First of all, thank you to those that have helped me along the way and all of you that have shared your knowledge and experience on this site. I have a few more touch ups with epoxy on my surf rod which I am spin/drying by hand as I type and have some questions for my next build.

1. I used flexicoat lite two part epoxy and one of my batches hardened up in five minutes after I measured precisely using syriges and warmed up the two parts. Any ideas? Could I have warmed things up too much? Do you all prefer another brand and type of epoxy? I also used this stuff for my cork and reels seats without any problems but was this the best method?

2. I bought a foot of preglued cork rings that I cut into three (fore and split rear grips) and hand sanded. There are a good amount of pits in the cork and was wondering if this will pose a problem in the future, was it just cheap cork or hand sanding?

3. When cutting thread on wraps, I couldn't get all the frayed ends tucked under. I used a brand new Exacto and Gudebrod NCP size A and size D thread. Any suggestions, and is there better-other thread, color preserver or not, to use?

Thanks again!

Luis

1. Are you using epoxy thread finish or epoxy adhesive? They're not quite the same thing. What you glue up handles with is not what you want to use for finishing your thread wraps. Flex Coat epoxy adhesive and epoxy thread finish are both excellent products, of course, but you need to use the right "tool" for the job.

There is no reason to heat any epoxy unless it's been kept where it's cold enough to make it very hard to work with. When you heat it, you reduce the pot life of that batch. I'm a little confused at all this heating of epoxy.


2. Lower grade cork will have more pits and holes. Most pre-glued sticks never utilized extremely high grade cork. But this is mostly a cosmetic issue and will not affect performance. You can fill the pits if you wish, with various concoctions mentioned here. Check the archives for recommendations.


3. You need to perfect your tag end cutting technique. Do a search here on "thread fuzzies" or similar for a great number of tips that will help you. Changing to a different thread will not help - it's your technique.

........



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2006 09:20PM by Tom Kirkman.

Luis , if I read correctly , you used a finish epoxy for the cork grips which is not the right thing to use . For handle construction a 2 part adheasive epoxy , such as U-40 Rod Bond , or Flex Coat builders epoxy should have been used . I do not know if the job you did will hold , but the finnish epoxy is pretty tough stuff , time will tell .
For the fuzzy tags of thread , try putting in the tie-off loop a couple of turns earlier at the end , and just pull a very small amount under the standing wrap , cut close to the wrap , and the end being pulled under the wrap should be short enought to be completly hidden by the wrap .
Tom covered all of the other stuff ...........
Have fun ,
John Dow , NERBS

Got Fish ?

Luis as stated above, you need to look at your bottles. Flex Coats epoxy glue will state "Rod Builders Epoxy Glue" this is for gluing cork rings, reel seats, etc. Flex Coats epoxy finish will state "Lite Formula Rod Wrapping Finish" and is for coating your guide and butt wraps.

Hope this helps!

Regards......Doug@
TCRds

Luis...dont be shy...tell us the truth...lol...did you coat your thread wraps with adhesive...Or mount your reel seat with rod finish?...lol...We all make mistakes...everyone is allowed one huge "oops"..
Keep your head up...which ever the mix up was...let us know...maybe there is a way to fix it before it gets worse.

#3 try pulling your tag ends tight and cut close they should pop under the wrap .

#1. Way too much heat. Room temperature is all they should ever have to be.

#2. Covered

#3. Many techniques to do tags. For this rod, you can shave them down when the finish is cured and add another lite coat over them. Next time, the first thing I would do is get some double edged razor blades. Much better than xacto blades. Xactos seem to dull quickly and give lots of frays rather than clean cuts, at least for me. If you do get some nubs poking up, use a dental tool, plastic toothpick etc to grab the tag end in between threads a few wraps before where it is sticking up and pull it (in the tightening direction) down under the wraps.

O.K. so ..

1. I read somewhere that heating the epoxy helped in measuring and mixing.
It was flex coat lite formula rod wrapping finish, the guy at the rod building shop set me up with and said I could use for all adhering jobs, and c'mon Jeff only one huge "oops".

