You have to go through each grit. You can't use 80 and then skip to 320 and think you're going to get rid of the earlier sanding scratches in a half minute. In your original post, you said the cracks were "horizontal." I assume you meant lengthwise. If this is the case, then sanding scratches are not the problem. .............
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Doubtful you'll save much if any weight between the Minima guides and standard snake guides. ................
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You don't want to generate top much heat as this will permanently soften the EVA. I start with 60 or even 80 grit. This allows me to get the size down and shape in without having to sand for very long, so there is less heat generated. From there I go to 100, 150 and 250 and that's about it. I doubt your sandpaper is causing lengthwise cracks. Something else is going on. ...................
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The choke guide is essentially the first running guide. .............
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I have always taped down a white NCP thread as the alignment line. After the first few crosses are made, you snip one end and pull them out from under the wrap. ...............
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In a nutshell, the action will become slower. If you cut from the butt the casting weight range won't be affected too much but the blank will be less powerful. If you cut from the tip, the casting weight range will increase dramatically. ..............
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The foam core, not the carbon skin, is the "magic" behind these grips. Unless you're only looking for aesthetics. ...............
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Many well known blank distributors source blanks out of China nowadays. For the most part they are considered good quality and high performance. The days of assuming that any blank made in China must be deficient in some area are long gone. ................
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One of the several RodMaker articles on molding these cores used nothing more than a metal baking tray. Holes were bored for insertion of 4 steel mandrels. You poured the urethane in, allowed it to cure, slid the mandrels out, popped the urethane foam "cake" out and ripped 4 turning squares by cutting on a bandsaw or even by hand. Not at all hard to do. ...............
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It does add weight, but that weight is spread out along the entire blank length so while it will have some impact on rod performance, it won't be as drastic as you might imagine. Over the years it has become apparent to many blank makers, that most rod builders and fishermen are willing to sacrifice some very small amount of performance for aesthetics. ..............
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They were good blanks. I still have a few. nicely finished. I think they stopped production back in the early 2000's. ............
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Check the online Glossary page on this site for the answer to that and many other rod building terms. The button is just above the forum top. .....................
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You can certainly leave it bare, give it a little buffing and then coat it with some wax. It will be fine and actually gives you the highest stiffness to weight ratio. ..........
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Depends on the temperature. Longer pot life generally also means it will take longer to set and then cure. If the temperature in your shop is under 70F then having it stay tacky for a couple days isn't unusual. Give it a couple more days. Move it to a warmer area if possible. ................
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It does matter. When you have the rod fully flexed you don't want the line down on your forehand, if you in fact keep a hand in front of the reel. You certainly don't want the line down on the black between the reel and butt guide. Other than that you're probably going to find that the spacing given will be mostly fine unless you're doing something very unusual with your handle length. .......
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If you're going inside, use carbon. ..............
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That's how you do it. .........
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ben belote Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Tom..from what little knowledge i have of cp you > do not want the epoxy to get down into the fibers > because you loose the color retention..i think > it,s called wetting...cp forms a barrier to > prevent this wetting of the thread by the epoxy.. Yes, that's the point. And the epoxy doesn't need t
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If you use a carbon sleeve you will have an overly stiff spot at the repair. The larger diameter of the sleeve will create more stiffness than the small diameter of the rod blank. If you are talking about an inner sleeve, carbon will be fine. It should have thicker walls than the blank area you are repairing. ...........
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It's a thick viscosity like most of the typical hi-build types. They all vary a bit, but it's not the thinner type such as Flex Coat Lite, etc. .................
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Take guide, wrap it to the blank, put a good, wet application of CP on it, follow it with epoxy. When cured, try to pull it off the rod. You'll have to use pliers and you'll deform/break the guide or blank before you'll get it off. But anyone that feels that CP creates an inherently weak wrap needs to try this to put their mind at ease. ..............
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A. Get a scrap piece of rod blank with a slightly larger butt than the blank you're working with. Reverse it and start the grip down on that, then put the scrap blank butt over the actual rod blank butt and push the grip from it onto the rod butt. This way you are pushing from a larger area to a smaller area. or- B. Ream the EVA to fit over the rod butt. Shim the remaining rod tape with cor
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Anything, including CP, that fills the tunnel will tend to stop the guide from shifting side to side. But guides under wraps coated with CP aren't falling off or being pulled from rods. Using CP does not create a weak wrap. ................
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Epoxy does not need to penetrate thread wraps in order to have a strong wrap. The thread is your strength. Epoxy then protects the thread. ...............
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There have been and are lots of types used, from squeegee coated epoxy paints, to automotive type urethanes and enamels. Different companies use different paints/finishes. There isn't really one industry-wide standard for blank coating. ...............
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I don't pre-seal the urethane core, but do apply epoxy to it and then again on top of the sleeve to fully wet it out. I use West Systems 105 resin with either the 205 or 206 hardener based on working temp and how fast or slow you need it to set up. For final top-coat finishing, my video outlines that in full. PermaGloss isn't the only product you can use, but I've found it to be about the bes
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Casting accuracy is entirely in the hands of the person doing the casting. Guide systems won't have much of anything to do with that. ................
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The surf rod article is in Volume 18 #3. ...........
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RodMaker Magazine. Full, complete, detailed and specific on everything there is to know on building Surf Rods. .............
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To Phil's question, and there were such tests and data in the very early issues of RodMaker, beyond a certain point you cannot gain any further distance by using different guide systems or set-ups. In a nutshell, a give rod blank is capable of casting a given weight/shape a certain distance. As you get past really bad guide set-ups, and closer and closer to optimum, there is going to be a point o
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