Just as title says, how do you hold these little Mico, single foot guides in place to wrap? They are too small for tape, to unstable for hairbands. I am at wits end trying to wrap these little suckers. Thanks in advance.

Cut a small dia rubber band tye on blank in guide location, Slip guide under band and wrap, cut rubber band off, And Finnish wrap, Lots of people use small Dental bands and even elastic thread as well, But most of us have rubber bands around the house So I just use those. Have patience, And a Shot or 2 if required. LOL

Paul

You need a FlexCoat guide glue stick. Hold the guide with forceps or needle nose, heat the guide foot, slide the guide foot lightly across the white glue stick, and place the guide on the blank. The glue will hold the guide in place while you wrap.

Start the wrap where you want it to end, guide not on blank. When you get where you want the tip of the foot to be, slip the micro under the wrap, way under the wrap so you;re wrapping almost at the ring. Then when you get about a sixteenth of an inch of wrap, carefully slide the guide into its final position, then continue the wrap. Takes some practice moving the guide, but for some guides it works better than anything that tries to hold the guide in position before starting wrapping.

I have had very good results using a piece of 6# mono, tying a regular clinch knot and tightening it down on the guide.

1/8" wide pin stripe tape.

Go to a place that sells auto paints and buy a 2" roll of the green masking tape. Pretty much any tape will work but the green 3M tape will pull off clean and won't leave any of the adhesive on the blank. Cut off about 4" of it and stick the end edge on your wrapper. On the other end cut thin strips with scissors that are about half the width of the micro foot. They only need to be about 2" in length. You can cut them as thin as you want. Wrap the tape around the foot where the neck that goes to the ring is and try to keep it to about halfway on the foot. Wrap from the end of the foot and when you get to the tape peal it off and wrap the rest of the way. This is how I do it and I like it better than things you have to cut off, like runner bands and such.

LOL I'm very new to building. I had problems taping large guides. I bought the little bands @ Mudhole, when I got them thought they wouldn't make it down the blank. Now I put 2 bands on the blank slide then down, place the foot under start wrapping and cut the bands off LOVE THEM.

Taper the guide feet very fine. Start the wrap and after making three or four winds, slide the guide foot under the wrap about two or three of those winds. Align and wrap. No real need to tape them down.

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

I use thick rubber band an cut holes in it , than cut the band up in small sections , rubber bands [ thick ones ] off web , hole cutter, a good leather punch, it comes with about 6 different hole sizes, so i can do large blanks to small ones ,
it works foe me ,

William Sidney
AK

SORRY hit the key X2

William Sidney
AK



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2018 01:27PM by Bill Sidney.

Go to a sewing supply store and ask for "elastic thread". It's thin, it's stretchy, you can wind it multiple times around a small guide. Then tie it in a square knot, and when you wrap far enough to secure your guide just touch the elastic thread with a razor and it will literally jump off the blank, leaving no residue.

Tom what are you using to taper these small guides that leaves them smooth.

I do as mentioned earlier above of starting the wrap place the guide and establish a few wraps and pull the guide in place. However I find sometimes I pull the guide out as I pull it in place.

This is the way I use,,,,really simple. Go to this You Tube... [www.youtube.com]

A very simple solution is to use orthodontic bands.

You can check on - line to find appropriate bands.

[www.amazon.com]

Before starting a build, slip enough bands on the rod, plus a couple extra banks to hold all of your guides. You need to buy a couple of different sized bands to handle the size of the blank.

I also took a nipper, and used my sander on the nipper to give ne very sharp points on the ends of the cutter points. by having narrow sharp points - it is easily to cut the band as you wrap the guide.

Here are some examples of band nippers:

[www.google.com]

You can use a razor blade to cut the band, but with a nipper you don't run any risk to cut a piece of thread wrap.



Another nice thing about using bands is that it is easy to both slide a guide up and down the blank as needed and to also rotate the guide as needed before starting to wrap the guide.

Be safe

I've tried everything mentioned above, and nothing works as well for me as doing what Tom and I suggested, or the video of wrapping from the ring to the foot. The latter is a little trickier than the former because you have to hold the guide on the blank as you start. Still easier than the other methods. While it's easy to say wrap that elastic thread around the guide, you still have to hold it in position while trying to get the square knot or any other knot tied, and that's not a piece of cake. You can tie the knot, then slide the guide foot under it, but then you're risking scratching the blank with the foot. I find that elastic thread hard to handle. The band idea is a pain because you need a number of band sizes from about 1/2 inch to about 3/64 in. Same for the tubing bands, and you have to cut them to width and slide a bunch of them into position, starting with the biggest going from tip to butt. So your temporary guides have to be cleaned off the blank before you start.

The only specific requirement to the two methods I advocate is that the foot has to be well tapered, which it already is with some brands of guides, and is easy to achieve in the other brands.

But the bottom line is that what works for you WORKS, and that is all that is required. Try them all and decide. If you're close, I have a bunch of elastic thread orthodonic bands, and tubing I can give you.

I used to use elastic thread. It's easy to use, cheap and as Michael stated, you don't have to have a bunch of different sized bands on hand. With that said, I switched from using elastic thread to using the tubing that Mud Hole sells to hold guides on. Yeah I have to have all the different size tubing on hand, but you have to have a lot of things on hand when building a rod, so I don't really see it as a problem. The reason I switched to the tubing is because of how well it holds the guide in place, and having the guide held securely in place while test casting, is a big plus in my book. It also makes it easier (at least for me) to wrap the guide, especially right at the tip of the guide foot, with it held securely and tightly to the rod blank.

I don't know how everyone else does it, but once I have the guides on the rod and in their proper position, I don't remove them. I leave them secured to the rod with the tubing until I wrap them. Yeah I guess you could risk scratching the blank while slipping the guide's foot under the tubing, but ....... you suffer the same if not a greater risk of scratching the blank while sliding the guide foot under a wrap. Maybe my thread tension is too high, but I have tried slipping a guide foot under an already started wrap. A I'll say is, I'd rather not subject myself to that kind of frustration.

If you prep your guide feet well, and properly, you're not going to scratch the blank.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2018 11:35AM by David Baylor.

David, you don't slide the foot under wraps, you wrap over the guide foot, then when you have it stable, you carefully slide the guide into its final position. Being able to leave the guides in position after test casting is certainly an advantage of the tubing bands, in my opinion. I also like to keep them in position until wrapping.

What we do is tape the guides down in approximately the position we want.
Then after finishing layout and stress testing, make a note of spacing starting at the tip and between each guide.
Then take them all off, clean up the blank with Alcohol,
and then following the spacing layout, mark the spot and attach one guide at a time with FlexCoat Guide Glue.
That glue is soft enough to allow "tweaking" in alignment, also helps "cushion" the blank from the guide foot.
It works well for us, I simply hold the guide with a small, smooth jawed needle nose pliers,
heat it quickly and lightly, then dab a bit of guide glue to it, and place it at the mark already made.
Pretty fool-proof.

Best wishes,
Ron Schneider
Schneider's Rod Shop
Mountain Home, Arkansas
[www.schneidersrods.com]
mtnron40@yahoo.com
870-424-3381

Chuck up a role of masking tape and make your own pin striping tape at what ever widths you find useful.