Yes, heating it will help, but normally it means putting the bottles in your pocket while you get everything ready, or putting them in a bowl of warm tap water. At most, if they were stored in a cool area and are very thick, zapping them in the microwave for 5 seconds. Anything more and you start asking for trouble.

Sounds like the guy at the shop isn't that familiar with rodbuilding stuff.

Luis the Lite Build is an epoxy finish. And yes it will work for alot of different things...Finishing under and over decals, finishing over thread wraps and guide wraps and some even use it to put a sheen on wood and cork although I dont like doing that...There are better products for those purposes. One thing that FlexCoat lite Build rod finish wont do is glue stuff into place....handles, reel seats etc. The Flex Coat products that will do this is are referred to as 5 minute epoxy adhesive, also a similar looking, 2part packaged product like the rod finish. ...or the same adhesive with a 2 hour cure time. Although it takes much longer to actually cure.

When I started building rods, this also confused me as well...I wish when people referred to rod finish or adhesive wouldn't simply refer to them as "epoxy" and thats it. Since there are epoxy finishes and epoxy adhesives, this can be terrible confusing to the beginning rod builder...In this case the "OOPS" is not yours...It is the guys at the shop who told you it would work...I would imagine that if you picked up some Kardol 2 part epoxy ADHESIVE or some other marine grade, epoxy adhesive with a paste or gel consistancy, you will find it much more friendly to use when mounting reel seats or handles. Rod Bond and others are made strictly for this purpose...
Good Luck my friend...I would closely inspect the cork rings and reel seat. More than likely these two components will have to be redone if they were adhered with lite build rod finish. Put some torque and twist on the reel seat and see if it stays put....better to find out now than when you have a 50lb fish on the other end.

Louis-
Everyone makes mistakes, just don't get to fustrated. I use threadmaster, Andy Dear sells it...I am a hobbiest. I have 5 finished rods, and 3 others started. I found Flex Coat harder to work with....The threadmaster looks real pretty like clear glass....and real smooth...They have an 5 minute epoxy to glue handles with I think too, but I haven't tried it....When I used the thread finish, it never looked that clear, or smooth.

One thing I can tell you is mix a small batch. I don't set out to do all the guides with 1 batch. What I do to get a long working time is this 2-3 pumps of a and b mix 3 minutes, then pour on aluminum foiled plate and spread out. This will give you longer work time, when it starts to get thick stop. I am no rocket scientist and never used a syringe....

Best of luck don't feel bad to reach out. You may want to invest in some video and beginners books, or try to find a local builder to help you....

Louis,

I recently, within the past four weeks, found this board and man, has it ever opened my eyes. I've never seen a website with so many tips and tricks... Epoxy finish in the pocket prior to mixing - shear genius.

I personnally encountered the same "fuzzies" problem you have experienced and found a pair of sharp fingernail clippers work best for me. I pull the thread tight and ride it down to the wraps, but be careful - the reslut of pulling too tight and clipping the "raised thread" is more than a "fuzzies" problem.

You aren't going to believe this, but when I first published that tidbit in the magazine - the part about warming the epoxy by putting the bottles in your pants pocket, I got an email from a guy who said he didn't see how it could do anything but that he had put the bottles in his pants pockets and left them there for two days and still nothing had changed. A bit more dialogue ensued, and then it dawned on me that he didn't understand that you had to be wearing the pants for anything to happen.

No kidding. That's why any time I have mentioned it since, I also mention that you have to be wearing the pants for it to work.

.............

I guess it is hard to beleve but people do things like that. You get some real funny emails Tom. Must drive you crazy ?? LOL But also make you laugh.

Now that's funny.........etc!

The fellow might have been a challenged hillbilly trying to make progress - hopefully not one directly related to me

By marriage - maybe.

Stan

Hay Stan maybe we should all check our family trees ???

sounds goog