I have been searching relentlessly all over the internet lately trying to find an orange aluminum winding check -- to no avail. Upon searching this forum, I discovered that at least one other person had the same problems some years back (2010), so I thought I would share a little something that I discovered today.
A lot of the "dimpled" aluminum winding checks that you see on rod building supply sites appear to be actually manufactured as "drilled aluminum cup cone washers". After a bit of creative Googling, I discovered that if you search "aluminum cup cone washer" you can find multiple sources that offer them in the elusive orange color (along with numerous others).

Just thought I'd pass that along -- I haven't been active on the forum for some time, so if this has already been discussed, I apologize. :)

Bryon

"Thumbs Up"

Travis T

You’ll need to drill those out at a minimum it looks like and then find ones with the right size ID so as to not mar the anodized surface.

I’ve powder coated some trim parts like that in orange or other colors for some customers - the dimpled ones can be problematic with the powder paint pulling back from the sharp edges of the dimples as the powder goes fluid - but on the smooth sweep type winding checks it works well. If I can help you or others out let me know - you can see the current colors I offer for powder coating on the website at www.customcoloredguides.com

Michael Ward Wrote:
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If I can help you or others out let me know - you can see the current colors I offer for powder coating on the website at www.customcoloredguides.com

Wow! Well now I wish I had just posted here when I was in search of orange components for this current build...now I'm thinking I might need orange guides and tip-top, too...this is for a Rainshadow Eternity 2 fly blank in Cobalt Blue, which I will pair with a Lamson Litespeed reel in "Cinder", which is a dull reddish orange. Main wraps will be in dark Navy, with metallic orange trim bands. That's already more "bling" than fly rods usually sport, but hey, this is custom rod building -- doing things the way you like is kind of the whole idea, right?

Thanks, Michael, for the advice and the link...you might be getting an order from me soon. :)

Byron - Just dropped you an email reply - unfortunately at the moment I can't do snake-guides... have not found a source for true titanium snake wire guides (the REC's are a titanium-nickle alloy which won't anodize) and I'm not yet comfortable on powder coating fly guides until I can prove line-wear on them.... going to setup a test fixture eventually to run tippet and other line through snake guides under tension for hours on end to see - but need to find some time to build said fixture....

Michael Ward Wrote:
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> Byron - Just dropped you an email reply -
> unfortunately at the moment I can't do
> snake-guides... have not found a source for true
> titanium snake wire guides (the REC's are a
> titanium-nickle alloy which won't anodize) and
> I'm not yet comfortable on powder coating fly
> guides until I can prove line-wear on them....
> going to setup a test fixture eventually to run
> tippet and other line through snake guides under
> tension for hours on end to see - but need to find
> some time to build said fixture....

The nickel with the Ti helps with elasticity. That's what gives them the spring effect. You can also paint your winding checks. I have done it many times but I also coat mine with the wrapping epoxy when I am applying it to the trim bands. Some people that build don't like that and will come up with a lot of false excuses, like it will crack or it doesn't look "clean or sharp", I think it is mostly because they have never done it themselves. I started coating the anodized winding checks when people were bringing me back rods with broken guides that I had made and noticed corrosion on the checks. I started doing it about 12 years ago, mainly because people just don't rinse their rods after using them in saltwater. I use titanium framed guides and the real seats are mostly plastic or carbon fiber so none of that corrodes, just the uncoated winding checks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2023 01:24PM by Lance Schreckenbach.