Many of you know that I've been hanging around on this forum for almost a decade now and other than Fuji and POINT Blank I don't talk much about other products...if ever. But recently, Flex Coat introduced its Dual Control Wrapping/Finishing Variable Speed DC Motor with foot control. I had many long discussions with Roger and John and Craig about my limited capability at the bench and I have openly admitted this shortcoming on this forum many times. I KNOW where to put a guide for top performance, I just have a little trouble PUTTING it there on the blank. My main problems have always been speed, overlapping thread during a "high speed" wrap, hand-cranking a power wrapper backward to correct said thread overlap (which is almost impossible using two fingers on a tip section that is 2mm in diameter with a big drive belt working against me). Then, choosing a finishing speed that seemed right until I needed to get a clean line behind the guide foot and had to rely on my foot to start and stop in just the right place

Yes, I know many of you are smirking at my inability to adapt and excel with very good equipment at hand but dadgummit it really affected my ability to ENJOY what I was doing. I also believed that I was NOT the only rod builder in the world having these issues. Anyway, Roger and company listened and worked and listened and worked and one of the first production models came to me a couple of months ago and I have worked with it since. I now ENJOY sitting down to wrap a rod. It's a pleasure. I choose MY wrapping speed. Stop instantly whenever I screw up, back up effortlessly to correct the boo-boo, and can dial fast finish speeds for butt wraps and slow finish speeds for micro guides. I can even turn the blank backward while finishing with the motor still running forward. This thing is smooth and loaded with controls at every setting - including reverse.

I would highly recommend this product for hand wrappers ready to make the first leap to a power wrapper. ESPECIALLY if you started with Flex Coat and have the supports and track already in place. It's plug-and-play out of the box. You can read more here, [flexcoat.com].

Happy wrapping... and finishing... and drying in the same place.

Jim,
I second your recommendation. John and flex coat have done a fine job to get all of the items right for a good power source for power wrapping as well as for finish application. Enjoy.

All I can say is that I am humbled by these comments. We work hard everyday at Flex Coat to support what we have and develop better solutions for rod builders. OEM quality. Thanks for the comments.

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

John,
Most of the rods I build are fly rods, whats the lowest speed for the drying application on this? I have a PacBay wrapper currently is there anyway this DC motor could be used with the PacBay track that I already have? Thanks.

Tim

Hey Tim

Even though we already communicated over email I wanted to post and answer.

The Dual Control motor is designed to drop in and work with Flex Coat track, but can easily be modified to work with any aluminum track system, as some of our customers have already done. However, our new DC777 machine comes with the most ergonomic alignment track, slot wall mounted roller supports, and comes with a thread control board and hand steady rest tray for finishing. Also, NEW to the motor is a lock that allows you to secure your rod straight up or down for guide alignment with our guide foot adhesive. The speed of the motor is 40 to 420 RPMS which is a good range of speed to wrap, finish and even cure all types of rods including fly rods.

I do get it, 40 RPMs sounds fast to those that have never tried it, but if I set the motor to 40 and showed you, I bet you would not think that was 40 RPMs. You would think it was much slower than that. When you learn what these speeds look like and, more importantly, the efficiency at which finish can be applied at higher speeds, and greater looking finish, I believe it is a game changer in finish application. When I see a video of hand rotating, or even 6 to 20 RPM gear motor finish application, I want to fall asleep. I understand that some complain about short working time with finish, well these higher speeds will cure that problem.

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



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2020 12:25PM by John Cates.