Hello everyone,
With my brand of wrapper it becomes difficult to wrap the area between the butt cap and the rear grip. Is there a way to extend the south end of the rod so it becomes easier to wrap this area? I'm using a Sulleys rod wrapper and I love it for everything else. Also, I've seen the blank extenders advertised on different sites but I don't think that they will work here because I already have the butt cap installed when I go to apply thread to this space. Also, I build inshore saltwater rods for trout mainly. Many thanks.

You could leave the butt cap off until the very last step, which would leave that end of the blank open for a scrap piece of rod blank or a commercially made extender (very nice tools to have).

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Here is a trick that might help.

I like to wrap my spinning reels onto carbon fiber grips and needed to come up with a way to route the thread between the reel body and the blank. My solution was to wrap a couple of guides onto a piece of 1/4-20 all thread. Then I drilled a hole about inch or so below the bottom of one of the V-blocks on my wrapping jig so I could mount the all thread at whatever distance I needed. With the design of the Sully, you could do something similar.

Here is a visual to help:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

The all thread is attached to a support off to the left, and places the thread where I need it. Unfortunately I don't have an image of where the all thread attaches, but I just use nuts or wing nuts and washers on either side of the support and tighten them down for use.

Butt cap (fighting butt on split grips) last step every time for me.

I like to do my butt wraps and hide the tie off under the butt and the rear grip. As mentioned leave the butt off till after wrapping - but another trick I’ll use is to take a piece of dowel rod and either sand a taper where it will fit snugly - or use some tape to arbor it and insert into the butt of the rod blank. I’ve found that it also needs a bit of tape on the end of the rod going into the chuck for grip.

This lets you wrap right up to the end of the blank

Mudhole also sells a product which is effect the same as this - unknown they have a nice aluminum one now - think there may also be a plastic version



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2021 11:53PM by Michael Ward.

Michael,
IN addition for another source for a butt extender is to use a piece of solid fiberglass rod blank.

There are quite a few fishing rod blanks on the market that utilize a solid fiberglass from the butt to the tip of the rod.

For many of the rods that I have built using this blank, the blank was too long for the rods intended use. As a result, I have many - blank cut offs.

To use as an extension, I will take a 10 inch piece of this blank material and chuck it into a 1/2 inch drill.

Then, with the drill running in reverse - against the direction of my bench top belt sander - I simply hold the blank section and sand in the necessary taper to match the inner diameter of the rod blank being built. If, the rod is one that uses a very large blank diameter, I will simply use layers of masking tape to build up an arbor that will fit up inside the blank. I generally like to have the extension at least 6 inches up into the blank for a secure grip.



Best wishes

I have a bucket full of cut off ends from blank big ends. Up to 18 inches long. If an extension is needed I just stick the correct size cut off up the end of the rod blank, using a little masking tape for internal tight fit and grip.

Yep, last thing that goes on my rod builds is the butt cap.

Although I have never used a Sully wrapper, it seems to me that the easiest way to solve your problem is to just move you rod support and have the fighting butt hanging free off the end. You can place the rod support at a sufficient distance in front of the fighting butt to make wrapping much easier. I assume you have at least two rod supports so there should be no problem supporting the rod while you turn the blank. I wrap by hand and have never had a problem wrapping in front of the fighting butt or behind the rear grip, I usually do these wraps first, I wrap from the rear of the rod to the tip,
Norm

John, I'm not familiar w a Sully wrapper, and I too wrap everything by hand. But what has worked for me, especially on the tip end is adjust the rod support like Norm mentions, and then attach a piece of soft line to the ceiling and make a loop to hold the butt end. Adjust the line to the correct length. Thread tension keeps the end from moving up. Rod support, if you need it helps stabilize. Takes a little patience but its quite doable. I use it for tip top and butt, with cap installed. Works like a charm. Good luck.