Ive been thinking of ways to line up the guides .I find I'm fiddling around with the guides too much making adjustments then going back and changing it around.I finely get it right but its an agonizing process. I'm thinking of a lazer for that perfect fix. What kind do you have and whats the alternatives ? Did the search and was hoping someone had more to offer.

As a novice rod builder, I too had the same problem. A tip that I got from this website said to veiw the top side of the blank with the guides underneath while looking for an even amount of ring extending beyond the sides of the blank. It's best with something light colored in the foreground and it's the only method I use now for final alignment.

The Renzetti Rod Lathe has a lazer attachment that works very well but is rather time consuming as you have to remove the top roller of each support so the lazer line can reach the tip. Jesse

Actually, because the Renzetti laser has an elongated beam instead of a pin-point type beam, you can just raise it a bit and it will illuminate the entire length of the rod minus just an inch or two behind each rod support. Or, just remove all the supports save for one somwhere inbetween guides near the tip.

In reality, so many of these type "aids" end up being very useful, but no more time saving than just doing it by eye. My suggestion if you want to try something else, is just to install a reel and thread some flourescent orange or chartrues dacron through the guides on out to the tip. Move the guides until the taut line is contacting or passing through the exact center of each ring.

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To align your line guides in the plane of symmetry of the rod blank; to align the face of the guide ring at a right angle to the line (long axis) of the rod blank: and to keep your guide feet in-line with the rod blank, employ BOTH these methods of alignment:

Sight down the guide rings like the scope of a rifle. Works fine if the rod doesn't bend too much under it's own weight + guides + thread. That fixes all the guides' compass points / clock positions around the rod blank along your ZERO degree axis. The TOPS (12 o'clock position) of all the guides rings should lay in the rod's plane of symmetry (except for a spiral wrap). The CENTERS of the guide rings themselves may not be perfectly concentric per se, if your line guide profile is designed with a flared choking function toward the butt guide. (A fine-point laser beam is not likely to be of much use in aligning guides in a flared layout.)

Then use the superior (overhead) view, with guides up, (and then with the guides down to be sure), like Collins referred to. That fixes all your ring-face and guide-feet angles to 90 and Zero, degrees to the rod blank, respectively. There are only two degrees of freedom in this system**, so a third determination (point of view) of alignment is confirmatory, but not necessary. (**Since the line guide is stuck "flat" to the rod blank, the vertical axis is set: Z = 0, and no rotation is possible around the axis which is perpendicular to the rod blank's plane of symmetry.)

Both the gun-sighting and the overhead alignment methods are well illustrated by Roger Seiders in his FlexCoat: Step-by-Step Rod-Building Booklet, page 32. Or you can also refer to Seider's illustration in the front of the Mud-Hole 2005 Catalog, page 7. Either alignment method is almost self-explanatory. Seider's text is very clear, and devoid of my graphical mumbo-jumbo. LOL, -Cliff Hall+++



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2005 11:53AM by Cliff Hall.

I just do it by eye, Bill. As I get older, it's harder to see the tip area's last few guides on longer rods, but so far, so good. Someone was talking about using some ?binocular? to help with that?? Can't remember-old-Alzheimer's, too.

Putter
Williston, ND

I do mine by eye, then ask everyone in the house their opinion, and by the time 3 of us go through the process and it comes back to me they usually look purdy good :)

DR

I use a laser. It's a real cheapo.....a level, a tape measure, and a laser combo.
But, it has a flat bottom and I let it sit on the reel seat, (casting, bass rod), I then put some folded carboard under the butt end to give the laser a little angle.
It illuminates the rod and guides well. I have all my guides held on with orthodontist bands, and with the laser, it's fairly easy to line them all up.
But, with all that, the time you spend setting it up, turning the lights on and off a half dozen times, shifting guides, studying on it, and then studying on it some more......
it's just as quick just to eyeball it.
I'm sure that you could go to great lengths and set something up, but, I wouldn't put a lot of money in any fancy laser.
A laser pointer from an office supply store would work fine, just figure a way to mount it.
If you come up with something neat, please post pics.

I am an amateur at this with only two fly rods under my belt and continue to struggle with guide alignment. A combination of eyegballing it and family majority vote seems to work. As a final judge I use the grout line in tile countertop in the kitchen. I place the rod with the guides facing down on the grout line. A skewed or misaligned guide stands out very clearly. (It's also a great reason why we shouldn't remodel the kitchen.)

I use the back and forth method. First the guides are held up and observed as far back as I can go holding the rod out in front of me. Then I look at them up close. I adjust guides until I'm happy. The I flip the rod over with the guides down and look at the guide protrusions on either side of the blank. Usually, there will be small corrections. Then back to the guides on top and then down until I'm content with the set-up. This usually takes very little time and gives me a chance to really look at the rod/guide setup.

No expensive equipment. Just the old Mark 1 Alpha Eyeball system.

I picked up a real good tip off this board a while back that has worked like a charm for me. No more crooked guides. The tip was to use the tip section of a 2 piece 8 or 9 ft. fly rod that is good and straight. Just run it up throu the guides from the but end then align them befor you epoxy. Again whala............. no more out of line guides. Thanks to whomever posted that tip!!

Bill in WV

I have been just looking (blearily) down the guides, then wrapping and checking again before I epoxy. I'm gonna try the blank trick.