Well, my first rod building project is underway! I'm building a 12' heavy-duty surf casting rod, and am almost ready to start wrapping the guides. Last night I positioned the guides on the blank (masking tape) along with the reel, ran the line through, clamped the rod in the trusty workmate, and then took a pretty good tension on the line to check guide placement. After some repositioning and adjustment I was happy with the results. I then took the reel off, and set the rod back in my wrapping stand with the guides facing up. While sighting down the guides again (by eye) it hit me! Why not put something through the guides that will assure proper alignment? I found an old aluminum arrow blank (from my archery day's) and passed it through the first two guides starting at the butt-end. I could see slight misalignment very easily when looking directly over the blank, so I continued passing the arrow shaft down the blank, through the guides, tweaking each one as I went and by the time I reached the tip top the guides were laser straight. This also shows you any guide twist alignment problems. I plan on putting this method to use as soon as I wrap the guides in place (still waiting on some parts) but it looks promising. I'm aware that on guides smaller than a number 12, this arrow technique won't help, I just thought someone may have a similar technique or could benefit from this. What do you guy's think?

What about some brightly colored fly line?

This was covered in an earlier issue of RodMaker. I suggested, as Bill just has, a heavy, brightly colored fly line strung from reel centerline to tip top ring.

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Works great for a spiral wrap?? Static test for guide placement

Bruce,
There are two different points of view about guide allignment. The first, and probably the most common, is to line the guides up straight relative to each other as you have done. The second point of view is that the guides should be lined up relative to the blank. Because blanks are not perfectly straight this second approach will not necessarily end up with the guides perfectly straight relative to each other.
I think that the first approach, like you have used, will end up with the best line flow through the guides but the second approach will end up with less stress on the blank, less torque.

What I do is as each guide is being wraped, I use the blank, then after it is wraped I take it off the wrapper and look though each guide to give them that little extra tweak



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2005 09:23AM by bill boettcher.

bruce,
You might try a laser tool such as a straight line tool, line it up on your blank and it will cast a light down the blank. Any place you place an eye or interrupt the light with your hand will show you the alignment of the blank. Mine is flat on the bottom and I set it on the top of the power rod motor and line up on my blank when it is clamped in the chuck.

I see your point Emory! The initial line-up was done with 50lb line going through the guides, and my eyesight not being what it once was, made this harder than I thought it would be. I'm going to get some fly line and probably use both techniques once I wrap the guides. Providing the blank is straight (this one looks pretty straight to me) using one method to verify the other should work out pretty well.

Check Neals on that fly line