I've been having trouble with my resin over my thread cracking.
I've been measuring out with syringe and stiring to instructions by flex-coat.
I've been thinking maybe 2 problems.
1 - Not getting resin down the channel.
2 - Thread wraps not being tight enough.
I've been putting the flex-coat high build on in thin coats (2 coats).
Any suggestions or help appreciated.
The cracking is after the resin has dried and I flex the rod and there is a clear 'cracking' noise.
The finish is clear and smooth, with no visable defects.
The cracking only appears at the front of the guide foot.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2009 09:45AM by Richard Cake.

Guides dont' flex, blanks do. SOmething gives, its' teh finish which shows up as cracks. Can't cure a Physics problem.

AS you experiment and build more rods, you can help the problem by testing new finishes, thread tension, different guides, etc. I've spoken to dozens of builders, there are amillion different theories as to how to prevent it from happeneing, but the fact is that no matter what you do at some point it will happen, unless you have rods which you don't fish with. YOu gotta play around and see what works for you.

How long are you letting the finish set before flexing the rod?

Over 48 hrs. With one rod no problems until it went fishing then visible signs of cracking. Not every guide though.
Thats why I was maybe thinking on thread tension?
My main rods that I do are plugging rods for bass fishing in the UK so they take a lot of abuse in salt water. They are light weight rods though, so I'm not talking about a big build of resin over the thread.

As Billy mentioned above - guides don't like to flex. As the rod bends, the guide feet try to resist the thread binding and a crack or stretch mark at the edge of the guide foot is the result. You can minimize this a little bit by creating a very shallow taper on the ends of your guide feet. The less abrubt the rise there the less problem you'll have with the cracking issue. Grind or file to a very thin profile and I think you'll see some difference.

But it's doubtful you'll ever completely eliminate the stretching/cracking until more modern type guides are introduced.

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Keep in mind certain finishes are more prone to cracking than others. How long you wait doesn't matter, several my own personal rods are fished teh morning after I apply epoxy at night, there is no difference at all. What really makes a difference more than anything is using really light, small profile foot guides. This is quite often not feasible, but it answers why a lot of the FW guys do not experiance the cracking that SW rods see.

I stopped grinding all my guides since Fuji started. I have much less cracking now than when I did grind them. THis is why I say you have to test and see what works beest for you - I figured out how to reduce (not eliminate) cracking by tinkering with tension, brands of finish, and guide styles. I also HATE seeing a large glob of finish on guides, but unfortuantely that is what pretty much all of th guys I build rods for want/expect. IT's also what some rods need based on teh amount of abuse they will see, so ou gotta balance everything out as best you can, for your style of wrapping and the rods you build. Basically there is no magic answer or fix for your problem. imo.

I've been building on Pac Bay spinning blanks, minima guides, guedbrod thread, flex-coat hi build.
I try to keep the finish as thin as possible, I don't like the big build of finish.
I have been filing/grinding the feet down.
I'll try a different angle, tension.
These blanks have alot of movement and are rated fast.
Great blanks for my type of fishing.
I think I'll try some of the Rod Smith finish as well.
Any recommendations/tips on using this finish.

Add Forhan locking and secruity wraps - wick excess - minimize height of climb of finish on the exposed guide frame - if you finish goes far enough past the frame with no thread you are hearing the popping noise as the frame distorts and forms haze cracks in the finish build up between the frame and the blank.

Rod finish should be more flexable than this....

Are you nuking the epoxy with a heat gun or a alcohol burner? Too much heat can cause strange problems.

Mix your favorite finish, pour it on a piece of waxed paper. NExt day flex it and see just how flexible it actually is.

Here's the rub on that little experiment - you do perform it 6 times, once per day, for 6 days, with the exact same finish. Some of the batches will be highly flexible, but the occasional one will be brittle as all get out. Ralph can explain this if you run into him at the Expo.

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I am heating the resin once laid on the thread to even it out.
I am using the Forhan locking wrap.
The heat may be the other mystery in the equation.
Thank you all for your help.

Heating epoxy can indeed cause cracking down the road. Although, finish that hasn't been heated will also check/crack at the edge of the guide foot.

Finish will "even out" on its own. It does not need the application of heat to make it do it.

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I've always used heat, back when I had more cracking problems, and still now when I have by far less. For me tht didn't prevent or cause any of teh issues I had, or I would stil lbe having them now.