I had an a-ha moment yesterday, which I'll post for two reasons: a lot of newbies read this board, and it might help them; and it will give everyone a chance to laugh at me (it's a fun game for the whole family).

I was trying to epoxy a bunch of stuff -- gimbal, slick butt, reel seat, and EVA foregrip -- on a blank at the same time. I managed to get all the components together without making too much of a mess (when dealing with epoxy, this is a big achievement for me), but I found that I couldn't get the gimbal and the reel seat aligned - I'd check every 15 minutes, and I kept finding that the gimbal had somehow rotated to be a bit out of alignment with the reel seat (and this is a big embarrassment for a custom builder -- getting the reel seat and gimbal aligned is Custom Building 101. I would never let a rod with a mis-alinged gimbal be seen in public).

So, after the third time I found that the gimbal had moved, I gave up. I pulled the gimbal off the blank, and resigned myself to epoxying it after the reel seat and grips had set. I turned off the lights feeling a slight but distinct sense of failure.

The a-ha moment came a bit later, when I realized that the one-at-a-time method was probably the better way to do this: by epoxying the reel seat first, and the gimbal second, you're dealing with only one variable at a time: trying to align the two when they both can move can cause you to pull your hair out, and it's a lot easier when one of the two items is locked in place, and you're only dealing wiht one variable at a time.

Do the sharpies out there do it this way? Or is there a secret method for doing both at once that I'm missing?

maybe one of these will help : Grip and Handle Clamps [www.rodbuilding.org]

Bill - willierods.com

When I am doing up a heavy rod, I work slow. For a slick butt, I use Mesh Fiberglass drywall tape and I make the bushings to fit the slick butt. I make up all of the bushings I need, and leave them on the blank. I unwrap the first one, epoxy and wrap the tape back around the blank, adding more epoxy as I go if needed. When the bushing is fully wrapped, I slide and twist the slick butt over it to hold it in place and repeat until all of the bushings are filled with epoxy and the slick butt is in position. Same process for the reel seat. I mix up 2 smaller batches of epoxy, so it doesn't harden on me and I have more work time. I can usually get the reel seat and foregrip and winding check on with 1 batch, and I usually use 1 batch of epoxy for the slick butt. I don't install the gimbal until the rod is done; the butt fits better in my rod lathe chucks w/o the gimbal. I put a couple layers of duct tape on the butt so it doesn't slip out of the chuck. That way the reel seat is aligned with the spine and I have plenty of time to play with the gimbal alignment. I line it up and tape it in place and let it set up a bit and then check and readjust as needed, leaving it taped so it can't shift.

I used to have epoxy everywhere when making rods with slick butts. Using this method, it is much easier and cleaner to do!

I agree with Tim.
When making up a rod like this I simply wrap the blank with masking tape to use as a filler for the butt grip. In between each roll of masking tape, I leave a 1/8th inch gap. During the glue up process, I fill the gap with epoxy as well as coat the masking tape. The epoxy bridge between each of the rolls of masking tape gives plenty of strength and stiffness to the rod handle.
After the butt section is all sized and ready for glue up, and the reel seat is all sized and ready for gue up and the fore grip is all sized and ready for glue up, I mix up one large batch of 30 minute epoxy. Since very thing is pre fit, I use my handle turning lathe to spin the rod at about 50-100 rpm, as I apply the glue. This allows me to apply all of the glue to the presized blank areas and to also lay on a good thickness of glue on up the blank, which allows me to get the inside of the handle, reel seat and fore grip well coated before sliding back down the blank.

So after the epoxy has been mixed, it only takes me one to two minutes to completly coat the handle and components and slide everything in alignment.

As Tim stated, the very last thing that I do is to apply the gimbal after the rod has been completly wrapped and coated and dried. All of my tools work much better without having the gimbal on the rod during the wrapping , coating and drying times of the rod.

--
After doing the butt, reel seat and foregrip glue up, I push everything together, do a quick wipe down with alchol and xylene if necessary, apply the handle clamps and do a final clean up of the epoxy with alchol and or Xylene and set aside for the epoxy to set up.

Generally speaking no more than about 15 minutes has elapsed from the time I began to mix the epoxy until I have the rod glued up, cleaned up and clamped for drying.

-----------


Just for handle glues ups, I made a special lathe.
I found an old surplus 24 volt cordless two speed drill. I stripped it down, and pulled out the chuck, gear box, and motor from the case. I then built a stand to house just hte chuck, gear box, and motor. Then, I made a 0-24 volt variable foot controlled dc power supply to power the drill.

The drill is mounted in a stand which matches the height of my rod wrapper rod supports.
During use, the handle lathe motor is mounted on the wrapping lathe in place of the wrapper motor.

I then use an appropriatly sized solid dowel of eithe steel and or fiberglass or grapthite, that has been wrapped with masking tape to give a nice tight friction fit up the inside of the butt section of the rod blank. I then use this solid dowel chucked into the chuck of the 1/2 inch cordless drill motor mounted on the stand a lone rack to spin the blank and handle components at the required speeds. I use the low gear setting on the motor which gives a top speed of 300 rpm at 24 volts.

With the power of the drill - especially in the low gear setting - gives me ample power to sping the blank during glue up, even if I am working with sticky glue and big handle components.
Again, with the use of the low speed gears on the drill motor the lathe gives me the flexablity to turn the blank at 1 rpm if necessary for good glue penetration into all areas of the blank , handle, and reel seat components.

Take care
REW

The Volume 13 #4 issue of RodMaker, due out in August, will contain a fairly in depth article on heavy duty saltwater rod construction. One of the things it features is a fool-proof method for getting perfectly aligned reel seats and gimbals. Pretty neat trick.

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

THe last thign I do on ANY rod is glue the butt cap on. IT's MUCH easier to hold/clamp teh rod to wrap guides and apply finish if the end of the blank is bare. Aluminum gimbals get scratched adn do not hold well in a Clemens/REnezetti lathe.

Billy Vivona Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> THe last thign I do on ANY rod is glue the butt
> cap on. IT's MUCH easier to hold/clamp teh rod to
> wrap guides and apply finish if the end of the
> blank is bare. Aluminum gimbals get scratched adn
> do not hold well in a Clemens/REnezetti lathe.


+1 I learned this the first time I built a rod with a gimbal, even with a rubber band around the gimbal, the rod came loose. One of the jaws of my clemens lathe hit the side of the gimbal and scratched it pretty bad.

graphite arbors in the seat and the slick butt will be a lot easier. Glue into each and then when dry ream to fit the blank A lot lighter then tape and rod bond.

yep gimbal last.

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2010 10:12AM by bill boettcher.

Im with Billy, gimbal last

Me too, gimbal on last.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.