CRB says with proper tension on thread, the tension rod will point at your chest (basically parallel to the table). I've found that if I wrap with this amount of tension, there is no way after wrapping both feet of a snake guide that I can adjust the guide with any amount of pressure.

If you are using the HWS-1, where do you have the tension rod pointing when wrapping?
How easily should you be able adjust a snake guide after wrapping?

Thanks,
Mike J

I suggest you try hand wrapping a snake guide on a piece of broken rod blank using a fly-tying thread bobbin to hold the thread spool. Three or four ounces of tension on the thread is plenty enough. Before you epoxy this wrap see if you can move the guide to re-position it. If you can't, cut the wraps off and rewind with less tension, if it's too loose rewind with more tension. Your fingers are much more sensitive than a mechanical winder. Then coat your test wrappings with epoxy and let them dry. Try to make your guide move. Bet you can't.

like Phil says, fly tying bobbin..some people use it with a power wrapper too..

Mike,
Using any method of wrapping, I wrap the guides tight enough so that I can just barely move the guide using two fingers on the guide. If I can move the guide with only one finger, I cut it off and rewrap with more tension.
If I can't move the guide - just barely - with two fingers, I will cut off the guide and rewrap with a bit less tension.

Take care

The tension is adjusted at the spool, all the rod does is allow you to back up while maintaining tension should you need to.

I use a very simple spring tension disk to maintain tension on the thread. I do NOT run metallic thread through this device because it worn't work.

But for all other threads it works very well. This tension device is identical to the design of tension disks used on billions of sewing machines used to assemble clothing every day all over the world.

This is the thread carriage that I have used from the first rod that I have ever built years ago and it has worked for many many rod builds over the years.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

If I need to back up the rod to clear a mistake or make a change, I just hold the thread behind the rod to maintain tension until the mistake is cleared and then just rewrap holding tension with my hand until the thread is taunt again and on we go.

Thanks everyone. To me it seems that the rod position recommendation by CRB results in wraps way too tight when wrapping fly rods.

Mike: In my several decades' experience with building fly rods the guide wraps don't have to be much more than snug to keep the guides in place. The epoxy does the rest.

I have that wrapper and I dont use the rod . I come right from the spool and works good . Just adjust tension with the wing nut .