Maybe somneone else will learn from this:

I am building a Seeker 665 as a surprise gift for a friend. Rod is to be presented at a function Wednesday night. Start of the build was delayed a couple weeks waiting on the right reel seat (and you can't do much without a reel seat).

Got started Sunday and worked until well after midnight getting the butt wrap layed out and started (graduated blue chevrons-fish) and doing all the underwraps followed by a light coat of finish (underwraps). Home from work at 3:30pm yesterday and straight to work. Finished the butt wrap and all the guides, first coat of finish on the rod at 4:15 this am, then to bed (called to let work know I was sleeping in this morning).

Got up and stuck my head in the drying room: I had neglected to tape the rod butt into the drying motor. The taped gimbal is pretty big and the frictiongrip was tight on the drying lathe, but I know better. As the rod turned, the butt slowly walked out of the drying motor and the rod fell onto the 1"X6" taht the motor is mounted to shortly after I went to bed (judging by the sag).

The damage: Major sag the length of the rod. Two guide feet slipped onto felt support and embedded green fuzz in the finish. Fortunately, the rod did not fall to the ground (shedding yellow lab...horrors).

Recovery: I will spend the afternoon sanding off the damaged areas then apply coat number two (already razored off the worst of the sags while it is still soft...now waiting for it to firm up enough for sanding). I was looking at a half-day at work and a quick coat of finish, now I am going to spend the day getting back to where I was when I turned my brain off last night.

Lesson: (1) I make stupid mistakes when I have been at the bench 12+ hours with little sleep. My rush saved nothing. (2) With patience, even a disaster like this can be fixed. I know that the rod will be presentation quality by tomorrow night with just a little luck.

Steve,
If you will go to Photos above and then to Equipment and then look at the chuck that Wylie Wiggens is using for his wrapper you will see an easy to make, inexpensive chuck that should keep you from having this problem again. It is simply an end cap for PVC pipe with a hose clamp holding a rubber membrane with a hole in it into which you push the butt of the rod. I have seven of these on drying motors that I use all of the time and have never had a rod fall out of one.
I think that this is a copy of one that Flex Coat makes and sells.

Thanks, but in this case equipment was not the problem. This is not the first time I have had one come out. All it takes is a piece of masking tape from the butt to the outside of the foam filled PVC to give enough friction to securely hold the rod. I have used this set-up 100 times and the tape is 100%. My error was the same as if you put the butt in the chuck you described and neglected to tighten the chuck.

Work tired and in a hurry and errors happen. Luckily, FC is very forgiving. All damage is just surface stuff and the thread, etc, is all intact. Easily fixed with a little time/labor, not hours of stripping the rod and starting over.

Emory - I had one of those - you pretty much need various sized holes as too big of a blank diameter & the rubber will split, no? If this true, or did I just have too thick a piece of rubber on mine? I use thumbscrews on a PVC cap, and wrap rubberbands around the screws in case they back off due to vibration &/or centricical force.

Simple rubber bands do well for me :-)

DR

I use rubber bands, too. Work great; haven't had a 'spill' since I started using them. Even the masking tape failed me once.

Putter
Williston, ND

Water hose clamp works great for me, no more fear of loose chucks.

I use these. have had no problems. Costly but worth it. You don't even need the thin center piece that screws into the chuck. [www.cabelas.com]