I attempted to turn my first cork/poker chip grip. The grip is the the butt portion of a split grip. I sanded three chips on both sides with 100 grit and attached to 2 rings of cork on either side using rod bond on a mandrel. I put in a cork clamp and set overnight. The following day I rough shaped using 60 grit, but when I switched to 80 the bond between 2 chips broke. Is this something that is common when working with chips? Is there somethng that I can do to help prevent this from happening again?

Thanks,

Geoff

Is it possible the RB wasn't fully cured, adn teh heat from sanding caused the epoxy to soften?

The heat will hurt you in that regard. Notice that the article mentioned to do your rough shaping with something like a rasp or sur-form file. These cut faster than sandpaper and therefore you don't have that friction there for as long to build up heat.

I'd also let the RodBond cure for two full days before doing this sort of thing. Make sure you flatten the sides of the chips and prepare a water-break-free surface on them before bonding.

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I had the same problem until I switched to 5 minute epoxy for the chips. Tightbond III and RodBond didn't hold the plastic chips. I use a rasp to rough shape the grip, sur-form grabbed real hard.

Hope this helps.

rhr

Tightbond won't be much good on plastic.

Another good way to reduce the size of the chips is by holding the grip against a regular grinding wheel. This is a tip passed on by Rich Forhan. I've tried it and it works quite well.

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The mystry of the debonding is in the composition of the poker chip, if it's an acetel base they won't bond well, they will bond, but NOT well. High quality and even some medium grade chips use the acetel (delrin) base. If a "ring" or spacer effect is wanted there are several companies that manufacture "rings" specifically for this type appearances and they bond with no hassle.

This was pointed out in the article. The cheaper varieties of chips, are usually plastic and actually work much better for this application. The more expensive chips are hard to bond and even harder to sand/shape.

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John,
Do you have the names of any of these companies? I haven't been able to find any
Thanks!

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

OK
This may sound dumb to you guys. But why use poker chips any way ? The face of them ( that looks good ) is sanded away. The edge is also sanded away. problems with the adhesion with some thing like Rod Bond ??

Why not just make colored rings. Any color ya want, good adhesion cause it is epoxy, and easy to shape ??

For an end cap I can see.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2006 07:23PM by Joe Hepp.

Mike the company is listed as ""www.cuestik.com," doesn't sound like rod building equipment does it???. They carry fibre and plastic rings we use building pool cues. The parent company is actually an electrical insulation manufacturer. Hope I'm not violating the rules .......

Sorry I took so long to reply..

Thanks for all the help. I let the epoxy sit for 2+ days and used a rasp for the rough shaping. It worked and looks great!

I think the chips sold for use as accents for cue sticks are a great idea if you only want to use it as an accent in a rod grip. However, at one of Rich Forhan's seminars in Charlotte, he passed around a rod he built with poker chips in the grip. While the chips did provide an accent, Rich used them as a means to transmit more feeling from the rod to your hand while fishing.

-John