Rod Building Clinic

[Tony Ong]

Some tips with the finishing epoxy.
Check that guides line up.
Invest in decent quality brushes from your local art store. Make sure fibres will not come out of the brush whilst working. You can use acetone to clean brushes, mixing cups, etc.
Make sure room is reasonably dust free. If you can, close all doors (stop cross breeze from stirring up dust).
This time of the year, it's important to raise the room temperature to around 20 degrees Celsius (or more). This is most critical for the first couple of hours after epoxy has been applied.
A small oil burner (filled with methylated spirits) will help expel air bubbles when applying epoxy. Alternatively, the missus hair dryer comes in handy. Just don't get caught using it if you haven't asked for permission.
Many light coats will give you a better finish rather than one heavy application.
It's tempting, but don't touch curing epoxy. Give it a good 24 hours cure time before going onto the next coat.
1200 grit sandpaper is useful for taking high points and dust particles off epoxy once cured.
Finally, I like to leave the rod sit for at least a week before the first cast. This gives the epoxy enough time to harden properly.

[Roger Smith]

Tried my newly built rod today. "It Works". It took 3 casts to get my first hook up and it was full on from there on.
Was very pleased with the performance and didn't even notice the minor blemishes, this will be my go to rod from now on. Those Mandurah Herring better start worrying
Rog

[Rudolph]

Nice one Rog. Nothing quite like catching a fish on a rod you assembled

[Tony Ong]

Well, most of you should have your gear here, or pretty close to it by now. This coming Saturday looks like a nice rod building day weather wise. Martin is a little caught up with work, so I've offered to take over the rod building clinic.
My thoughts at this meeting is to go through how to find the spine, how to set up reel seats and grips. Also run through some techniques to mark out guide spacing, as well as some basic binding tips and tricks. We'll leave epoxying to another session, as this is usually the final step, and easiest one to muck up badly.
Open to suggestions on where to meet for an hour or so.

[Gael Bataille]

Tony, thanks for helping out, got your email. Sent pm with my contact details, I'm free any time that suites.

[Gael Bataille]

Thought I would post pic of the wrapping jig I finished over the weekend, the scrap rod tip allows you to unroll a few wraps without loosing thread tension and I've allowed room for upgrade to two thread carriers. The thread tensioning device is by flexcoat, works better than the homemade one I used for my fist build.

[Hirdy]

Thought I would post pic of the wrapping jig I finished over the weekend ...

Magnificent Gael! That is a great build right there - can't wait to see the rods you'll turn out if you're putting that much effort into the jig.

Cheers,
Graeme

[Tony Ong]

Quite a few couldn't make Saturday, so will reschedule. At this stage, we'll probably meet up before the next club meeting.

[peter birch]

it may be a bit late but looking at getting a swift fibreglass rod 580 to build up.

[Hirdy]

it may be a bit late but looking at getting a swift fibreglass rod 580 to build up.

Me too! Well almost: I'm getting the 686. We can compare notes after they're built.

cheers,
Graeme