Help. I was wrapping the first guide down from tip top. Wrap kept un-raveling after lock down. Cause, not enough thread tension. Increased tension, got a nice wrap that stayed tight. Started wrapping second foot of guide, tip snapped. They are sending new tip section. How do I prevent another similar issue?

Were you wrapping by hand or using a power wrapper.

Check to see if rollers or hold down devise allows the blank to move freely.

Was the blank supported over the length of the blank. (blank wasn't cantilevering from tip section).

Check thread tension is not too tight.

Inspect blank for defects prior to wrapping.

Has the thread unraveling happened before may be its the thread.

May be it was an anomaly and may never happen again.

Good luck



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2020 08:59AM by John DeMartini.

must have been carbon because glass don,t break like that.(sung to the old jelly ditty)..lol.

What John said.
i.e. Was tip support between last guide and tip-top??
Or - between last 2 guides??
Herb

[www.rodbuilding.org]

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Over the years, I have built many many man y rods with very thin and flexible tip sections in the form of ice rods and fly rods.

I do two things to help avoid the same issue that you have had with your rod build.

The first is to make a thin rod blank or thin tip support jig. To create the jig, I just used a couple of piece of solid fiberglass rod sections. My usual rod supports are 5 inches above the base of the wrapper. So, each of these supports are about 5-6 inches tall - depending on the particular wrapper that I am using. I cut the sections to length using an abrasive cut off wheel on a dremel tool. Then, I use the same abrasive cut off tool to cut a slot into the tip of each of the solid blank sections that is wide enough to accommodate the part of the rod blank that I need to support.

Then, I use a piece of 3/8th or 1/2 inch thick plastic cutting board. I cut the base to a size that is wide enough and long enough to give the new blank supports the needed support. Then, using an appropriately sized drill bit, I drill a series of hole in the cutting board base along the center line to create a base that will give the builder a way to adjust the spacing between the vertical blank supports blank sections. This way, one can have the tip supports in place and adjust the distance between the two supports to give good support to the blank but to allow room to have a hand in between the two vertical supports as needed to do the guide wrapping.

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Then, the 2nd thing that I do when doing these guide wraps on very thin blanks as you mention and I use on some of the rods that I build is to have a thread wrap that is at least 10 wraps past the ends of the guide foot. The additional length still looks fine, but it then gives the builder the additional 5 or so wraps that are needed to secure a locking thread without having excessive tension on the thread that may end up snapping a thing and fragile blank section.

Give the method a try. It is simple and it works 100% of the time.

Best wishes.

Thanks, I am using a hand wrapper. First guide is 4.5" from top top. Blank section supported at tip, and approx 8" away. I am using colorfast, size D thd.

Size "D" thread on a fly rod tip is overkill! Trying get enough tension on the D thread puts a lot of stress on the thinnest part of the blank. Could be done, but blank supports will need to be very close together on either side of the guide being wrapped.

I am not sure where or how the tip got broke ., but "you will have to move "" the guides a little bit, to line up the guides on the blank section , if it is real tight, I am not sure you will be able to line them up , with the use of D thread , it is a over kill , do rethink that a little bit "" A "" size will look 1000% on thin blanks , I think , could be wrong .

William Sidney
AK

Phil is correct - everyone else uses size "A". I use size "00" for a thinner profile. "D" is off the charts.
Herb

Would size A thread be ok for all of the guides? I think it would not look right if all were not wrapped with the same size.

Bob,
Most fly rod builders use size A for all guides.
I use "A" for my stripper and 2nd ceramic guide (if there is one). I use "00" for all my runners. Less finish = less weight. Also, the profile is much finer which looks better.
I never wrap the tip-top - just run a small bead of finish around the tube/blank interface.
Herb

Roger, thanks for the info. For the intermediate supports, does it matter if they are not precisely the correct height?

Bob,
From an engineering stand point - if the blank support is not at the correct height, it will either be supporting too much of the blank or not enough of the blank. So, it is in your best interest to have each blank support doing its fair share of support and not deflecting the blank up, nor letting it sag down.

No idea what you are using for support, but if you need to change the height of a support and if each support is free standing, just cut up a cardboard box and use as shims under the supports that are too short.

Some years ago, when I had a need for some additional rod supports, I simply took some wood and made some. Cut a square for the base and a piece of verticle stock for the upright. Then, I drilled a hole of the appropriate size and height in the vertical support to form a rounded bottom to the slot and then, used a saw to cut from the top of the support to the center sides of the hole. Then, used a screw up through the base to assemble the support and glued a piece of felt into the slot to avoid scratching the blank.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Best wishes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2020 12:07PM by roger wilson.

Thanks, I was reasonably sure the answer would be about what it was. I have been designing tooling for aerospace and defence for too many years. I am full time in an rv, and my 'work shop' resources are very limited.

Roger , do you have a pic of that anywhere ? I cant visualize it for some reason . Pain meds maybe ? lol

Ron,
If you are asking about the blank support, look at the listing in my previous post. I have posted a picture of the post.

If something else, let me know what you want pictured.

Take care