Hey guys,

Here’s a photo of a rod I just finished that I had a question about. So when I first started building, I had finished my first rod and probably didn’t do my guide wraps tight enough and after I finished the rod I was wiggling around one of the guides for some reason and could hear it clicking and feel it moving slightly. Since then, I’ve made my wraps much tighter and better but now I will put light pressure on guides after I finish a rod as to make sure what happened in my first build isn’t happening again with the loose guides.

Anyways, I did that tonight on my most recent build and heard a faint crack and saw the epoxy in the area circled in my attached photo where the guide meets the blank lighten in color. You can actually see it in the photo. Obviously the epoxy stretched causing the sound I heard and there was maybe some sort of separation from the blank and the guide I would presume. I have ran a toothpick point over the area to feel for any jagged edges or spots where there may be a hole now but the area is still covered in epoxy and sealed as far as I can tell.

the pressure I put on the guide was not a tremendous amount, in fact I would think guides go through far more abuse over time on a rod (at least a lot of my rods) and I’ve never heard such a thing before but also I haven’t really paid attention to stuff like that prior to building rods. My question is this: is this a cause for concern? Is this normal? I have just switched over to gen 4 epoxy and I’m starting another build and just wanted to make sure I’m not doing something wrong before I put finish on this rod.

Did you use glue to hold the guide on? Looks like a gob of something at the foot. And a locking wrap on single foot guides can be an asset.

Grant Darby Wrote:
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> Did you use glue to hold the guide on? Looks like
> a gob of something at the foot. And a locking wrap
> on single foot guides can be an asset.


No glue

Al,
Any time you have a question of this sort - you have already answered the question.

In a word.

If you have a question about a guide, cut it off, and redo the guide.

If you happen to use guide adhseive, personally, I wouldn't use it. I early found out that it was too easy to get too much adhesive on the guide foot, and end up causing a later issue.

I simply use painters striping tape in widts of 1/16th, 1/8th, or 1/4 inch - depending on the length of the guide foot.

Easy to put on, easy to remove and it works very well indeed.

When I personally wrap a guide foot, I wrap it tight enough so that it takes both thumbs on the guide to move it. When I have it at this amount of tension, I have no issues at all with the guide foot and or movement.

Best wishes.

Hey Al,

If wraps are tight - and you didn't use color preserver - the only thing I can think of is that the finish didn't migrate under the guide foot to stabilize it.
I've done destructive testing and discovered that finish doesn't ALWAYS migrate under the guide foot.
So----when I apply finish --- I first apply drops of finish at tunnel openings and wait till it wicks all the way to the guide foot ends. You MUST keep putting drops of finish at tunnel openings during the process.
If you allow the area to get dry - you will suck a bubble into the tunnel. After the finish wicks all the way to the foot ends - you can start applying epoxy to the rest of the wrap.
Herb

Do all the guides have this issue or only the guide in the photo? The guide in the photo looks very long and may be the problem.

Consider the guide to be a fixed end cantilever beam. When a force is applied to the free end, the maximum stress is concentrated at the fixed end of the beam.

The stress at the bend of a long guide may be high enough to distort the adhesive and crack it.

Herb's advise to make sure the adhesive wicks under the wrap is the way to go.

Have fun

I also believe there's a bit too much finish in front of the foot.

You can remove that excess epoxy with a stripped bread tie. Remove the paper from half of the tie and drag the wire back towards the tunnel while the epoxy is wet. Wipe the excess off of the wire with a paper towel. Check the guides every half hour and repeat until the excess is gone. This process will also force some of the epoxy back into the tunnel.

Mark Brassett Wrote:
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> You can remove that excess epoxy with a stripped
> bread tie. Remove the paper from half of the tie
> and drag the wire back towards the tunnel while
> the epoxy is wet. Wipe the excess off of the wire
> with a paper towel. Check the guides every half
> hour and repeat until the excess is gone. This
> process will also force some of the epoxy back
> into the tunnel.


I use non-waxed dental floss.
Use the floss also to clean in-between double foot guides - must use a dental floss threader though for that phase.
Herb
CTS

20 or more years ago I had cracking and it was on a rod that hadn't been used. I think since it was a rush job to send to someone to show the weave. And because of that rush job, I used a little extra temp to help the cure faster. The cracking was across the stripper guide in front of the guide foot. It was a heavy rod 20-50lb and maybe .875 dia and there had been absolutely no flexing of it.

I do as Mark and Herb do. Works.