Well my 40yr old rod dryer just went belly up, locked up and wouldn't turn. Not sure what went wrong but it made no noise,
Time for a new one but not sure about the ones I see with the rubber cover with the hole in it. Wondering how others feel about what dryers work better than others. I have 3 different units, had 3, now 2, all have the cup with the 3 screws that hold the rod. The ones with the rubber cover with the hole in the center look like the rod could walk right out of it. Then I see the newer contraption with the 2 bent wires that grab the rod, guess it depends on spring tension to hold on. And then there's the dryer that holds multiple rods, which would be ideal for my needs. Maybe there is a better unit I don't know about ??

Fishing is not a matter of life or death, it's much more important than that

Hi John. If you got 40 yrs out of your motor...good for you. I will be interested to hear what others have to say about your post. I have 3 flex coat motors all with the rubber "chuck" I think you're talking about in your post. They have been good for the most part. Just a couple things I've noticed over the years is that sometimes there is a wobble in the blank when turning. After adjusting the blank in the chuck by pulling out or twisting or pushing in, I can most of the time fix that. It is annoying though. The other thing is that the rubber hole (chuck) obviously won't hold anything smaller than the hole is so to do rod sections without the handle/butt inside the chuck you will need some contraption or tool to do that. Mudhole sells a tool just for that...it works well. I have never had as you put it, "the rod walk right out." Hope that helps some.

A backyard rotisserie motor with three pieces of heavy copper wire soldered to a large copper washer [bolted to the drive shaft] has served me for decades. I tape the wire to the rod handle and adjust it to center by tweaking the wires. Two overlapping bathtub shower rollers support the other end of the rod blank. Primitive, but rotating a shaft at a low speed is a low-tech task, no matter what advertisers tell you.

My chuck is home made it is a PVC cap with 4 screws threaded from inside out, I stretch rubber bands across the screws so the bands form a "PLUS" across the chuck face. I separate the center of the "PLUS" and insert the rod handle. I center the rod in the chuck and I am ready to go. It takes a little effort but it works fine.

Have fun

If your using the rubber chucks , with the hole in the middle ,Tom ran an article on simple plastic bottle adapters showing how you can chuck up anything from a sewing needle to a soup can. Yes the list includes pistol grips.

blank walking out ?? reason is the non alignment of the 2 axis-es BLANK & MOTOR

William Sidney
AK

My chuck is a tuna can with bolts at 4 points into the sides of the can, then rubber bands between the bolts. The rod/blank butt restrained by the rubber bands. Not concentric, doesn't matter at the low speeds involved with "drying" (curing). The problem I have with the "rubber cup with a hole in it" chuck is that it's so hard to get a butt knob into it. I've never used a wire chuck, but I don't see that whether they are "true" matters at the slow speeds we are talking about. You don't want high speeds which can spin epoxy into a football.

I have used a variety of chucks over the years. The Fuji wire chuck will fit almost any size handle, and even small tip sections. The rubber diaphragm chuck works well if the piece is not too large or too small. The streamside design chuck uses rubber bands to hold the blank in place I have used them for over 40 yrs with no problems. Don’t hear much about them theses days, but they are a nice chuck.. [www.anglersworkshop.com]
Not matter which chuck you choose, make sure it will fit the motor stem.
Norm

I've had good luck with the Flexcoat slip clutch chuck. Mine has never walked out, but I'm picky about everything being level and straight so it has less chance of causing a walk out before I begin applying finish. My CPW's drying motor is 25+ years old and still going although I think it's running warmer than it used to.

From my beginning 6 years ago, I have use the diaphragm with hole type chuck for both my curing and also my (slip clutch) for epoxy application and thread wrapping as well; love being able to adjust the rotational tension of the blank in addition to just the thread tension! But as said, the hole diameter restricts the size of the piece inserted. There must be a better way!!! I am not keen on the simple adjustable screws which could mare the inserted surface and the rubber band approach seems too simple/rudimentary (even if effective as Norman suggested). This has my “habitual over thinking” mode smokin’! You all will be the first to know. I recognize the fact that if there was a better solution, it would probably already be available; while that intrigues me further, it also gives me escape route as well LOL. Wish me (all of us) luck!

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Well Mark I just offered a better method, but hay happy hunting to one and all , I have a stack of stainless steel burnishers to finish. Stainless steel only material worth making a thread tool out of.

Mark,

My wire chuck with a magnetic slip clutch works great. It will grab anything I need blank or grip wise. Changing the tension isn't as simple as adjusting a single screw, but is as simple as swapping out a shim. I'm kind of fond of my little finishing and drying motor set up now, especially after I took Roger's advice and dug out a couple diodes and added into the mix to drop the RPMs on the low end.

I suspect that with the proper resources and tooling, my mechanism could be swapped out with a collet style mechanism with nylon inserts to apply friction around the shaft. A simple tightening or loosening of a nut and locking nut could be used to adjust the tension.

Paul, I was not down-playing your suggestion; Contrarily, I would like to learn of the “simple plastic bottle adapters” but do not have easy access to Tom’s article.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Hi Mark glad you have an interest . The bottle adapters came about as an answer to the problem of over size rod butts on large rods walking out of thumb screw drying motor chucks . Along came the diaphragm drying motor cups and a new challenge to over come . one hole size needs to fits all!!#**. Alright that idea didn't work out . Believe it or not, not all rod makers wanted to have the same size butt cap and I quickly ran into the fact that I couldn't uncut larger holes for smaller rods after working on much larger rod butts. I wanted as close to one size fits all as reasonable. Thus the bottle adapter was born. Plastic bottles from rod epoxy finish became the adapters for rods. one, two and four ounce bottles are the most useful sizes. . to turn them into a working tool cut off the bottom of the bottle, Cut four slits equally spaced from the bottom to with in a quarter of an inch from the shoulder of the bottle.Be sure to keep cap tight on the bottle. Too, were as things that don't look important are assumed to be unimportant . I suggest that you nip the bottom corners on the tabs at about 45 degrees. It also helps them slip right on. once in place I use quarter inch wide rubber bands to hold the adapter in place The bottle cap goes into the lath chuck or the dryer cup. The actual rod grip never goes into the chuck or the jaws of the laths . No more jaw dents in the cork or the foam grips. By protecting your customers rod your protecting your own reputation. Never had one walk out of a flex coat dryer.

John, our original self adjusting chuck (the rubber one with the hole in it) is awesome and never dropped a rod. The neoprene diaphragm comes in a standard size of 13/16", however we can make them any custom size you want. We can go as small as 5/16" and just over an inch. Standard rod butts from 7/8" to 1 1/4" DIA fit great in our standard size hole. The diaphragms are easily switched out and last for years. Like mentioned earlier, while inserting the rod, use a twisting motion to make the rod find center.

Check out this video on our self adjusting chuck as well as our original slip clutch:
[www.youtube.com]

As far as the finish/curing motor, we have a couple options. Our motors are made and assembled in the USA, in fact I wire most of them myself. Our AC gearmotors come in 6, 18, and 40 RPM and can come with or without our slip clutch. The slip clutch allows you to stop the rotation of the rod without turning of the motor.
[flexcoat.com]
[flexcoat.com]

And then our Variable Speed DC Finishing Motors. We offer them in a fast and slow, 18-60RPM or 40-200RPM and both models come standard with the slip clutch. Also, you can choose from short (5"), medium (5 ?"), or tall (7 ?").
[flexcoat.com]
[www.youtube.com]

Hopefully I have cleared some things up.

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