Raymond, Actually, it really doesn't take that long to strip and rebuild a rod. As I said earlier, "careful application of heat" is the secret. Get the epoxy softened a bit, and it comes off quite quickly. I also use my rod lathe, to spin the rod for the final buffing and clean up, before restarting on the rod build. I use multiple supports so that I can spin the blank at 3600
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Ken, Talk it over with your client. However, I prefer to use the Tennessee style reel seat, with no rings. Rather, I use plastic tape to tape on the reel. With tape, there are no humps or bulges, or cold material - under your fingers when fishing. The one down side is that if you plan on changing reels a lot, it is a bit inconvenient to change reels. The other thing that I like to
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With respect to a slipping reel seat - forget it. Remove the rear grip, reel seat, and install a new reel seat and grip. Anything less is not satisfactory. If you do drill a hole into the reel seat, about 90% oif the time, you end up drilling a hole through the blank, and causing a weakness and potential failure. Roger
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Actually, many of the things used in the rod building business are less than user friendly. It is a good idea to wer surgical gloves when working with any glue, finish, or cleaning material. Many of the materials can be absorbed into the body through the skin. In particular, the hardner, the absorbtion of alchol, or xylene is common. So, to avoid such allergy reactions, it is a good id
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Goo Gone works great for intermittent paint cleanup. Another alternative, which is nearly identical to Goo Gone, is Xylene. Take care REW p.s. I don't use any type of paint stripper on a blank. I do use Xylene and Alchol for general cleanup however.
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I use a chop saw with an abrasive cutoff wheel for cutting all of my blanks and reel seats. Quick and straight. Take care REW p.s. If you do a lot of rod work, a purchase of such a chop saw works very well. For example:
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Simple, 1. Use a heat gun to heat the epoxy and soften it around the guides. Use a razor blade on the guide side of the rods to slice through the thread. 2. Peel off the thread and remove the guide. 3. Gently heat the remaining epoxy around the guide with the heat gun, and holding the razor blade perpendicular to the blank, scrape off the epoxy. 4. Continue the same process for the butt
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I have built several on the Rogue drop shot blank and have been well pleased with the results. Take care REW
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I picked up two 5 foot plastic topped folding tables for $30 each. They work great. Simple cheap and functional. The nnice thing abou the folding tables is that if you have need in the room for a different purpose, it only takes a few minutes to fold the tables and store them away. I do have a 10 foot long rod turning lathe that I use on top of the tables. The bulk of the work is done on th
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After building lots of different ice rods, I have concluded the following: 1. In general, it simply works as well or better to use fiberglass blanks. 2. Too many issues using graphite for these short rods. Either they are too stiff, or end up breaking. 3. I have stopped making them for the simple reason that there is really little to no money to be made by building them. The general ice
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I use an abrasive wheel - mounted on a chop saw. The abrasive wheel quickly cuts the blank, like a hot knife through butter. Because it cuts so quickly, there is no heating of the blank at all. This is one chop saw that I use. I have removed the two inch metal blade and replaced it with a 3 inch, 1/16th thick abrasive wheel. I also made a new guard to protect the user from the wheel, since
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Tom Since I am a latent tinkerer - I have enjoyed building the many different power wrappers and dryers that I have made as much or more than the rods that I have wrapped with them. I have built lots and lots of rods and have never hand wrapped a single rod. I did my first rod on a power wrapper, and really wouldn't like to start using a hand wrapper. I typically use a pretty long but
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A very simple method of choker guide placement. Lay the rod on a straight table. Have the tip glued on the rod. Position the reel so that it has line coming off the spool at the 1/2 way point. Thread the line through the choker guide. Thread the line through the tip. Move the guide up and down the rod so that the line just hits the top of the guide. I suspect that the guide will
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If you have a good mix of the coating, and warm temps when curing, 10 hours from coating to fishing should be fine. Take care Roger
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Don, The only good solution is to remove the guide, take off the epoxy, clean up the blank, rewrap and recoat. You can use a heat gun to futher soften the epoxy, cut the thread on the guide side with a razor, take off the guide and then use xylene to clean up the blank of the tacky epoxy. Finally, rewrap the guides, and recoat the guides. Note: When mixing the guide coating, get a
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Gary, It isn't obvious on their web site. It is listed under mini chucks. I believe that this is the one that you want. I have a couple of them and they work well. They are three jaw, and self center: Take care Roger
