I used to use ferrule cement to install my tip tops until I looked up one time and saw it pointing 90 degrees to the right while fishing so I switched to epoxy. Once in awhile it seems air gets trapped inside the tube and the tip top wants to push back off during insertion. I'll spread expoxy on the rod tip and then poke some into the tube with a toothpick. Should I just put epoxy on the blank's tip only? My thinking is when I put epoxy inside the tube I'm sealing off air inside the tube and that's why it wants to push back out. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Normally air can escape out the small hole in tiptop tube end. Putting epoxy in there might seal that off, but I'd still put epoxy in the tube. Otherwise you may just be pushing the adhesive down the rod tip and not end up with much, if any, on the actual mating surfaces.

Try this - as you slide the tiptop onto the rod tip, seat it fully, then withdraw it partly, then reseat it. Normally this helps to expel any air that has been trapped inside. In fact, if you do this enough times, it actually creates a vacuum and you can sometimes feel the tiptop being sucked back onto the rod blank tip when you try to withdraw it again.

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

I take a popsickle stick and force load the tip top tube with epoxy, then add a swipe to the rods tip, Install the tip top and epoxy will come out the hole Tom speaks of right below the ring of the tip top. They STAY put.

DR

Every once in a while I do end up with a top that has that hole missing or closed from the coating.

Solution is your dremel tool with an ultra tiny bit >> 1/256 or less depending on the top size. All you need is a tiny hole to allow that air to escape. Its a nearly invisible hole as well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2008 10:46AM by Sean Cheaney.

DUH!!!! Thanks, Sean!

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!!

You have no idea how long it took me to figure that out even though the thing was staring me in the face. I love those times when you just think to yourself..."Was I really that dumb?"

Tim...

I personally use 5-minute epoxy instead of thermal glue, which allows me a bit more time to work with the top. I load the tube then place it on the blank, then twist it a couple of times, distributing glue all around the blank tip. I then reload the tube with epoxy and reapply. As mentioned above, the glue will usually squirt out the end of the tip top. If it doesn't, it will squeeze out the front of the tube as you displace the excess glue / air. Align the tip and wait for 5-10" and you'll be set. To remove glue that forms in the braces of the top, heat it slightly with a lighter and it can be easily removed with a needle.

Hope that helps.......George

I started cutting slivers of tip-top adhesive and slide one or two into the tip-top and then heat it and slide it on. I think that way I get the tube full of glue.

Hot melt glue is pretty good provided you do get it up inside the tiptop tube. That's hard to do unless you do as Ash advises, because it's thick and most often just gets pushed down the rod tip without any getting inside the tiptop tube.

One other thing I'd advise if you use hot melt, is to make a short trim wrap up against the tiptop tube and then make sure to extend your epoxy finish from the trim wrap up onto the tiptop tube surface for a distance of about 1/8th to 3/16th inch. This helps to "lock" it in place.

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

Do yourself a favor - get the flex coat video - follow their tip top advice - your tip top glue problems will be solved. Smart way to use their tip top glue sticks.

We use TM's 15min glue for tip-tops. We let it dry and cure for 24hrs.

We straighten a paper clip and apply glue inside the tube, and a small nit to the rod tip. If we get a pushback we put the paper clip into the tube and pull it out, wipe it off, and try the tip again till it stays in place. Sometimes the pushback happens even with the little hole open.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods