I'm still trying to get the hang of how much epoxy to apply to reel seats and grips. Any suggestions about how to clean up excess epoxy that either leaks out from joined parts or finding little dribbles after it has already set either on the blank or components. Thanks for all the great advice so far and for helping me get better at my new found addiction!

"A bad day of fishing is ALWAYS better than a good day at work."

Blessings,
Dave

Parts fit should be snug, not loose and not tight. Thin glue lines are stronger than thick ones. Apply epoxy to both surfaces to be bonded and slide together. Try to wipe off any that gets pushed out before you fully seat the parts.

Liquid epoxies are fine for this type work, but do tend to continue to move and seep out of joints after you've seated them. A gel type epoxy such as RodBond will stay where you put it, thus is doesn't seep out of joints after the fact. Once you've slid the parts together and cleaned things up, you won't generally have any further epoxy come out of the joint.

.........

I think you have to keep looking it over for an hour or two if you want to catch every possible seepage. At first you will get more seepage as you refine how much epoxy you try to use but make sure you don't get too little to do the job. Generally I use a rag with some denatured alcohol to get at the hard to reach areas. I try to keep all solvents off of blanks these days, found that Windex seems to be adequate where I need to actually wipe the blank. I have found that getting it off before it cures is way better than trying to hide it or get it off afterwards. I have seen otherwise very nice rods spoiled by shiny little rings of epoxy showing up here or there. IMO this is the kind of thing that separates the good from the excellent. I've never seen any traces of leftover epoxy on rods made by the really good builders. Not even a trace. It's easy to overlook little things like this and it's really hard to fix it after the fact.

Save yourself a lot of work and worry and get some U-40 Rod Bond to adhere reelseats and grips! It'sthe second best thing since sliced bread.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

Denatured Alcohol or IsoPropyl Alcohol should clean-up most epoxy that needs to be wiped off before it has hardened. -Cliff Hall+++

What about after it has set? Yes, the key is to remove the excess before it sets
up but if you miss a spot what is the best way to remove it then? Acetone?

This one area I still have problems with sometimes. RodBond really
has helped not having the problem in the first place. However, I did
an epoxy ramp that did quite turn out the way I hoped and now I have
a slight bit of 5 min. to get off the blank just in front of the ramp.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2006 12:40PM by Raymond_Adams.

Thanks for the advice. My next supply order will include RodBond. Any suggestions though on how to remove those little epoxy gremlins that show up after the epoxy has already set up, especially near or on the reel seat?

"A bad day of fishing is ALWAYS better than a good day at work."

Blessings,
Dave

Dave sometimes if you are lucky due to the unprepared surface where the epoxy is you can slide an x-acto blade under there and pop it off being careful not to scratch the surface.Then clean with alcohol.Keep acetone AWAY from fishing rods.I still dont know why people need to use that stuff(too strong,health issues etc.)

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)