I'm doing my first wraps. When I finish the wrap and I tighten down on the wrap before cutting......the thread is riding up the blank under my wrap.

Is this an indication of my wrap not having enough tension...?

Am I tightening the wrap too much...?

Also,......I am using Fuji Alconite's, spiral wrap on 7' St Croix. CLAG 12-6. I'm finding it very difficult attaching the #6 guides to the blank for wraping. The feet are so short that masking tape is almost out of the question.
What are you experienced builders using to perform this task...?

I would like to use some sort of rubber band....something that would stretch easily and roll down the blank easily. I cant think of a source for this.......any ideas here....?

Thanks for your help. pb

Not sure what you mean on the first question. If you mean that the area where you are tying off is sliding under the main wrap, then yes, you aren't wrapping with enough tension.

I am a long time tape user who has recently switched to surgical tubing, cut into thin bands. Some guys use dental braces rubber bands that you can find in pharmacys. But on the small diameter blanks I usually build, they are too big to use on little guides the closer I get to the tip. I go back to tape on these, slicing a thin strip no wider than half the length of the guide foot. Wrap till you reach tape, then carefully remove the tape and keep wrapping.

Another option is to use guide foot adhesive or tip top glue. A lot of guys use this on all of their guides and swear by it. I haven't gotten the knack of doing it but I'm still attempting it now and then

Go to any hobby/model shop and pick up some fuel line tubing (it comes in various diameters and is cheap enough to get several diameters) A few minutes with a razor blade and cutting board and you have a years supply of thin "rubber bands. Just slide some onto the blank before attaching the tip and once the thread holds the guide in place, a nick with a razor and they fly off.

Mike

Go to your neiborhood hobby shop or Lowe's / Home Depot sometimes carry it and get the rubber fuel line hose that they use for fuel lines in RCV's. At Lowe's or Home Depot it will be in plumbing with the other hose they sell by the foot. Cut it up in about 1/8" sections, works great. It comes in different sizes. get a foot or 2 of each will last a long time.

Mike, you and I were typing at the same time. LOL

Bill in WV



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2005 08:26PM by William Bartlett.

I use elastic thread (three or four turns and then tie it off) which I get at the local fabric store.

I use masking tape for size 6 fly guides with no problem. The newer blue tape is better than the old white kind. As Mick said above, cut a thin strip of tape no more than half the width of the foot, about an inch and a half long. Fold both ends of the tape over to make "handles" at each end. Now, put the tape on the guide foot BEFORE you put the guide on the blank. Hold the tape, not the guide, by those handles and bring the guide onto the blank where you want it, then press down and pull/squeeze the tape. Do not wrap the tape completely around the blank, leave the ends free. After the wrap is well started, it will be easy to remove the tape by the handles.

Don't use tip top adhesive to mount the guides. Tip top adhesive and guide foot adhesive are not the same thing.

I just use a short length of rubber band and 2 wraps around the rod and tie it and slide the guide foot under and you are ready to wrap. Comes in all sizes :-)