I'm in the process of getting everything together for my first rod, and I am trying to decide what to do for a rod dryer. I only spent say a $120 on blank and components seeing as it's my first rod. I would rather not chuck out 80 bucks for a rod dryer without seeing how everything works. I think I can make the supports easy enough, but I am not sure what kind of motor to get. Should I go AC or DC? 5rpm or 50rpm? This is one I was talking about with my dad.

[www.allelectronics.com]

and this is the one of the ones they have at mudhole

[www.mudhole.com]

Thanks

Will, Your email is hidden. I can send you some info if you give me your email.

Thanks...it's unhidden now. I didn't realize I had done that. Whatever info you have would be great.

will,
A simple thing to do is you have an inexpensive cordless screwdriver, it will work just fine.
Basically, the best drying speeds seem to be around 5-10 rpm.
You can check out some of the surplus sites, or if you have a surplus store in your locality; you can often find motors with a speed of less than 10 rpm for a dollar or so.

Good luck
Roger

In over 30 years of building custom rods, I've never employed a dryer of any kind on any custom rod I've ever built.

They can be nice, but are not absolutely necessary. So don't worry too much about it at this point. It's not something you must have to get that first rod done.

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

Tom...I'm assuming you turn them by hand to keep the epoxy from bunching on the bottom. How long do you turn it?

I turn it only whenever it needs to be turned - you judge this by watching the bottom of the wraps and when it appears to be getting just a tad heavy, spin the rod 180 degrees. Always keeping the guides straight up, or straight down.

You stop doing this once the finish appears to be set. When the finish no longer moves, you're done. You can tip the mix cup on its side after an hour and a half and if it doesn't sag or move, neither will the finish on the rod. Just don't stop doing this too soon.

..........

Tom
I keep the guides left and right just to keep the finish from running down the up right and onto the ring when straight down. If left to long.

Bill - willierods.com

Will,

I just built my first couple of rods this year. I used permagloss because of the benefits of it being lighter, hard, I like the way it looks and because I only needed to spin it for like 5 min. I had my wife help me spin it while I cleaned my brush and container I used for the permagloss and by the time I was done (2.5 min) I only needed to turn for another 3 min and the permagloss had set enough to be left. Just a thought if you wanted to avoid a rod dryer or having to turn it by hand for an hour or two. Best of luck.

Patrick Rutledge

Will:

I turned by hand for years before getting a dryer. I would run the epoxy on one section, and turn it in my hands while watching for sags, thin spots, and bubbles. once things started to set up, I set a kitchen timer for 5 min., placed this section on rod supports, and worked on the next section. When the timer went off, I would turn the first section 180 degrees (guides up or down), and continue the process until I had the whole rod coated with epoxy. I would then extend the time to 10 or 15 minutes between turning it 180 degrees. I am sure this was overkill, but it did let me see problems as they came up, and I learned different ways of fixing some of the problems. I am self taught, and until I found this forum, I really didn't have a place to learn other techniques. I am sure that for your first couple of rods, you will learn a lot about this finish by hand turning the rods.