I have a very basic question. I am a new rodbuilder so whenever I apply epoxy to my guide thread wrappings, I have a hard time getting the edge to look straight & even, The epoxy will end up running up & down as the blank turns.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to make the epoxy look neat & even or straight ?

Hi, Eddie. I apply mine as the rod is turning, too. I get everything squared away with the main body of the guide wrap first (so there's not too much on; shouldn't be running anywhere at that time).

Then, with one hand holding the wrist of the other hand and both elbows firm on top of my work bench, I hold the tool that I'm going to "edge" with. I gently tease a bit of the epoxy from the guide wrap out and over the edge, just onto the blank as it turns. I bring more over as needed, never bringing too much. Too much will cause a wider line of epoxy out there and it won't look good when done. This does happen on occasion, though. Then I fold a paper towel in half and soak a part of the towel away from this folded edge with alcohol and then just lightly touch the folded edge to that soaked area to get the folded edge barely wet. Then as the rod is turning, I bring that folded edge, lightly wetted with the alcohol, slowly up to the edge of the finished epoxy and use a shoe-shiner's slow movement in one direction only. This exposes a fresh part of the towel to the epoxy edge as it's turning and this leaves a nice edge, also.

Putter
Williston, ND

Putter,

That's an outstanding description. I use the same technique, but am not very swift at it usually, i.e., never satified with the outcome. Will keep practicing.

Stan

I also am a beginner at rod building.A freind of mine is getting out of the business.He is teaching me some of his tricks he has discoverd over the last 14 years.I also had this problem.His Trick to this was applying epoxy with a popsickle stick. I have not tried it yet.But I have seen a lot of rods he has done and they look great.


Johnny

I just started using the McDonald's coffee stirrers and they work pretty well as well. Today I went back to my old standby of the yellow Flexcoat brush. As long as you don't "brush" with it, seems to work pretty well for me. Then the other end doubles as a stirrer for the next batch, or for stirring my flocking paint.

Phil

i'm using a cut strip from those fake plastic credit cards i receive endlessly in the mail. i think there are two keys for getting it straight, at least for me right now. after applying finish to the main part of a wrap, i apply to the edge. 1) my turner turns at 6rpm. i think it would help if it went faster. 2) to keep my hand steady, i use a block of wood, or anything handy, to rest the hand against as i apply the edge finish. i load it up with finish and hold it vertocically, active edge pointed own and bring to the blank, allowing the finish to be pulled off. seems to work fine for me.

eric
fresno, ca.

I just started using the 200 rpm motor assembly from Flex Coat to apply my epoxy, and what a difference the rpm's make. I use to use a 4 rpm motor and the edges looked lousy. With the rod spinning faster, it makes it so much easier to get avery nice straight edge. Also it seems I am getting a much nicer looking finish on my guides when first applying it using the faster motor. I can get a very nice thin finish and it takes under 10 minutes to finish up the guides for each coat, instead of like 20-30 minutes when using the 4 rpm motor. After all is finished on the high speed motor, I switch the rod to my 4 rpm motor to let it finish drying.

wow , 200 RPM is flying . i don't think i could do it with the rod spinning that fast. That's 3 revs per second!! ??

It's actually easier to apply when the blank is turning faster. I use a Power Wrapper with a foot control and find that I have less control as my foot eases up on the pedal. I'm not sure how many RPM's it turns at tops, but I can fling epoxy on the wall!!