There have been a number of previous posts regarding peel-and-stick decals and their tendency for the edges to lift after thread epoxy is applied resulting in quite a few methods to eliminate the problem. I must have been lucky with the first few as no issues were encountered until attempting to speed up the curing time by placing the rod, thread finish about ¾ cured, in my composite oven at 120
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Mike, Roger afforded a number of sources for micro balloons. I usually purchase mine through Aircraft Spruce while picking up other composite supplies, but just about any business carrying structural epoxies for the composite industry will have micro balloons, mill fiber, silica and such. While micro balloons are generally not recommended for bonding due to weakening the epoxy, for this purpose
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Mike, Very few addressed your question regarding epoxy strength vs. cure time. Basically, and I stress basically, an epoxy which offers slow, medium and fast hardeners will exhibit the highest ultimate strength utilizing the slow hardener. That is not to say inferior slow-cure epoxies are stronger than quality fast-cure epoxies. Within a given brand of epoxy, the slower cure will produce an ulti
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What is your age and years of rod wrapping experience? I am hopeful in discovering a good number of those under 25 interested in fabricating useful items, in our case fishing rods, rather than bending their necks and thumbs over a cell phone or video game. I am 63 and have been wrapping less than one year. Although the first blank purchased was over 20 years ago, I just recently realized what I h
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Admittedly, previous responders may have more experience have than I do. I use D thread for everything but underwraps, trout to tuna rods. Underwraps are A or B thread to help to minimize the heaver D thread overwrap from following or climbing up the underwrap and, as mentioned for 30lb and heaver applications. Most of my wraps are rather subtlebly intricate and the D thread tends to display tho
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Mark' All three of the above are regulars within this forum and I can only assume they have been wrapping for quite awhile. Their advice is on point and should be considered. Many starting this hobby/profession, myself included, felt they knew more than enough through their own research and talking with a few veterans of the trade only to discover they had only scratched the surface. That is not
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Norman and Tom ,and others too, have saved me a lot of work and time as well. All that is required is simply asking. Many people within this sight are knowledgable and willing to to take the time to share.
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Great input and assistance, guys! There exists a good possibility I hold my spinning rod/reel a little goofy (to match my personality). I hold the stem between my index and third finger. Granted, I have not used, let alone built, a split spinning seat before, but I expected them to be the best thing since sliced bread! I’m giving away my age with that vintage saying. While the TVS was of big int
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Eric, These vintage Conolon blanks are fatties at 0.580in diameter at the seat, within 0.060 of a 16mm seat. I do a little radiused fillet with the epoxy which I add a black coloring agent to. Nice, clean, simple. There are times I also do the same with larger gaps.
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Thanks for all the input. All of you helped a lot. Eric’s reply indicated Fuji’s recommendation of 34mm (1.3125in), so I split the difference of that and what I came up with and made the gap 1.375. Thanks, Eric. Being the cheap bas#@*d I am, no winding checks are employed, plus I prefer the less involved or cluttered look anyway. David has brought up a point I had not considered and others se
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Anton, While rather new to rod building, I have shortened the learning time immensely with the gracious input and assistance of many within this forum. With the proper attitude, anyone could similarly benefit as well.
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C’mon guys, where is the response you have made me accustomed to? Please help me out!
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Anton, I, also, am rather new to rod building. There is a wealth of information available on this site, and while all responses to your questions deserve attention, pay close attention to the veterans of the site; Tom K., Roger W., Jim I., Norman M., Phil E., Michael H., and others I hope I did not offend by omitting. They will all reduce your learning time if you remain open-minded, as they hav
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Hi to all and thank you for replying. Is there a basic rule-of-thumb distance between the tip (threaded barrel) and butt halves of a size 16 SK-2 reel seat? I do not know which reel will be employed as this will be a surprise Christmas present, I don't want to spoil the surprise, and the recipient(s) live 2000 miles away. Installing one of my 2000 series spinning reels suggests 1.5in would work.
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I have found ALL markers will bleed when coated with thread epoxy and can only assume “more worser” with PG or other similar “hot” coatings.
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Thanks to all in general, Roger and Phil in particular.
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Come on Roger, what have you already built?
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Dave & Rob, As Tom alluded to, Carbon fiber cannot be colored. There are numerous fabrics out there claiming to be colored carbon fiber, but in reality, most are simply colored fiberglass including silver which is commonly referred to as Texalium, or possibly colored Aramid (Kevlar). In any case, coloring the fibers weakens the ultimate strength of the laminate by as much as 25%, although th
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Thank you to all responding. I have become reliant on you guys and you have come through yet again! It seems my original concern of any steps in the mixing cup adversely affects a bubble free mixture of epoxy, automated or by hand. I don’t even like the steps while hand mixing! So, Phil, who sells the 1oz cups without the steps? I have purchased from two local shops and Mud Hole, but all have the
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Phil, Thanks for the input on he ridges. Spencer, Excuse me but I do not understand your point or question.
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Hi to all and thanks, hopefully, for your input. Are the rotating epoxy mixing systems worth it? In theory, the idea seems to be a good one, but with the three little steps at the bottom of the cups to keep them from wedging together when stacked, I am wondering if that causes the mixing rod to bounce and introduce air into the mixture. While I have had every few issues with bubbles in my wrap e
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Adam, Before owning one, I thought Tennessee grips were just for ice rods and thought the rings would not hold the reel securely. I was given a beautiful vintage Conolon Misilite spinning rod with a Tennessee grip with aluminum rings which has become my favorite trout rod. The only rings I have seen for sale are some kind of composite plastic which may not hold as well as aluminum. I was advised
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Phil, Excuse me. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Reading your reply a second time made me realize you meant buying a one piece blank to make a multi piece rod rather than just buying the multi piece blank in the first place. You are correct, I agree with you and I will every chance I get. However, I am dealing with one piece, new-old-stock (NOS) vintage FG blanks and do not have the option, plu
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Phil, There is no need to acquire and chop-up an additional blank. I am fabricating the external and internal spigot ferrules from bi-axial woven FG sleeves and structural epoxy utilizing the blank itself as a mold or buck which inherently transfers the identical taper of the blank to the ferrules.
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Tom. You are well informed and precisely correct.
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Tom, Thank you for responding. Your comments and insight are always welcome and respected, even desired. I certainly agree the tip-over-butt is, arguably, the best of the three ferrule connections presently employed by the manufacturers. However, it is impossible for the rod builder to duplicate when producing a multi-piece from a one piece blank and our only alternatives has been to utilize an
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And a glorious, good day to all! Has anyone seen, heard of or made a combination ferrule with both an external tube and an internal spigot as well, for a multi piece rod? While the tip-over-butt is the norm these days, yester-years saw metal external ferrules and solid FG spigot ferrules. I just have an inquiring mind and would like to know.
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Their shipping is considerably cheaper and immensely quicker than, we’ll just say their neighbor, as well.
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Tom, With your wealth of knowledge, I expected you to reply. Thanks. Are any manufacturers still employing the concept? There could possibly be benefits. With modern-day CNC capabilities, producing such a mandrel and even cutting the fabric would not be very difficult.
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Hi to all and hope this finds you and yours well! Has any rod or blank manufacturer produced a “Stepped” or “Increasing/decreasing taper”, as in different tapers within the same blank? While an in/de-creasing taper might be of benefit, I would think a stepped blank cause all kinds of unwanted, localized stresses. All the rods/blanks I have measured appear to have liner/straight tapers, as expect
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