I recently took a good look at a rod I built last Spring and fished all last Summer. I caught a great number of fish on it, which is a good thing. On some of the guides (H&H single foot) the epoxy has cracked at the end of the guide where it touches the bare blank. After searching previous posts on this board, I have some guesses as to why.

1. I can tell you that I probably did not grind the feet enough.
2. I let a liberal amount of epoxy form on the bare blank in front of the guide.
3. I use a heat gun on the freshly painted wraps to get rid of bubbles and allow the epoxy to spread out better.

I am convinced I need to grind flatter and thinner, but should I paint epoxy only slightly beyond the edge of the wrap as someone suggested? In addition, how much does this heat thing really matter in regards to changing the eopxy so it will crack later? I am using Threadmaster and I have actually seen people ( I think it was Andy Dear himself) say that Threadmaster loves heat.

Thanks.

Tony



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2008 06:05PM by Tom Kirkman.

Tony,

I think you've pretty much answered your own question, by the searches you did. Which is the first thing anyone should do before they ask. Definately only take the epoxy just over the last wrap thread on guides et al. As for heating the epoxy to help it flow or pop bubbles, it doesn't take much, you shouldn't be heating for an extended time. Just a few seconds is enough. On that note, I never use a flame, I use a craft heat gun like Ken Preston uses. usually one pass down and back is sufficient. Above and beyond all this, don't let the epoxy creep up the guide feet toward the ring. I know that this is a PITA because you have to do more babysitting than you'd like, but it works. If you do use a flame (lighter / alcohol lamp) hold the flame to the side and not directly underneath. I understand some of this is probably retorical, but this is what works for me.

Bill in WV

Heat contributes to cracking as it slightly changes the epoxy cure and eventual properties. A little gentle heat isn't going to harm anything, but torching the stuff is neither necessary nor good for it.

Grind, sand, file the feet edges to a more shallow taper. This helps as much as anything.

..........

how many coats of finish did you apply? i think i've had something similar happen on a rod i was too eager to fish and it had only one coat.

eric
fresno, ca.

Thanks to all who replied. I am using the same craft heat gun that Bill in WV describes. I use it as sparingly as possible and hold it far away so it ends up more like hot air and not extreme heat. As Bill pointed out, I had answered my own questions but was looking for confirmation. I do not why I decided to carry over so far. I thought I was doing the epoxy version of a Forhan wrap.

I think the problem is much more accentuated on single foot WIRE guides. The insert guides tend to come with an arrow shaped foot that does not make me worry as much about holding by wrap alone. More importantly, because the foot is wide and squarish, it is difficult to allow epoxy to creep over the wrap without letting it creep UP the foot - something I definitely avoid.

Cheers, mates.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2008 09:12PM by Tom Kirkman.

Let me suggest two other possibilities:

1) Your thread itself might have a weak or loose section that's not holding the guide foot evenly along it's whiole length; if so, the guide foot has moved enough to crack the finish. In particular, the now-discontinued Rice threads had this problem right near the end of their production.

2) You might have the guide itself located in a spot in the layout where it is overloaded, or stressed. That'll cause a similar effect.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods

First of all there is no way to permantly prevent cracking at the guide feet however it can be made to last many years before it will occur. I build salt water rods and I think I have had great sucess with that problem and no one has ever come to me with a complaint on feet cracking. Let me tell you how I go about it.
First I use an A underwrap also an A overwrap with a final D overwrap. (Remember I am building heavy salt water rods).

I never ever use more then two coats (flex coat) on the guides. This was a tip that Dale Clemens gave me years and years ago.

The last step is with the grinding of the guides. Here we have the crux of the problem I believe. As a rod flexes the guides being metal will not bend or conform with the flex of the blank and that causes an upward pressure against the threads and the finish causing cracking over a period of time.

After the guides are grinded I then bend the the feet ever so imperceptibly downward (YOU DONT WANT TO DO IT TOO MUCH TO MAKE AN INVERTED V SHAPE. This will help compensate against the pressure of the feet against the thread and finish when the rod is bending.

It has worked for me