When packing under wraps how tight is tight enough I keep slipping and making Fuzzy's because I try to pack it it's hard as I can. I already cut it off like 12 times.

To correctly pack and burnish wraps, you need a highly polished tool!! If you are making the wraps fuzz, you are using too much pressure or a tool that is not smooth enough. If you see a slight gap while you are wrapping gently use the tool to push the thread together..
Try to do this as you wrap and not after your wrap is completed. You can lightly burnish the wrap when complete, but packing should be done as you wrap so you aren't trying to push more than a few threads together at one time.

Hi Paul,
Try holding a burnishing tool against the wrap as you're turning with just moderate pressure. That method gets mine packed well enough with just a bit extra in the start and finish areas.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

A lot depends also on - how tight the tension is - and how many turns you do Before you try to pack
You should not have to push REALLY hard to push the threads together Your tension MAY be to tight

Bill - willierods.com

Randy and Col's advice will get you on track in a hurry. All I can add is to have the thread come in at an angle to self pack the threads.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Good advice Russ, I learned to do just that after the 1st or 2nd rod I made. Custs down on packing, and you just need to lightly burnish.

beside what was said
The surface you are laying your thread on has to be VERY smooth or the thread will not SLID If it takes a lot of presser to push it tight your tension can also be to tight You are not wrapping a guide wrap it is only a base for a guide to lay on !!!
ease up on the tension and also how many turns you wrap before you try to pack

Experiment and you will get the hang of it

been there done that !! When correct you can use your thumbnail to pack It does work

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/2013 06:06PM by bill boettcher.

I may be wrapping too many turns before I try to pack it. I usually go about 30 turn and then pack and I really have to push hard.I use a stainless cuticle tool. I always try to have that little angle where the thread rolls over and drops down on the rod.

Underwraps really shouldn't have to be packed for the most part. If you need to pack, do it as you go or every few wraps...30 is too many. You also may want to adjust your tension.

Paul, more info is better....ain't like we are lawyers/cops.

Given that the majority of an underwrap will be hidden anyway.....just what is the exact problem? Most underwraps are lighter in color and if you are going too light against too dark of a blank you aren't likely to get perfection. Sometimes you have to result to tricks like painting that area of the blank. There are many other tricks to be used depending on the problem you are having.

If you can't see the blank through the underwrap you are packed enough. If the problem is getting the guide wraps to lay right use a thicker thread for them or put a thin coat of epoxy on the underwrap first (and let it dry well). You can also try doing the guide wraps in reverse rotation....but again we need to know what the real problem is.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Russ is right, unless you are putting dark thread for a base on a light blank. Then you will be able to see the lighter blank color showing through. Pack or push the thread as you go and keep an angle and you should have little problem.

Thanks for the info. I loosened the tension and packed as I went. Worked much better no more slipping and gouging the thread and causing fuzzy's.

Paul,
As others have suggested, once you get a wrap started, keep the supply thread at about a 10-20 degree angle to the wraps. Then, generally you will not have to pack at all.

After the first 10 wraps, I will pack to compress the starting threads, but then generally never pack any more. Finally a light burnish in the tag area to smooth that and you are done.

The angle of the thread takes care of the packing.
By the way, on under wraps, since there are no guides involved, I tend to keep the tension very tight. Really no reason not to have tight tension and I just prefer the wraps that way.

Roger

Maybe I'm the only one who does it like this but since I do mostly cane rods I don't power wrap. it seems like i have a permanent divot in my thumbnail from packing as i wrap.

roger wilson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Paul,
> As others have suggested, once you get a wrap
> started, keep the supply thread at about a 10-20
> degree angle to the wraps. Then, generally you
> will not have to pack at all.

And that is why you shouldn't have to pack. Underwraps just seem to go on by themselves. Keep the thread at a "negative" angle and you should have no packing issues.

I wrap A over A all the time with no problems.

Gary, I had the same divot in my thumbnail for the first couple hundred rods I made. One time at a Sportsmans show while demonstrating rod building and older gentleman (my Age now) asked to see my thumb. After looking at it he said, yep!! you are a rod builder!!
I wonder what he would say since I made a special tool for the job?