Have a friend asked me to cut about 3 inches off the butt and replace the rubber butt cap with a aluminium gimbal butt. How should this be done? Does the butt cap goes into the end of the rod blank? What size should I use( how much bigger than the butt diameter of the blank, or I should get one with a perfect fit)? Do I need to wrap the butt of the blank to strenghten it? Thanks....

You would install it just as you would a butt cap. The gimbal goes over the rod blank butt. Get one as close to size as you can. A perfect fit would be great, but that's not likely. Go up just a notch and shim to fit with fiberglass drywall tape and RodBond or similar.

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Use the drywaill tape as Tom suggests, or use two bands of 1/2" wide masking tape. Make sure you leave a gap between the tape to filled with the paste epoxy, rod bond or kardol. Though some say paste epoxy is not to be used as a filler but I have found it (paste epoxy, kardol) to cure extremely hard with a very strong and durable bond when used to fill in the spaces and gaps under a reel seat or a gimbal. So it works just fine for rod building.

I think the thought that it is not to be used as a filler comes from one intended use in the MARINE industry, ie boats, where it is not recommened to be used a filler for critical components. Loads on the reel seat come nowhere near making the bond break.

Make sure the tape is recessed 1/8" or so when the gimbal is fully seated onto the blank, and allow this space to fill with epoxy as you pressed the gimbal on - this to completely seal the tape from the environment.

One other thing, if the rod already has a tip top on it you will have to drill a tiny hole dead center on the bottomof the gimball, right in the center of the cross formed by the notches of the gimbal. This hole will allow air to vent as you press on the gimbal, otherwise the slight pressure buildup from air captured when the gimbal is pressed on will cause the gimball to want to pop off on you. So let it vent through a tiny hole.

Finally, use a piece of blank or other straight item (pencil?) to place in the notches of the gimbal to help you eyeball the alignment with the reel seat/guides ., to make sure notches are aligned with seat/guides.

Lou

I learned if you are using something like Rod Bond, be sure to check it every so often. I didn't and a couple of mine shifted on me, leaving a little tiny space in between the slick butt and the gimbal. Not very noticable, but very aggrevating when you have over $200 in parts invested.

I also tape my gimbal on with blue tape to help with the shifting.

Phil

Thanks for the details......