Hello!

Today I made one STUPID mistake while placing a reel seat and grip on the blank ... :(

- I take Flex Coat Rod Builder Epoxy Glue (20 min)
- Mix it in the plastic container
- first, glued the but grip and everything was OK
- after that I saw that the glue had started to harden
- but when I added it to the place where I wanted the reel seat it was so hard that I didn't pull the reel seat on
- now I have the hard glue on the blank :(

What could I do now to remove it? Is there any option? What is the best way ...

Thank you and regards!

Score the circumference of the unwanted epoxy areas on the blank with a razor knife being careful not to penetrate as deep as the blank itself. Use just enough heat from a flame, embossing gun, or heat gun to soften the epoxy allowing you to scrape or pop it off the blank with a craft stick or knife edge held vertical to the blank. If the area to be removed is small it could also be filed or sanded down to the right diameter.

Tolo,
By now, I am sure, the epoxy has hardened.
I would not use heat - don't know how much is necessary to soften that epoxy - maybe too much for blank to handle without destorying it.
I would use a mechanical method.
Like Ross said - scraping with blade perpendicular to blank.
Maybe sanding?
Do you have a lathe - to make removal symmetrical???
Whatever you do - endeavour to make things concentric so seat is then concentric to blank.
Herb



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2024 08:16PM by Herb Ladenheim.

First, welcome to rod building, as we have all made really stupid mistakes over the years.

Scraping hard epoxy is difficult. It's best to try and soften it, and the good news is the butt section is the strongest and thickets part of the blank.

You could try a heat gun and apply lightly until it softens enough to more easily scrape off. Boiling can also work.

I would certainly try a patient sanding attempt before resorting to heat. If there is "damage" to the finish that will be exposed, it can be covered with thread, abalone, or other decal type trim products. I think with patience you will get out of this just fine.

In spite of advice to the contrary, particularly in the butt area of the rod, I use heat to soften the epoxy and scrape it off with a razor blade.

I have never had issues with appropriate heat in the butt section of the rod.

However, I am very very very cautious about using any heat in the tip section of the rod.

With gentle heat and a razor blade held perpendicular to the blank, all of the epoxy will be off the rod in a couple of minutes. +
Note:
Use just enough heat so that when you use the razor blade, the epoxy scrapes off pretty easily. If you can't scrape it off, use a bit more heat until you can use the blade to remove it.

Best wishes.

Thank you, guys!

I used a mechanical method - scraping with a sharp blade!

In the end, everything finished fine! :)
We learn from mistakes ...

May I ask you - why was the epoxy glue hardened so fast? Because of plastic containers? Or?

Thanks and regards!

The plastic container will have nothing to do with setup time. The flex coat rod builders epoxy has a pot life of about 20 min and that depends on the temperature. The higher the temperature the shorter the pot life. In addition, epoxy begins curing as soon as it’s mixed, the longer you take to do your work the thicker the epoxy becomes. So with this epoxy either work fast or mix up small batches as you go. If you want something with a longer pot life use Rod Bond it takes much longer to set up.
Norm

Tolo,
A "trick" I use when I want to extend pot life of both structural and thread-wrap epoxies is to place them in the freezer to stop their exothermic reaction.
Herb
CTS

Thank you, guys!

Try the Trondak products, slow cure time and longer pot life I believe. Their Permagloss for coating blanks is awesome! I use D2 or Gen 4 for the thread wraps.