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Another solution to your problem - if you have a power wrapper, is to use your wrapper to put on your finish. Your wrapper will have a buit in variable speed foot control and it is a breeze to put on finish with the wrapper. After getting the finish on - move the rod to the slow speed dryer and you are good to go. Take care Roger
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Kenny, The very simple thing to do is to put an off and on switch on a foot pedal on the end of a cord and as you move along the rod, you can move the switch with your foot, so that it is convient to turn off and on. Very easy and simple and inexpensive. Take care Roger
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AC, Does your chuck have the rubber/plastic coverings for the aluminum jaws. Some of the first chucks were plain aluminum. Most of these chucks, whether they are Pac Bay, Shurline, or Penn insdustries - have the same problem - in that the rods will work out of the chuck. However, the upgraded Pac Bay chuck as a rubber/plastic cap for each jaw. With the cap in place over the jaws; I ha
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A couple of thoughts. I turned one handle in the room where I wrap. Never again. There is simply too much dust, no matter what you use for filters or vacuums. I now do all of the dirty work in the garage. When, I am through and have vacuumed most of the dust up; I simply open the garage door and use the air compressor to blow the rest of the dust that might be any where into the still nigh
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When I first started wrapping, my instrucer used a razor blade to trim the thread wraps. That worked fine and I continued to use it. However, after many rods, I did notice that every now and then, I might nick a previously wrapped thread which would require me to rewrap a guide. I then encountered another wrapper who was using a pair of fine tipped fly tying scissors to trim his wraps. Af
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At the end of your post, you mention - cutting the threads. Many folks use a razor blade to cut their threads after wrapping. One fellow suggested to me that he uses very fine tipped fly tying scissors. Since switching to a pair of fly tying scissors for thread cutting; I find that I am doing a much better job - closer trimming and never have to worry about the blade cutting into any pr
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Joe has it right. This is the same procedure used when making plumbing connections. When plumbers do sweat soldering of copper pipes for home or industrial plumbing, they clean the pieces, apply flux, heat the largest part of the joint, and wick solder into the joint. The heated joint will SUCK the solder into the joint and you will have a good joint. ---------- In that vein, I do the
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One very important question of this test that you did not answer, is - how much rod distance - do you have from the reel to the tip of the rod. It really doesn't matter how long the overall lenght of the rod is; when comparing casting distance. The important measurement is the distance from the reel seat to the tip of the rod. If your 7 ' rod has a 1 foot back grip- you are casting with a
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Bob, I have built all of my power wrappers. The latest one, using the DC gear motor works the best. I have a picture of the power head - on the equipment page. I use a 24 volt - 300 rpm DC gear motor. Then, I use a 1:1 pulley system to connect to a Taig Lathe head stock. Then, the headstock has a Penn Industries chuck mounted to chuck the rod butt. I built a 24 volt power supply. The adj
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Dave, The solution is very simple. Cut the cork off the back grip. Cut the reel seat off the rod. Install a size 18 reel seat. Put a new backgrip back on the rod and you are good to go. No need to change the fore grip or any of your windings and guides. It is a very simple and straightforward thing to do. Take care Roger
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Two things: 1. Have the drill bit properly sharpened and razor sharp. 2. Be sure to undercut the tip of the bit to allow room for wood chip removal. 3. Be sure to use a drill bit that has a very coarse spiral to remove the chips. Do not use a typical metal drill bit, since the spirals are too fine. 4. Drill a bit, back out the bit - clear the chips, and be sure to let the bit cool. Ro
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Bob, Over the years, I made many different variations of power wrappers. After many different machines, I have found that you need a power wrapper to have the following characteristics: 1. Be able to reliably start, stop and wind at 1/2 rpm. 2. Have a maximum top speed of 300 rpm. 3. Be able to quickly and easily reverse direction. 4. Be foot control. As one of the other posts s
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Use a dremel tool with a cut off whell to cut if off. If you are worried about going too far, just cut at an angle to the rod, and work slowly. You c an take it off in small pieces to insure that you are only cutting to the inside of the reel seat, and not hte blank. To take off the cork, I do as one of the other posters suggested - use a regular pair of slip joint pliars, and grip the cork
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Bigfish, Use the method that best fits your need. I personally like a handle of a specific length. i.e., I don't like one too short, nor one too long. If it is too short, it doesn't handle and cast well. If it is too long, the butt of the rod is always hitting my body when I cast. The other thing about moving a reel forward on a rod to balance it - is that you are giving up fishing r
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