I did a search on this but came up empty.
Do you guys use epoxy or hot glue for your tips?

Hot glue every time

There are 3 adhering ways that I am aware of, 1) hot melt, 2) epoxy, 3) instant glue, all work. With 3) being the easiest, 2) the messiest, 3) being the most popular.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2017 07:29PM by Phil Erickson.

I always use hot melt, never epoxy.
Norm

Hot glue for Rod Tip Tops not to be comfused with craft hot glue because craft glue is soft and will melt and Poof the your Tip Top is gone.

Glenn McMurrian

Any special tips because I always use rod tip hot glue but have had them loosen up.
I usually just rough up the tip and apply in excess.

quit using hot melt over 20 years ago and went to epoxy and never used anything else since and never had a problem
5 min epoxy is great for that as it sets fast and you don't have to worry about it twisting and removal is easy with a little heat same as hot glue

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

If you are using Tip Top cement already then about the only other thing that you might try to do is wrap a little bumper wrap snug up to the tube of the Tip Top and Epoxy over the Bumper thried with the Epoxy drying over the tube. When you size your Tip Top on your rod do not select the Tip Top with a tube that is loose as you want the Tube of the Tip Top to fit snug but not to snug as in tight.

Glenn McMurrian

Wes,
It is quite conventional for folks who build very heavy action rods - Musky, Shark, Tuna and similar rods will often use epoxy for the superior strength of the bond.

Be safe

Wes,

Plenty of opinions here. I only use the hot melt tip top glue.

I usually start by prepping the rod tip by knocking the shine off, with a scuff pad, before installing the tip.

I will take the glue stick and trim small, toothpick sized pieces off of it. I then stuff a few of these into the tip top tube, heat it until the glue bubbles up, and then I slip it onto the rod and position quickly.

This works great for me.

Take care,

Chris

Get a glue gun, use tip top adhesive and squeeze out ribbons of glue. Different diameters for different size tip tops. Stick a ribbon in the tube, heat the tube, melt the glue and apply tip top.

I agree it is important to get the hot melt glue in the tip top tube, gives a good glue joint.

Tip tops are the most commonly replaced guide on fishing rods, and hot melt glue makes it easy to replace them. I hate it when I try to remove a damaged tip top that had been epoxied in place, it takes more heat to remove it and the excess heat can breakdown the resins holding the carbon or fiberglass fibers together at the tip of the blank. This can cause damage to the very tip of the rod requiring the tip to be cut back a little. That is the main reason I do not use epoxy for tip tops. In addition there is a set up time for the epoxy and if you are not careful the tip top can drift a little getting out of line. Hot melt glue sets up very quickly and if the tiptop drifts it is easy to reposition.
Norm

By the way, for the folks who are not familiar with a tip removal process that was posted on this forum some years ago is as follows.

1. Have a hook somewhere - on a wall, table, desk or similar
2. Obtain a heavy duty rubber band and loop it through the tip top to be removed.
3. Hook the other end of the rubber band to the stationary hook that you have secured to the wall or table, desk or similar.
4. With a concentrated heat source available, stretch the rubber band to its maximum by pulling back on the rod blank. It works really well for someone else to do the rod holding and anther person to hold the heat source.
5. Then, slowly turn the rod around and around while placing the heat source under the tip top.
6. Be ready --
7. When the heat on the tip top - is ready and just ready, the glue will be soft enough to release its hold on the tip and will go flying off of the tip and bang into the hook , wall or what ever.

Using this method, you have used the absolute minimum amount of heat that is required to remove the tip top from the rod.

Note:
You want a "concentrated source of heat" so that you are only heating the front 1/2 inch of the tip to soften the glue on the inside of the tip top and are not heating any more of the blank than the tip 1/2 inch.

A nice process picked up a long time ago from this forum.

Be safe

By the way, for the folks who are not familiar with a tip removal process that was posted on this forum some years ago is as follows.

