Can someone suggest the best glue or epoxy for attaching an aluminum winding check to a 1.75" Stubby CFX carbon fiber fore grip hood? Thank you.

Bruce,

I like Rod Bond paste epoxy for winding checks. Stays put. Easy to precisely apply in small amounts. (Pro Paste, by Mud Hole is also popular, but it has a much stronger odor than Rod Bond)

I lay my checks on a flat piece of 400 or 600 grit sandpaper and give it a few swirls to rough-up the bottom surface of the check before gluing down. Surface preparation.

Rod Bond is also excellent for reel seats and grips....and a million other things. The 15-minute version gives me plenty of time to get everything where I want it (It doesn't set up that fast).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2023 11:05AM by Les Cline.

I agree with Les.

Rod Dancer Ultimate Gel is really good as well.

Why epoxy it at all??
The thread wrap keeps it in place - then you apply thread epoxy.
Herb

They're talking about one of those spinning fore grips Herb, I had to read it twice too.

Herb Ladenheim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why epoxy it at all??
> The thread wrap keeps it in place - then you apply
> thread epoxy.
> Herb


That’s what I was wondering until Spencer explained it.

I'm sorry if I was not clear that the carbon fore grip slides over a uni-lock hood. My intention was to attach an aluminum trim piece to end of the fore grip with a slight gap so it's never touching the rod blank and the threads of uni-lock can rotate freely.
Thank you for the epoxy suggestions.

Bruce,

Caliper out the ID of your trim ring so it will not touch the blank when you lock down the hood is all I have to add.

As to the type of adhesive to use, Rod Bond (or similar) is still your baby! I use a small needle to place it on small parts and fittings like trim rings. Toothpick would work, too. Multiple tiny amounts applied work better than one larger glob for me when I am getting precise. Dry fit all parts beforehand. With epoxy, thin amounts on prepared surfaces are strongest.

Something I thought of later is: Just use/apply a very thin coat to hold the trim ring. It is not under any structural tension. Save clean-up work from too much RB 'smooshing out' between the pieces....and god-forbid into the threads of the hood.

Les,

I have a nice clean gap between the trim ring and the rod blank so things are looking good for locking down the reel seat. I really appreciate the tips on using small amounts of epoxy and scoring the surface of the ring with sand paper.
The whole purpose of ring was just for visual aesthetics. My biggest fear is that the ring would eventually pop loose from the fore grip. I'm pretty new to rod building, so I'm very thankful for the everyone's help from this forum as I build my skills and confidence.


Thank you!
-Bruce

Bruce,

Les is correct. Anything that worry's me gets Rod Bond paste. I have yet to see fail on anything. I even used it to patch a spot on the bottom of a fiberglass boat where the gel coat was knocked off by a rock in a 6" area all the way into the fiberglass. It's still there and working perfectly. Zero leaks!

Paste epoxies tend to have a higher viscosity than liquid two part systems and are better used to bond and fill gaps and may result in a noticeable bond line. .

Trim rings and winding checks fit tight and flush to the mating part and are best bonded with adhesives that are less viscous to end up with the thinnest bond line.

The trim ring is not under any load and does not need any super adhesive to keep it in place.

I would consider a two part low viscous (watery) adhesive for both bonding and appearance.

Have fun.

John

Bruce,

You are welcome! I am glad you are getting into rod-building! You have a very exciting and rewarding pursuit of that 'perfect rod' ahead of you.

A 'nice clean gap' sounds perfect for a trim ring. If the gap is too tight, it can inhibit the natural flex of the blank in the grip section, and create a stress point = breakage at the worst; or limiting the full potential of the blank at the least. Granted, most rods I fish with don't flex into the grip area. If yours do, keep that clean gap to let the rod flex down deep. You are thinking in the right direction!

