There is one option if you decide to stay with AC 110v power. You can obtain a motor - which brings the armature and brush windings to the outside of the motor. These will be 4 wires. then, depending on how you hook them up, you can reverse the direction of the motor. For example: -- This is the style motor that is reversible. I have used a 1/2 dozen of these motors to build power
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Good informat ion and every one has his own method. I use neither cp nor clear coat on the underwrap. I simply do the underwrap, then tie on the guides. I put on two coats of finish at that time. In particular, when putting on the first coat, I use a heat gun to insure that every single bubble is gone, that the finish is as thin as alchol so that it fully penetrates all the threads, an
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Thanks much for the updates. I believe that I am going to be going with one of the extrusions with 3 grooves in the top and one in the bottom. I expect that it will work just fine for my needs. Currently my power wrapper uses a single bolt to tie it to the channel, so the slide groove with the t-headed nut will work just fine. Thanks again. Roger
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Any good commercial sources for an 8-10 foot piece of aluminum section to be used as a base for a power wrapper. I don't want to go the route of a pac bay, renzetti or other "name brand power wrapper accessory. Rather, I would like a good commercial source - @#$%& or other for an 8-10 foot section of aluminum base material about 4-6 inches wide, containing a t-channel for wrapper sup
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I realize that the shape of a grip is personal preference. However, I also realize that the shape of a grip has a considerable influence on the comfort and long term fishability of a rod. After making many many rods, I have come to the conclusion - for a spinning rod, that it works better for me if - the butt section changes shape as follows. As one comes off the end of the reel seat, I
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AC I have built a lot of rods on Lamiglass blanks and one of these rods tends to be the one I reach for most of the time. I have most of the St. Croix , as well as the Loomis, but I still prefer the Lamiglass most of the time. Build one and give it to yourself for a present. It is a great treat. Take care Roger
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For a typical spinning rod, you generally want 7 guides for optimum spacing. Just flex the tip - put the first guide at the biggest bend, divide the distance to the tip and put another one 1/2 way to the tip. Then, space back as the blank dictates to carry the line. Take care Roger
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Harold, In the future, of you do any more of these tear downs, you might try the following. Go ahead and use a dremel or band saw to trim down the reel seat. I generally cut it on both sides of the blank. Then, I put a couple of screw drivers in the slot that is cut down near, but not through the blank. Then, twist the screw drivers, and the blank, will split and pop off the blank.
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Walt, If you have room, the simple solution is to put your power wrapper on rollers, and roll it past your wrapping station. You do need to have room at each end of your wrapper to be able to move the wrapper its full length. I do have my power wrapper with its fixed motor and and guides in front of my on my 4 foot wrapper bench. Then, I have two more 4 foor wrapper benches on each end w
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I have just finished building a bunch of light rods like you are building. I have used Fuji Alconite guides in 25, 16, 10, 8 - low, 7 bridge, 6 fly, 6 fly, and 6 tip. The setup is perfect, the line runs true and the distance is great. The alconite work just fine for braid, and are much less expensive than si guides. Take care Roger -- I did some test casting with other guide
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Did you ever consider the idea of using NO CP. I read and hear report after report of folks having problems with CP. What is your reason for using CP. Take care Roger
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I agree with Mikes answer with respect to scraping the blasnk. Depending on the blank and its material, you may find that the "scraped" blank will be just fijne. Typically, after scraping, I will put the cleanup rod blank in my rod lathe and spin at at high speed. Then, I will use wet and dry 600-1000 sand paper, first used dry, then, used wet to give a nice matt finish to th e b
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Any time that you work with a new material, the safest thing to do is to use some of this material on a practice pice - using your planned procedures. Better to do the testing and experimenting on a practice piece that you build up in 5 minutes; rather than a rod that you have worked on for several days and find you have an issue; Do some tests and let us know your results. Take care
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I don't think that the rod length really makes any difference. If you are running conventional sized guids, it seems that I put the first guide up from the reel at about 20 inches. Then, the rest of the guides just fall in place. With a rod this short, I expect that you will only need about 3-4 guides. Take care Roger
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I will echo the others comments. Go with a long steel head rod, that has lots of beef in the butt and up to about the 2/3's point. Then, a fast tip for sensitivity. To get casting distance, you need to get maximum speed on the tip. This happens, if all of the energey of the cast can be transferred to the tip. If you have a slow fly rod style rod, much of the casting energy is absorbed in
