Tom Kirkman describes in his book how to hand-rotate a rod to get a nice even epoxy finish, and I was hoping to use this method since I'm on a tight budget. But I've been told by a local custom rod-builder here in Florida that I absolutely positively NEED a rod-dryer or the finish will sag, drip all over the floor, and in general look awful. Who's right?

I was planning on using LS Supreme. Is it possible to use this (or for that matter, ANY finish) without a rod-dryer? Any advice for a first-time rod finisher on a budget?

If you have seen Tom's rods then you'll know he's right. It's the most level and flat finish I've ever seen. Look at the rods in the last photo in the book. He told me that those were hand turned. But I'm sure he has to babysit the rods for a couple hours to do the hand turning too. Could get boring.

If you don't have time for that get yourself a rod dryer or turner as some call it. I use one all the time. I apply my finish by hand on a stand where I hand turn the rod. Once I am certain it is just like I want it I put it in the dryer/turner device and let 'er roll! I check back on it about once every 30 mintues for the fist 2 hours just to make sure some insect or huge speck of lint hasn't surprised me!

One word of caution is that you need to make sure that your chuck system won't let go while the rod is turning. On this and some other boards I've read the horror stories about guys who put a rod to spinning and came back the next day to find that it slipped out of the chuck before the finish was set and man do they have a problem then!

Get an electric timer too so the thing doesn't run all night. 2 or 3 hours is usually enough.

Mike - please do not mention the rod falling out of the chuck again. I am fortunate enough to have this happen to me 2 nights in a row - someone was looking down on me because both times teh epoxy had hardened to the point that is did not get messed up. A timer would also help.

Tom - I never hand turned, but I'll offer one important tidbit. Do not use too much epoxy at once. Even with a motor, it ill be almost impossible to get a perfectly level finish. If I paid attention to this, it would prevent some of my rods from being used on Sunday afternoon Jet games (football)

My dryer quit on me a while back and while it was down I tried the hand turning bit. I could hardly tell the difference. Admittedly, I did baby sit them and turn them every few minutes while I was watching the football game. My point being, if you've got the time.............

Tom; go to www.allelectronics.com they have a 4.8 RPM motor for $2.50 +S&H if you make your chuck out of a PVC pipe cap with thumb screws get a couple heavy rubber bands (they come on Broccoli) set rod in chuck then run rubber bands from thumb screw screw to screw skiping one this will secure the rod if the screws come looseRay Alston wrote:
>
> My dryer quit on me a while back and while it was down I
> tried the hand turning bit. I could hardly tell the
> difference. Admittedly, I did baby sit them and turn them
> every few minutes while I was watching the football game. My
> point being, if you've got the time.............

If you check on @#$%& there are ususally a couple of rod drying motors available for sale at considerably cheaper prices compared to catalogs. As for rods falling out I too have had this problem. My advice to any one that has had this happen and to prevent it from happening is to make sure that you use a screw down chuck. My first drying motor had a foam insert that you put on the butt end of the rod and you crammed that into a PVC pipe end to hold it in. Needless to say it was terrible and failure increased exponentially as time went on and the foam was crushed. I have no experience with the rubber band approach, but it has to be better than foam counterpart.

Tom,
On the right line with allelectronics.com, but for using LS Supreme I've found that their 40 rpm 120v motor works best for both applying and dryng this finish. Same price, $2.50 for the motor and $2.50 for shipping. Not sure how long they'll last, but I'm currently drying my eighth rod on one. May buy two or three spares for whenever this one quits. Hard to beat the price.

Lynn Huffman

My rod dryer, with motor, stands and hardware cost about a total of $20. That is a motor, and two 3wheeled stands! Email me for plans and pics. Anyone else for that matter too.

OK, from all this I think the consensus is that I DO need a rod dryer, but it's not expensive to cobble together. Geez, when will I ever get to build my rod? :)

So I've ordered both the 40 rpm and 4.8 rpm motors from alliedelectronics. Actually, I'm thinking I might put the 40 rpm motor on a rheostat and just dial it down to the speed I want. For $2.50 I can play around with them and see what works.

Some more questions:

(1) the chuck: I can picture a PVC cap with thumb screws. Do these screw into the rod itself? I imagine you'd want to heavily wrap the end of the rod in tape so as not to damage it, right? How do I attach the PVC to the motor drive shaft?

(2) supporting the rest of the rod. Elrod described rollers--does anyone know where I can purchase these? Again, do I tape the rod where it contacts the rollers to avoid marring or damaging it?

Thanks everyone for your help.

Tom J.,

I can't imagine finishing a rod now without a dryer. But, now I'm old and spoiled. When I started out in the seventies and up into the eighties, I never owned a dryer. I used the wooden "Vee" stands I made to wrap, finish and dry every rod. I would bring those stands and the wet rod into our living room, put somting on TV, and for the next 2 to 2 and half hours I would hand rotate the rod every couple of minutes. Got good at it. That's the only way I knew. First time might be alittle nerve-racking, you start to just see it sag, you panic, turn a half turn. But, it does work. And it is cheap.

Bill Doherty

Tom - send me an E-mail at vivonab@colsonservices.com and I'll try and give you some suggestions on a set-up.