I just finished my first butt wrap on a fluke rod i am building without much sucess. The wrap was a simple diamond with a metalic braid in the center with a 4 thread wrap on eather side and a 2 thread wrap on eather side of that. It looked good but i could not keep the threads where they were suposed to be. I think this was caused by the tape loosining or not holding it tight enough at any rate the threads were loose and would not stay together or where they belonged. I thought i was using enough tension but always had to ajust the wrap. Could you please tell me what i did wrong? Should i have used a base wrap? Also should i be using NCP thread for my butt wraps. As always many thanks for your help. Rick Gilman

You can use any type thread you like for the wraps. I don't think you had the threads tight and if they slipped on the masking tape the tension was even less. I will apply new tape on every few passes just so I have some fresh, tacky stuff to stick those threads to! Then I make my tie off wraps pretty darn tight to make sure everything stays in place.

Rick, Go to your local hardware store and buy a couple of dowels to practice making your wraps. Try varying the tension until you get to a point where your threads stay in place. I used to apply a lot of tension and ran into some problems. At a conclave I met Dale Clemens and he told me to apply less tension and that corrected my problem. If you are pulling the thread off of the tape it appears that you are wrapping too tight. Try just laying the thread next to the other and let the thread dictate the tension.

Rick, instead of using two sided tape consider using regular masking tape and taping the threads down. Every 10 or so passes, wrap a full piece across the little pieces.

This may sound crazy but for years I have used a piece of tape to hold each pass of thread. I never had that good of success with the threads laying on a sticky back tape. I pull a long piece of masking tape out and stick one edge to the bench. I then proceed to cut 3/4 inch wide tape into 3/4 inch lengths. I stick one edge along the edge of my rod bench. I then cut all the pieces of thread, single or multiples, and stick one end on the tape and let them hang in order of application. I have other pieces of tape cut which are ready for the loose end of the thread after they are applied. Once you get started it keeps things flowing and you don't have to stop to set up another thread grouping. after it is all done you will have a large bump of masking tape where the threads start and stop. After you have tied off the wrap you will find that you can lift off the whole bump of masking tape in one shot. It saves time and your design comes together quickly. I hope this will help some of you to make doing your crosswrapps a little easier.

Bruce Young
Landing Gear

I have done the same thing, bu recently I did my first closed wrap on a rod with a rather large diamter. The "tower" of tape that I ended up with was extremely unstable and caused a few of the threads on the bottom to become loose. This method works well when wrapping bands of thread on large diamter blank and single threads on small ones. However, when wrapping intricate patterns on a large blank that needs to have single threads done on each pass I think that there must be a better option. Double sided tape has never worked for me either so I am not sure what the answer is.

Try not to use a lot of tension when laying down the threads. Use just enugh to get the threads to lay down next to the previuos thread. Pack the threads after every few passes. If you use cp, you will find that when the wrap is finished, the cp will act as "thread glue" and will keep the thread adhered to the blank and to each other.Bob Vasko