1. Have a hook somewhere - on a wall, table, desk or similar
2. Obtain a heavy duty rubber band and loop it through the tip top to be removed.
3. Hook the other end of the rubber band to the stationary hook that you have secured to the wall or table, desk or similar.
4. With a concentrated heat source available, stretch the rubber band to its maximum by pulling back on the rod blank. It works really well for someone else to do the rod holding and anther person to hold the heat source.
5. Then, slowly turn the rod around and around while placing the heat source under the tip top.
6. Be ready --
7. When the heat on the tip top - is ready and just ready, the glue will be soft enough to release its hold on the tip and will go flying off of the tip and bang into the hook , wall or what ever.

Using this method, you have used the absolute minimum amount of heat that is required to remove the tip top from the rod.

Note:
You want a "concentrated source of heat" so that you are only heating the front 1/2 inch of the tip to soften the glue on the inside of the tip top and are not heating any more of the blank than the tip 1/2 inch.

A nice process picked up a long time ago from this forum.

Be safe

I use hot melt glue that is used to attach arrow heads. The melting point is a little higher & will resist twisting in hot, sunny conditions EXCEPT on heavy duty rods that are going to be 1/ in the sun in rod holders (like heavy trolling rods for tuna and other pelagics) and rods where there is a probability that the line will run in/out through the tip top at speed many times. Those get epoxy. In either case it is important to ensure that the adhesive gets as far down into the tube as possible - to the point that it squirts out near the guide ring. For hot melt I've found the easiest method for me is to heat the tube and scrape off the glue from the stick. Wear gloves / finger protection.

Stick shellac or hot glue. If your tip-top gets bent or broken or you go to a different color scheme you can easily un-melt a hot-glue affixed tip-top and just as easily re-attch a new one. If you remove a tip-top affixed with epoxy or instant glue you will have to saw off your blank below the old tip-top. I use hard stick hot glue, break off little pieces with a box-cutter, break the chips into crumbs, pour the crumbs into the tip-top tube, hold the tip-top with forceps and heat the tube with an electric soldering iron, NOT a flame. When the excess glue bubbles out of the tube I slide the tip-top down the end of the blank, align it, and let it cool. Excess glue will easily chip off with a thumbnail or a dull knife. This stuff works great on arrow heads, which take a whole lot more pounding than tip tops - and you don't have to saw off your arrow to replace a broadhead with a field point.

I have tried a bunch of different methods to attach the tip top and now use the following method.

With the rod in the power wrapper, I heat up the end of the glue stick and put a dab of glue on the end of a 1/16th piece of piano wire.

The reason that I do this, is that I have found that it minimizes the waste of the glue and makes the glue easy to apply.

Then, I heat the glue up and with the rod spinning, coat the tip of the rod. Then, I also use the piano wire with its tapered tip to insert cement into the heated tip with the heated glue.

Finally, I reheat the glue on the tip and place the heated tip on the rod tip. I also rotate the tip back and forth about 20 degrees to be sure that the glue is well spread on the inside of the tip and around the tip top.

Then, I use a cleaned craft stick to remove any heated glue residue that may be left on the blank.

With this method, I have never had a tip come loose.

With some of the other methods - similar to some of the methods posted above - I have had a couple of tips come loose.

But, the important thing is to use a method of tip attachment that works for you and is permanent until it is desired that the tip come off of the tip of the rod.

Good luck

How I do it. Inshore rod; cut some slivers off the hot glue tip, cram them in the tube, hold TT with needle nose pliers (LOL), heat the tube with fire and mount on rod tip. Never had one fail.

It is not true that you must saw off a tip top adhered with instant or supe glue! It will release just like epoxy with the application of heat.

Super glue and epoxy are polymers. They do not melt. When heated sufficiently a polymer will begin to physically break down as molecules are destroyed by the heat. This breakdown can be detected as a "softening" feel. The graphite fibers in the tip of a rod are bound together in a matrix of polymers. When these polymers are heated sufficiently they will break down, and they will not "harden up". This is why I use low-melting point "stick glue" and carefully employ a small electric soldering iron, not a flame, to melt the glue.