Visual Aesthetics Included: Surface Prep between EVERY part is critical, IMO. No part of a fishing rod should pop loose during its lifetime of service! No part big or small, structural or aesthetic. There are no fisherpersons I know who are okay with ANY part of their rod popping loose! So, it makes sense to use best practices in ALL aspects of rod-craft. That Especially includes Surface Preparation of mating parts. The details matter both in specific and sum of the parts aspects. Surface-prep takes literal seconds to do in exchange for decades of confidence in your work.

I am still searching for a link to the Water Break Free Surface Preparation by Ralph O'Quinn to post a link.....Bruce, if you want to invest the search time, it will change your world about rod-building.

I hope you will update all of us on your current build, and especially any questions you have along the way.

You are on the right track!

Bruce,
You have a couple of choices.
You could glue on the trim ring with the fore grip off the rod or with the fore grip on the rod.

If you do it with the fore grip off the rod, before you place any guides in place, you will have no worry bout getting glue on the rod blank, nor on the threads of the reel seat.

For myself, when I do such a job, I wrap a nice fitting piece of round material, rod blank dowel or something similar with parchment paper. Epoxy will not stick to the parchment paper so after completing the bonding and curing of the epoxy, remove the parchment covered piece of rod and check your work. If you have any epoxy that is overhanging the trim piece at all simply use a razor knife to trim it out flush with the aluminum trim piece that was just glued in place.

Then, go ahead and reattach it to the reel seat and screw it down and go finish the rest of the rod.

---------------------------
Note:
In past years, when I was doing build up for items that I was making that included making a filler of epoxy and glass beads, I would always wrap the area not to have any filler on it - with saran wrap or wax paper or parchment paper.
Then, after the epoxy had cured, remove the matching piece with its non stick covering and use a razor knife or a sanding block with fine sand paper to clean up the edges if any clean up were required.

Best wishes

Les,
I believe the article you are looking for can be found in the Library section above. It is titled "Surface Preparation" and is toward the bottom of the list.

Mike

Thank you, Mike!!!

I cannot think of a single rod-building issue more important and less covered than Surface Preparation!!

Focus often is on 'this component and that component' with too little attention to how the pieces get put together. That's my Grand Torino moment here, so get off my lawn! Ha! Glue whatever you want together....just be aware of how to do it in a way that is best practices.

I love all the component talk, don't get me wrong! I want all aspects of our builds to come through for you and me and our customers with rock solid performance and no compromises. Spin, cast, heavy light, salt or freshwater...best practices is the way to success. Surface Prep is first base in all of it. And it only takes minutes to do with years of return on investment.

To be honest, I know Ralph once car-waxed all parts of a fishing rod build with the GOAL of minimizing adhesion! He found that the rod parts STILL held together under normal/nominal fishing conditions! Most factory rods are made the same way - They don't surface prep every part because their rods will work well enough even if they made them over wax-coated materials!

This is true. I'm not disputing these facts and experiences as conveyed by Mr. O'Quinn.....what I want to highlight is that Ralph goes on to say there is a Better and More Science-based Way of Doing Things. My ears perked up at this!

I didn't get into custom building because I wanted to follow what everyone else does and buy the quality I could find off the rack of a manufactured rod. No offense to the good manufacturers out there! I got into custom building because of all the reasons the people on this forum did: I thought I could do better!

Doing Better means doing it All Better to me...which includes Surface Prep of all my components.

I wanna fish with a rod that I hold in my hand and think, "You ain't got it better than me."

Thank you all for the suggestions, education and support. I've learned so much with each new build as each rod has had a specific purpose or application behind it, which results in new challenges. It's like new puzzle or riddle. I definitely want to spend more time researching "surface prep". Coming from the design world, the visual aspect means allot to me but without the fore thought and time put into proper preparation and application the look of something would be lost in the lack of quality. Which would be a huge dis-service to the idea of a custom built rod.

Thanks again everyone.

Hello All.

Hi Les here is the article you are looking for (in the library under surface somthing or another).
[www.rodbuilding.org]



Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.