I've got a power wrapper with the upgraded aluminum chuck. I've built a few rods on it just fine. On my last build, the rod seems like it wants to "unscrew" itself from the chuck. I know there have been some issues with the chuck loosening, but I've used duct tape, I've tightened, I've wrapped the aluminum gimbal on the rod with tape, and nothing seems to be working????

I am guessing it has something to do with alignment of the stands and or the rollers. I looked at one of the rubber O-ring on one of the top rollers, after the rod came out, and it was moved over and off of the roller itself like it was pushed off

I am making sure that the rod is turning counterclockiwse when looking at the jaws of the chuck too

All this has lead to my wife yelling at me to watch my mouth as I heard my rod come off of the wrapper again.(SMASH, Crash, Bang....OH SHUCKS)

I thought this was supposed to be a non-confrontational hobbY?????

The only thing I can imagine is that you don't have the rod centerline on level. This can cause the rod to sort of "unscrew" itself in one direction or the other. If it moves outward, then it will pull itself out of the chuck.

Just check to make sure the rod centerline is dead level all along its length. At least you can eliminate that one possibility pretty easily.

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I think I see whats happening to you... Try not lowering the upper wheels onto the rod they put tension on the rod and make the rod wiggy at the chuck which cause it to come loose and fall on the floor. So in simpler terms just let the rod rest on the lower wheels and dont lock it down... Hope some of that made sense.

I think this is happening on this rod because your blank is crooked or bowed in some way.

the above was a hint if you were using it in dryer mode since you said you "heard it" so it sounded like it was spinning when not in the room....

I have a small bungee cord that I use. I streaches nicely from the hood of the reel seat to the chuck and just stays put by setting the hook on the back of the chuck. Solved the problem for me!

Jesster;
Had that same problem just the other day, with the exact same chuck. I think what is happening is that the wheels on the rod supports are out of alignment a little, and when I had the top roller tight to the blank. Essentially pinning the rod between top and the two bottom rollers the miss-alignment was acting like a threading device with the tension strong enough to pull or screw the rod out of the chuck. Try just letting the top roller lay on the blank or just above the blank. Should cure the problem.

I think there are two things going on here (we have the same rig and have had the exact same problem).

When the lathe is being used for wrapping, the direction of the rotation and the direction of the way the chuck opens are the same. It's a design "issue" that's been known for a long time. The way to beat it is to use the little rubber feet that go on the chuck jaws, and rough them up with a file or to cut little serrations in them with a razor blade. Then tighten the jaws good and solid - this will help. Trust me.

The second issue, when you are drying, can be solved by making sure the rotation is in the opposite direction from when the rig is being used as a lathe, and still use the little rubber feet. But as was suggestede above whether you are wrapping or drying, make sure of two things:

1) Make sure the rod butt is absolutely centered in the jaws.
2) Make sure the rod is level across all the supports, once it's properly positioned in the jaws. Use a little capenter's level along the length to set it up, support by support, adjusting the lower rollers and top one accordingly. Allow for the taper of the rod as you go. Spin it relatively slowly when you're done to test it. Speed it up to see if it'll vibrate or wobble and make adjustments again if needed. Do this even if you're just going to dry it because the same offsetting or out-of-balance motion will occur even at slow speeds and eventually "unscrew" the rod from the chuck.

Hope that helps.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods

Jester,

It's usually alignment more than anything. Running the rod counter clockwise while drying helps, but if your blank isn't level and the rod's heavy enough, it can still work it's way loose. If the rod's not level, it's putting un-even pressure on the jaws as the chuck rotates. What's happening is the butt actually works it's way forward in the jaws until it either comes loose, or just flat works its way out the front of the jaws.

To avoid this, adjust your supports to that the blank's tip sits at the same height at the chuck's center. I'm not where i can take the measurement right now, but if you measure the center of the screw in the middle of the chuck's height above the bed, it's either 4-3/8" or 4-5/8". Set your blank up so that the tip's center is at that same measurement. Adjust the supports evenly under the length of the blank to support it evenly with the tip at that height (no high or low spots). That will eliminate 90% of your problems.

Crooked blanks or rods that are heavily out of balance (like a heavy roller) can STILL try and "walk" out the front of the jaws. I saw a tip on another board by a guy that wraps a lot of unlimited class rollers, and he said that by putting self-adhesive cork tape over the rubber jaw covers, he has eliminated the problem. I was just fooling around with Scott's Tiger Wraps on a grosely crooked 5-1/2' 50-80lb blank and it needed to be pushed back in the chuck every twenty minutes or so. Remembering this guys post, I tried the cork tape and it worked like a charm.

Mark Griffin
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C&M Custom Tackle
San Dimas, California

I have a Pac-Bay chuck on my lathe that does the same thing, I use a Stainless hose clamp on the Fingers to hold the rod

Everyone

Thanks for the advice. I am going to try every single idea mentioned in the above posts and see if it will fix the issue. With that said:

After I re-chucked the rod last night (for the umteenth time), I noticed some epoxy damage where the rod, while drying, bumped into something after it fell leaving some blemishes in the drying Flexcoat.

Is it possible to cut out 24hr old epoxy very carefully or lightly sand it down with very high grit sandpaper? Any recommendations to save my buttwrap would help.

You can use a nail file to lightly file down any imperfection and recoat with epoxy. If the imperfection is very bad, however, I'd considering removing the wrap and redoing it.

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Just add cork tape to the inside of the three jaws. Never had a problem with the rod sliping out of the chuck since I applied the tape.