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If you do much blank trimming or other trim work - a chop saw works really well. I have a couple of chop saws, both with abrasive disks mounted on the saws. I modified an 8 inch miter saw to take 8 inch machinest cut off wheels. Since an abrasive wheel wears down and gets smaller, I raised the deck of the cutting surface by adding a piece of 2X3 steel channel to the deck. This allows me to
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Harold, 1. to remove the grips - simply use a pair of slip jawed pliars. You use the coarse part of the jaws near the joint to chew up the grip while turning the pliars. This action will quickly remove the grip. 2. Remove the residue, simply heat up the residue, and then use a straight edge razor blade - pulled across the blank at 90 degrees to the blank. You will be scraping the blank to re
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If you are sitting do the following: 1. Get an adjustable height chair. 2. Adjust the height of the chair, until you can sit with your body at 90 degrees for every part of your body. 3. i.e. feet flat on the floor. Your back tight to the back of the chair, 90 degrees from your lap to your back. Knees at 90 degrees to the lower limbs. Arms at a nice comfortable rest at your sides. 4. No
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Jim, Thanks for the update. The responses all make sense. Especially the comments about the need to protect the guides as opposed to the need for t ying them on the rod. Also, appreciate the comments on the finish technique. Roger
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I am wondering with todays thread and finish if a double wrap of heavy thread is necessary for 100-130 lb class saltwater rods. I have read several articles which detail the fact that with proper guide foot prep - i.e. no burrs, and the use of A sized thread to give the maximum number of thread wraps over the guide feet, that no underwrap is necessary. Any personal rod builds using this t
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Align your guides so that most of the time, there is no side force on any of the guides. Then you will be fine. I find that the 5, 60, 120, 180, 190, etc. work best for me. When I use the 0, 90, 180, I find that I am getting line rubbing on the sides of one or more of the first guides. Align, load the rod, check, realign, load the rod, recheck etc. Continue until you have a rod when
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I agree with Russ. If the mess is bad - it is likely that you will need to scrape it off if it is really sticky, and when you do - you will likely take off the thread. So, scrape it all off - retie the guides, recoat - and then put the paper towels in another room so it can't happen again. --- I had a similar problem where I was using a portable dryer, that worked its way down the t
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Terry, Rather than using a rod dryer to apply the finish, use the power wrapper. That way, you can use the foot pedal to stop and start the rod at any point for applying finish, hear the guide foot, and then popping the pedal to spin the rod for the clean edge finish that you speak of. After applying the finish - transfer the rod to the drying station with the slower turning constant spee
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I echo the comment. Overwelming reason for split grips is less cork and less cost. Cork is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain and the prices are rising dramatically. I can see where cork grips will become a thing of the past in the not too far future. Roger
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p.s. I reread your post, and your client is right on. The blank should be graphite, and it needs to be a relatively light in weight blank - although on the stiff and heavy action side. The rod needs to be light in weight so that you can get a good cast without pitching out your shoulder. The graphite will make it stiffer and allow the use of fewer guides to work with the blank. Roger
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Actually, pretty common in some parts of the country. If you use a blank that has a nice uniform taper - no fast or extra fast tips please - the 3 guide setup works just fine. Also, with a very large spinning reel, and very large guides as he suggests - it is possible to cast a very long distance. I am skeptical of the 150 yards, unless he has an 80 mph off shore wind behind him. However,
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Thanks for all of the updates. I will consider them all carefully. Roger
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Duane, A perfect scale fo this type of weighing is a carburator float scale. They may be a bit harder to come by now, that carbs are getting more and more obsolete. Another option is to use a bullet - gun reloading scale. It is necessary to have very precise amounts of powder in gun cartridges; so these scales are very very accurate: For example: [] Take care Roger
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1. Get rid of the brushes. 2. Use a spatula for applying the finish. 3. Heat the finish a bit to get it nice and thin. 4. For double coated guides work with about 2 or three guides at a time. You need to let the epoxy penetrate well and soak in. By heating the finish a bit, it gets very nice and thin and penetrates very well. However, the heating quickens the cure, so that you will only h
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I was just over to St. Croix Rods in Park Falls, Wi yesterday. I was looking at their new tournamanet rods. They are using a no fore grip reel seat, with a split back grip on these rods. For the front of the reel seat, they are using a machined aluminum washer, that does a very nice job of finishing off the front of the reel seat. If you have a lathe, it is a very easy thing to make for t
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