to play a banjo, but that doesn't mean he'll be any good at it.

Playing with what looks good and what is effective is a nasty discussion.

Some years ago I bought a laser alignment tool accessory for my lathe. After using the tool I still found myself eyeballing the alignment afterwards. I guess I never came to trust the tool's results, and I was doing the checks again via eyeball. After a few weeks of this I removed the laser and continue to this day doing it by eye in the usual manner - sighting down the rod from the side opposite the guides.

Lou