Going through Navy Chief Petty Officer Initiation/Training right now, doesn't leave much time for much rodbuilding right now.

But through the course of this process, came up with an idea the other day for applying paint/finish on a rod. Its a spin-off of Tom's foam brush idea and the $200 rubber tool that I saw in Japan.

Take a baby bottle top and trim the hole just big enough to let the rod slide through with tension to squegee off excess. The shape lets you have enough of the paint/Permaglos to coat the rod effectively without wasting too much.

Haven't tried it nor do I have time to at the moment. Only concern is any sort of additive added to the nipple. Let me know what you all think.... Rocket Science is not a specialty of mine.

Phil

I've tried this with various film thicknesses of plastics; I found one that worked really well, ran out of it and haven't found another yet that works.

I just put a roll of electrical tape on the floor, laid the plastic over it and pushed down slightly in the center. Poured in the Permagloss and mixed up the pigment in it. Poked the tip of the blank through and trapped the plastic to the sides of the tape roll and brought it up at a steady speed and off the end of the blank and into the garbage can.

The problem is the pressure of the substance used "squeegee-ing" (can't spell that one) the Permagloss/pigment mixture off the blank as fast as it's added on above it. Too thin of a coating; even 8 coats and it's not covered.

I sure wish that I could find a roll of that plastic I'd used that worked for me on two blanks. It was a two coat, maybe 3 coat process and I had a beautiful white blank.

Putter
Williston, ND

I"ve tried all sorts of latex and butyl membranes and the only one I found that made an acceptable "squeegee" for this sort of thing was that from a "punchball" balloon.

After fooling around with if for a few weeks, I just fell back on the foam brush trick. But, if you do manage to try the babby bottle and it happens to work, let us hear about it.

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We use a similar set-up for coating and cresting arrow shafts. The difference with it is the arrow is plunged down through the rubber squeegie and into the paint material - then it is drawn BACK through the rubber to squeegie - the unused material being returned back into the long deep container... disadvatage for rod building would be the quantity of material needed and the depth of the receptacle holding both the "paint" and the blank until it was fully coated and drawn back up through. An advantage might be that you could hold onto the butt of the blank where painting it would be of little importance - unless a split handle was being made. Another disadvantage would be standing up high enough to pull the entire blank back out of the material. 1/2 - 3/4 inch pvc might work though - perhaps there is something better - just thinking aloud guys good luck, Chuck

I remember you're telling me about the punchball in Charlotte, Tom. I mean to try it, too, but haven't yet. I thought that I'd stumbled onto to something good. Since that old plastic I had laying in my rod room drawer ran out, I've just beat my head against the wall trying others. Frustrating when I know it can work...

Putter
Williston, ND

I would think you guys have already tried bycicle and auto inner tubes ??

Yes and you'd think they'd work. But what I tried didn't do well. Either the finish was completely wiped off, or hardly any of it was. You're having to deal with the elasticity of the material plus the size of the opening. I've probably tried 50 different membranes, openings, etc., and after I tried the hole in the foam brush trick it worked so well that I decided I was wasting energy and time on the other method. However, the squeegee coating method is what many manufacturers use to coat their blanks. It will work, you just have to hit on the right combination of material and opening size.


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I got lazy. Now I wait for some one else to find what works well . Experimenting gets expensive ?

I get great results using a drip tube like the bamboo rod makers use. It does take about (3) quarts of finish to fill up the tube, so using permagloss would be out of the question. Fill the tube up with finish, put in the blank and pull the plug at the bottom and let the finish run back in to the container. The blank stays in the tube until dry ...no dust....flawless finish everytime.

I get great results using a drip tube like the bamboo rod makers use. It does take about (3) quarts of finish to fill up the tube, so using permagloss would be out of the question. Fill the tube up with finish, put in the blank and pull the plug at the bottom and let the finish run back in to the container. The blank stays in the tube until dry ...no dust....flawless finish everytime.

When I worked at Harrington Rod Company they used a set up that looked fairly simple and was quite effient at putting a beautiful black glossy finish on the blank. It looked lin a 2 or 3 inch diameter pot(maybe even PVC with rubber dams at bot ends. Each rubber damn was made of 3 pieces of rubber. One piece would have a small hole punched in it with a hole punch then flamed. The other two had slitscut with a 1/2" chisel. The outter most dam was the one with the hole and the other two formed an X under that. The paint was actually Fiberglass Resin that was colored with pigment.. The tip was run throuh to about 1" left of the bland the pulled out at an even pace with a wench. No mess and virtually flawless. I would try to draw it but am not so good free hand. Any questions drop me an email.

What works everytime is the sheet rubber which is used by dentists to place a dam around you tooth. This material comes in many different thickness and elasticity. My dentist gave me an assortment of about 15 sheets and it works great for me. One of the secrets is to punch the hole with a very sharp round punch, the diameter will depend on the rod blank. I have only done Salt Water rods. Someone told me you can buy this Dentist rubber on @#$%&

Incidently, some of the most beautiful painted blanks are made by Graphite USA (GUSA) . I visited GUSA and watched them paint the blanks in a small air tight closet . The blanks, up to 6 at a time, are supended from the ceiling and the operator just pours the paint on the tip of the rods, and it runs down the entire length of the blank to a catch basin on the floor. The result is an extermely smooth painted rod. GUSA Quality is Top of the Line in my opinion.

John

John,

Thanks for the tip. That may just be the right material for this particular job. Wish I had known sooner - would have saved me a bunch of time playing with balloons.

Doc,

Your descriptoin makes sense. Thanks.

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Thank you John; I knew that there had to be something I can get my hands on to do this with again!

Doc, your description was plenty clear to me; thanks a lot.

Putter
Williston, ND