I just tried to remove a Fuji TiSic top from one of my rods and it wasn't budging with my usual light lighter heat and pliers so I kept giving it more and more heat. It just shot across the room like a bullet and the tip graphite fibers all seperated. Top is MIA. I had to trim the blank about 1/2 an inch. Titanium graphite popcorn. Is this a common problem with Titanium. Are there any tricks to use special to titanium tops? I had used FC 5 minute to put it on and haven't had problems with removing other tops following advice read on this board.

Use hot melt glue designed for arrows. Much easier to remove than 5 minute.

You just did a really good job of gluing on the tip. I don't think it had anything to do with the titanium. One reason not to use 5 min. epoxy. I stopped after I ruined the tip of a rod, doing the same thing. Would suggest you do like wise. I use high temp hot melt glue. Not had any problems since.

I concur with Steve. The glue is the problem (both the epoxy and whatever resin is in the rod), not the tip top. I now use the fletcher's hot melt that you can get anywhere they sell archery supplies, and it works well (and doesn't have a shelf life, like epoxy does). It can be reheated and the tip top repositioned without having to clean the whole thing out and start over, too. You ought to see how well a bamboo tip mushrooms-- and it gets nicely charred, too. I used to use 5 min epoxy, and got away with it for a long time, but it finally caught up with me. One thing I haven't tried are the new super fast cure epoxies (1 and 3 minute). They might give way at lower temperatures, I don't know. One caveat--I'd still use epoxy on tip tops for big game rods and other heavy use rods. The extra margin of strength could make a difference there.

Epoxy does not have a shelf life.

Beyond that, even the 5-minute types can be difficult to remove with heat. It can sometimes take more heat to break the bond than it does to for the resin the blank to liquify or at least soften.

The archer's adhesive is probably a good bet.

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I agree with the archey hot-melt glue.
Epoxy does indeed have a shelf life, Tom. Polyester resin has a longer one.

Tom, when I refered to epoxy (glue) shelf life, I was talking about it in practical, layman terms, not chemical. What I mean is that, once opened, whether in a side-by-side syringe or separate squeeze tubes, the resin tends to expand and leak out and the hardener tends to harden (and, of course, you know what happens when the resin leaks over to the hardener side!). If you use it all up in a short period of time, you won't notice this, but most hobby rodbuilders don't make enough rods to do that, so they need to buy fresh glue if it's been a couple of months since they built a rod. Plus, the tubes must be stored upright in a cool place, or they'll have a mess all over their other stuff. I presume this is why there are a number of little one-time use epoxy glue syringes marketed now. Cheers.

Flex Coat brand hot glue for tips is the best and strongest glue I have ever used. I have no use for 5 min. epoxy on tips. The Flex Coat is more than strong enough.

Not really, the resin can crystalize but can be returned to like new by heating. The hardeners of many, will tend to amber. But they will still work perfectly 100 years down the road.

The packages may be a different manner and depends on what you buy. I have some T88 System 3 epoxy that is probably going on 5 years old. No leaks or problems. They use plastic bottles that are suitable for containing the product for many, many years. I've had similar batches from other companies that also lasted for years (until I used them up) and no doubt would still be good and suitable for use decades after being made.

It might be better to say that some epoxy brands are contained in packaging that is not suited to long term storage. But the epoxies themselves do not have any appreciable shelf life.

Hot melt glue, of course, is easy to store for long periods and does not require any sort of container.

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