Sorry to ask another stupid question.
I know the late cliff hall explained it to me but unfortunatly he passed on before I could pick him on it
When you offset a pattern and it takes say 10 threads to close at the butt it wont accept 10 at the tip it only wants four maybe five

Question is how do I get round it I`ve tried closing to the top then burnishing hard that left gaps
I`ve tried closing the butt and overwrapping the tip that looked nasty and the threads rolled

My problem is is a pattern is say 12mm long (butt to tip) at the butt and 8 mm at the tip my maths says that at 4 threads per mm then you will have 48 threads in the butt and only 32 at the tip

How is the best way to close or do I bin the taper offset method and just use a mid range straight measurement

Visualwrap shows that they close on T/O but in practice they dont. If I pack the threads to make it close then the T/O becomes pointless doesn`t it because all I`ve done is move everything to square measurment

cheers

Allen

The purpose of the taper offset layout is to alter the spacing between centers to allow for similar room at both ends. I'm not sure if this is the answer you were looking for. I'm assuming you have tried the taper offset layout?

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yes tom I have tried it It gives a even LOOKING spacing but the maths just doesn`t add up to close a pattern up where it would need say 48 threads to close at the butt it only needs like 32 at the tip so to close it doesn`t seem to want to go

"it takes say 10 threads to close at the butt it wont accept 10 at the tip it only wants four maybe five "

That's ideal. WRap the threads on top of each other where the pattern is closed, and fill in teh gaps where it's still open. End of problem. I've probably done a couple of hundreds wraps in teh past 9 years, there MIGHT have been 10 that closed perfectly. Of the other hundreds minus 10 - thre hasn't been a single person to point ou thtat I wrapped threads on top of each other, since it's not noticeable once epoxy is put on, especially with dark colors.

I cannot directly solve the problem you are are wrestling with, but I may be able to help you feel better about it.

When I first started wrapping rods 20 years ago, I was horribly confused about why it was so difficult to make a closed wrap close exactly. I had a pretty good background in math and geometry and I was certain that I could develop a mathematical solution to this age-old problem. To make a long story short, I spent a bunch of time trying to develop a geometrical-algorithm that I could put on a computer, plug in the butt and tip-end diameters and let the computer crunch out the proper spacing. What a waste. I might as weel have been shooting at clouds in the dark.

Bottom line, bottom line try to accept several things that I did years ago. 1) The taper offset method that most of us use is, at best, an approximation. 2) Even if the taper offset method was exact, we probably would not have the capability to measure the rod and do the layout work with the perfect precision that would be required. 3) The pattern spacings we get through the taper offset method are plenty good enough.

This can be frustrating, particularly when you are attempting to close a pattern with, for example, multi-colored, even-width chevrons. In this case, wrapping over a pattern which has already closed on one end of the rod in order to close the pattern at the other end of the rod completely disrupts the pattern. If you are closing with a solid color, you might get away with it.

With experience you will be able to tell if the wrap is going to close okay after the first half of the wrap is on the rod. If you see that it is not going to close, do like I do, tear the darn thing off and start over with adjusted center spacing.

Also, I have never been able to do any good at all designing a pattern by using "number of threads per inch". Maybe somebody can, but it sure ain't me.

Don't give up. It gets easier the longer you do it.

See ya

Wiltz Ledbetter, Jr.

Allen

Not sure where you live, but I'll be giving a Seminar on Crosswrap layout at the West Coast Custom Rod Show this coming Sat. If you can make it, sit your butt in the front row and I'll teach you how to do this. It's rather simple. I think i'm batting about 1000 so far.

Steve

www.roostercustomrods.com

Steven Paterson

www.roostercustomrods.com