I was having a heck of a time trying to use tape to place some H & H Single Foot wire guides. I got the idea of using hot glue. I put the the foot of the guide right in the hot glue gun tip. I let it sit there for 10 or so seconds and then I pulled it out and pressed it on the blank. I held it there until it was cool--about 10 seconds and then I wiped/rubbed off all of the excess glue and wrapped it like normal. The guide stayed firmly inplace and I was able to avoid the wobble that comes with using masking tape. The only hot glue that was left was a very, very thin layer between the blank and the foot of the guide. The guide never got that hot- I was able to touch it with my fingers. I had concerns about the Epoxy contacting the glue but I thought it would not matter that much as I had removed most of the hot glue and the epoxy contacts the thread. I put two coats of epoxy on my wraps and it looks fine. I'll test it out over the summer in my secret lab in North Idaho.
Curious to hear what folks think?

I just saw that this is not a new idea--glad to hear that! I'm done with taping guides.

It's a good idea but not a new idea. Great that you discovered the concept! Flex Coat offers a Guide Foot Adhesive which is really similar to hot glue sticks. I think I read it does differ in that it has a lower melting point. No need for an actual hot glue gun though.

eric
fresno, ca.

Using tape, I can very easily adjust the position of the guide. Plus I am really not wanting any excess glue to clean up after or have a spot of glue show up through the wraps. Too each his own though.

Dan

Do you static test the rod before yor final placement of the guides

Bill - willierods.com

Dan

Go to a craft shop and buy the mini spring type clothes pins. They come in several sizes, I use them all the time. The large ones for the butt guide and smaller ones for the running guide. They hold the guide in place and allow the guide to be adjusted as needed. On micro guides the mini clip will leave just enough of the guide foot exposed in order to wrap several turns of thread to secure the guide so the mini clip may be removed.

John

When you go to the craft shop, ask for low-temperature glue sticks.
High temp sticks are more like tip cement.
I normally use Flex Coat guide sticks, but in a pinch I can always get nice small diameter sticks in a craft shop.
I use a Bic lighter as a heat source, but if you have a glue gun tally-ho and stick-on!

For guide placement and good robust testing try micro nylon ties from Swampland. You can sling any weight you want and use a variety of power during testing. Often we make less powerful casts when we know guides are less secure on the blank only to find out later that when you pour on the power, line starts piling up in a place that didn't show up in testing. Wrapping the guides is a different phase of the build. Mark the blank, take off the tape, ties, rubber bands or what have you and then use the foot adhesive IN TINY AMOUNTS to get the guide in position for a non-stop wrap.

For small guides, I simply use dental elastic O rings.

So inexpensive and so simple to use. Just put enough rings on the blank before starting to put any guides on the blank plus a couple of extra.

Slip a guide under each O ring and move to the next one. You can ease the guide up and down the rod as needed and also rotate the guide on the blank before wrapping.

Keep a sharp pointed nipper on hand, to nip the O ring off the blank when the guide is 1/2 wrapped.

Easy, quick and effective and nothing left on the rod blank.

You can check out any of the on line @#$%& sites for plenty of inexpensive sources for these rings. For the smallest rings, you are looking for the dental attaching O rings. They are smaller than the longer dental ligatures.

Take care

P.S.
If you do use tape to attach guides to a rod, a couple of points.

1. make sure that your blank is free of dirt, dust, and oil. Any of these things both affect the appearance of the rod and also affect the way that tape does not stick to the blank.

2. Use thin tape, like 1/8th inch masking tape. The colored tape is lower tack and has a bit less adhesive on it, but for the smallest blanks and guides it seems that the natural tape with a bit more adhesive and grip on the tape works better for tiny guides.

3. Using the tape roll, cut off a bunch of pieces of tape of a reasonable length to handle - but DO NOT use a finger and touch the tape near either end of the tape . Stick the pieces of tape to a convenient spot on the wrapper or bench, but do NOT stick the tape to the bench on either end of the tape.

One of the big reasons that folks who use tape have problems, is that they use a finger to hold a piece of tape when it is cut off the roll. Their fingers transfer skin oil to the piece of tape and then, they stick the tape to the bench or similar place for temporary storage and then the oil coated tape gets a layer of dust on it from being stuck to a dusty bench or similar.

Then, when the builder goes to use the oil coated, dust coated tape, it no longer sticks to the small blank or the small guide that they are trying to secure to the blank.

But, if you have a clean location to temporarily secure the tape, and do not touch either end of the tape with a finger when cutting and moving the tape to the rod blank, you will then be using a clean oil free, dust free piece of tape to secure the guide and you will find that the tape actually works very well to secure the tape to the rod.

One very easy thing that I learned over the years, is to use a piece of wide normal tacky tan masking tape to tack off any part of the bench or wrapper where you might want to use as a temporary holding spot for the tape. By going over the spot where you want to temporarily store the tape when building a few times with fresh sticky tape, you tack off and remove any oil, or dust from the area to avoid contamination of the new thin tape pieces that you will be using to secure the guides to the rod.

Every now and then I catch myself, not doing this on a new build and find that I am having a bit of an issue with the tape. So, I stop, tack off everything with new tape and restart with fresh tape and then am good to go.


Sometimes bad habits die hard.

Good luck with your rod building.

Gentlemen

Flex Coat Guide Foot Adhesive is the BOMB!

Check out the video link below

[www.flexcoat.com]

Flex Coat Company
Professional Rod Building Supplies
www.flexcoat.com

I used to use tape. then last year i picked up a Flex coat stick at the Michigan Rodbuilders Gathering(coming up this year April 18) and started using it. A little goes a long way. If I see a bogger of glue on the guide I know it's too much and just pop it off and start over. I think I've done about 2 dozen rods with that stick and am not even a quarter thru it.

Usually you can heat the foot only and swipe it across the glue and thats enough to keep it in place for the wrap.

That's exactly what I do Jim.

Jim Ising Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Usually you can heat the foot only and swipe it
> across the glue and thats enough to keep it in
> place for the wrap.

I second this method, (after static loading with the guides tied on with elastic thread).

Don Campbell
don@sensorfishingrods.com

Like Roger I use very small diameter dental bands/rings. They virtually eliminate the tape jobs.
Rog

John Cates Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gentlemen
>
> Flex Coat Guide Foot Adhesive is the BOMB!
>
> Check out the video link below
>
> [www.flexcoat.com]
> nal-videos/mastering-guide-foot-adhesive/


John, how well does the guide stay on using the adhesive while test casting?

I use low temperature hot glue on ice rods, it
makes the job easy.

I go to the orthodontist and ask for 1/4 inch rubber bands.
same thing as what has been talked about earlier.
They just give them to me. And I dont think it is because of all the money I donated
low temp foot adhesive also works.

As I understand it, the glue is not for the layout phase of your build, it's for the wrapping phase. You're not gluing guides in place, your holding them until wrapped. Take a look a Rogers video on how he uses the glue. Not only does it go very fast, he usually ends up with perfectly aligned guides in the process.

[www.flexcoat.com]

Didn't mean to jump your post John...:)