I am just an amateur. I build my own rods and one now and then for a friend.
But have come across a method to never have to worry about air bubbles in the
epoxy again. No more slow stirring, mechanical rotating cup, or
careful mixing to avoid air bubbles.

The following is a procedure if followed will eliminate the air bubble issue.

First off one myth has to be killed right now. And that is that the troublesome
air bubbles do not come from the epoxy that you mixed, they originate from the air
trapped in the thread wrap. You put the epoxy on the wrap, the epoxy soaks into the wrap and
displaces the air trapped in the threads which is forced out into the epoxy that you
just put on the wrap giving the impression that the bubbles came from the epoxy
that you just applied. So how do we deal with this? Read the procedure below
and try it for yourself, you will be amazed.

1. Don't worry about how you mix your epoxy or how many air bubbles get into it.
Just mix it real good for about 2 min. through mixing is the most important thing
you have to worry about with the epoxy. Put the mixed epoxy a side. You will
get lots and lots of air bubbles mixed into the epoxy. No to worry ,,,,, read on.

2. Now here is the important part. Take an old hair
dryer ( or sneak the wife’s) and while the blank is rotating at dryer speed heat the
guide wrapping up that you are presently going to epoxy. Hold the heat about a foot
away and move back and forth while the blank is rotating. Heat until just hot to the touch
about 30 seconds usually does it. What you are doing is heating up the air in the wrapping
which expands when heated and most of the air is forced out of the wrapping before
you apply the epoxy. (Never use and open flame for this) Now before the wrapping cools
start to apply the epoxy, ( It is benificial to heat the epoxy up a little too) it will soak
in very fast and displace what little air is remaining before it has the chance to cause
bubbles in your finish. Have found that applying a thin coat first to wet the wrap
then applying a second thicker coat work best..
After the epoxy is applied to your satisfaction and while the blank is
'rotating at dryer speed re-heat the epoxied wrap with the hair dryer. This will thin the epoxy to a
a thin consistency which will eliminate any remaining bubbles ( which are rare )
and cause the epoxy to level out beautifully. At this point there will be Zero air bubbles in the
epoxy. Continue to the next guide.

3. Be sure to apply epoxy to each layer in a double or triple wraped guide. You will save yourself
lot'sa headaches.

Thanks to all who have given up knowledge to this site it has been a great help to me.
There are for sure other ways that others have found for successful epoxy application.
The method above works for me and thought others might find it useful too.

Walt

thanks for the tip.

Walt,

That way certainly should work. The hair dryer is a good way to level off the epoxy and a good way to stir up any dust on the bench also. I use Bubble Buster from MudHole Tackle. I haven`t had a bubble since. I mixed up some casting resin the other day and it had tons of bubbles. One quick spray of Bubble Buster and they were gone.

Bill

Ohio Rod Builders

Canton, Ohio

The thing that worries me is the hair drier introducing dust into the finish. That is a different approach , thanks for sharing.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

I've always used a hair dryer for the first coat. Do need to make sure your bench is clean or stuff will go everywhere. Any bubbles that it doesn't get, I will trim with a razor before the final coat. For the second or final coat I will often use quick passes with a torch. More thin coats rather than thick coats seems to work best. When using underwraps on larger rods, may even use the hair dryer for the first 2 coats, then the torch - you have to be sure there is enough coverage on the guides so you don't fry the threads. Always keep the torch moving fairly quickly - takes less than a minute to do the whole rod.Takes some getting used to, but it works pretty well for me. Like Bill mentioned, I've heard the bubble buster stuff works really well. Might give it a try on the next build.

Thanks for sharing your info Walt.

Thanks for the feed back and additional suggestions guys....

The blowing up of the dust off the bench has never been a problem
with me. When using the hair dryer I aim it up and away from the table, like shooting at
the 11:00 position. To be honest I have never had any problem
what so ever with dust getting into the epxoy coating. Just don't aim the
blower down towards the work bench where all the dust resides. And use
the LOW blower setting, stay away from the HIGH blower setting. But always use
the HIGH TEMP setting. The idea is to heat that wrapping up to the almost hot
condition. Air can be forced out of the wrap and into the epoxy if it was not heated up
enough initally to expand the air out.

All I can say is that I would strongly urge trying the method, eliminating all that
mixing hassle and worring about bubbles is well worth giving it a shot.. And if
it does not work out well for you knowledge has been gained , all is not lost.

Thanks again for the intelligent replys, they are appreciated.

Walt

I use an alcohol burner to accomplish the same thing. No worries about dust. As already stated, this simple change made a huge difference in the visual quality of my finished wraps.

Quinn

+1 on the alcohol burner. I really like this method as it works and it rules out any debris storms.

I set a 100w incandescent lamp about 6" away and let it heat up the first wrap while I mix up the epoxy. When applying the epoxy to the first wrap I just slide the lamp down to the next wrap.

1. Insure that you never have dust in your rod finishing area - EVER. Don't do any dust generating chores in your finish area, and keep a good air filter running in the area to insure that any dust is filtered out of the air.

2. Mix the finish for two minutes.

3. Use a high speed wrapper to apply the finish to all parts of the rod. - Generally takes about 2- minutes to coat everything on the rod.

4. Go back over each guide using a source of heat - (your choice) to level the finish, insure you have clean edges and remove any bubbles from what ever the source.

Really no need to preheat the thread. If you do heat up the thread or rod, it is too easy to actually cause a thread issue before applying the finish. I would rather have the finish on the thread, so I can use the finish thickness to gauge the heat on the finish.

But, you are right, no bubbles using your method.

Be bubble free.

Roger