single foot guides

Anyone have suggestion on the best way to put these on?

I have only done double foot before.

Rick

I cut very thin strips of masking tape and use them to attach the guides to the rod up by the ring support. Then start wrapping the guide on, and when you get to the tape, you should have enough of the foot wrapped to remove the tape and finish it up.

Ditto what ol' blue said.

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Let No One Walk Alone
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Bill

I use the tiny rubber bands that the orthodontist use on my kids.

Rick Z;
I use elastic thread. Once you get the guide in position put a drop of Super glue on the foot so it won't move while wraping. Don't let the super glue get into the thread (what a mess!!). I've found that the masking tape leaves a residue behind that's hard to clean off. Painter's tape (Low Tac) will not if you can find it narrow enough. When you wrap up to the elastic thread just snip it off and finish.
I do a wrap that LadyFisher posted to keep the single foot guide from coming out. At the end of the wrap I do a 360 around the leg of the guide, finish the wrap and do it again 3 times. I'll see if I can send you a photo.

It is called a Forhan locking wrap. Rodbuilding.org has pretty good instructions for it here: [url=http://www.rodbuilding.org/library/library.html:a280f]http://www.rodbuilding.org/library/library.html[/url:a280f]

You might find a few other tips and tricks that might help you out too. Check them out. Good guys over there, and some of the most skilled builders you will find. But don't leave us here, though.

How about twist ties used on trash bags. They should have a small enough width to allow a decent starting wrap and they shoulp be pretty easy to "untie" when the time comes.

Jack, doesn't the use of super glue prohibit a final tweeking of guide alignment after the wrapping??? I always have to slightly move a couple of my guides after they are wrapped. I also use and like the elastic thread (I call it bunge thread). Allyn

I use thin strips of masking tape which is a pain in in pulling off, etc. I tried finding those orthodonic bands but no place to find them Sat afternoons in the prairie. Some suggested using the tiptop glue stick, but offered its own challenges: cooling too quickly; raising the guide too high off the rod, which when you tie down stays too high; a sense of permanence such as the super glue idea. Jack, I don't know how you do that for I always have to tweak the wrapped guides. I've only built about 8 or 9 rods, though, so I have tons to learn and each one is a learning experience. I just saw a rod I did for a fundraiser last year and compared it to the one I just finished, and my goodness, I was shocked at the difference. Especially with the application of epoxy. I don't have an answer for you Rick. Thin strips of masking tape is all I have for now. JGW

When I do mine, I stick a piece of masking tape on a cutting board. Then I slice very thin strips off of the end using a razor blade. Then I can peel each piece up when I need to use it. It seems to reduce some of the residue by sticking it down first, and makes it easier to keep track of.

If you read Al Campbell's rod building series I think he explains completely a technique to use with very cheap elastic thread. I think one could use the very small nylon tyraps also....but I haven't tried it yet. I haven't done one yet...but I am going to wrap something above the guide to keep it from sliding up as I tie it down.

Gem

Rick,

I had an old friend give me some advise on lining up rod guides.

First, mark the spline as you normally would. BUT use some masking, or other form of visible tape, mark the spline next to all ferrules so that when all of the sections are put together, you can see where the spline is for ALL sections (this includes making a marking on the butt section above the grip area.)

Once you have glued on the reel seat and grip, you should have some tape above the grip, below AND above all ferrules, and just below where the tip top sits. Now is the time to mount the tip top. Mount in in line with your markings for the spline of the blank, or where you want your guides to sit.

Take the tip section off the rest of the blank. Tie a section of 4X tippet material to the DEAD TOP section of the tip top. You want this line to mark the dead center of the tip top and the blank where you want your guides to be aligned with. You want your tippet material to be as long as the rod!!!!! This is important as you don't want to have to add line to it later on!

Now slide on your SF guides in the roder you want them on the rod from the tip back to the last guide on the tip section.

Carefully pull the tippet to until it straightens, then tape the line EXACTLY On the spot that you have marked at the bottom end of the tip section. Do NOT pull hard enough to make the tip bend!! All you are going to use the tippet for is to have a guide to seeting your rod guides straight! Simply place the first guide in the spot that you should have marked for the guide spacing you planned on using.

This is the fun part. Using the tippet as a guide for your rod guide, make sure that the tippet passes through the EXACT center of your guide and the blank WITH NO PRESSURE ON THE TIPPET!. I tend to double check and make sure that everything (tippet to tip top and spline marking, tippet straightness, AND making sure the tippet goes through the middle of my guide.) I then use my fly tying bodkin, and place the SMALLEST drop of CA type glue (Zap A Gap type glue) to tack the guide to the rod.

Then move onto the next guide and repeat process. If all goes right, you should have all of your guides in an exact line going the way you want and the spacing right for your rod. Using this method I take out the chance of "guide walk" tendency on rods. To finish the rod, re-attach the tip top to the next section of rod, remove the second section AND tip section, remove tape from bottom of tip section, place more guides on the tippet, tape the tippet to marking on bottom of second section, and continue as before! Just make sure that the tippet does stay going directly over the marking on the bottom of the tip section.

I use a VERY small amount of CA just so that it sets the guide in place long enough for me to get all of the guides on the blank. After I have all of the rod guides exactly where I want them, I check everything by sighting down the rod like we all do. I then go back and place a little larger drop of CA to on each guide so that I know they won't fall off during wrapping.

I have not had a problem with this trick, and I find it takes some of the worries out of making sure to get the guides in a straight line. It also gives you an idea of how the line will run through your guides! Sometimes, I even put a reel on and GENTLY pull my fly line though the guides to make sure it all looks right before wrapping them.

Well, I hope that this hasn't been to boring. I hope it helps.


Sincerly,
Reg

[This message has been edited by RCaillouet3 (edited 12 February 2006).]

[This message has been edited by RCaillouet3 (edited 12 February 2006).]

Got all of the line guides on now.

Will need to put the tip on and the hook holder after I get the reel seat set.

Thanks for all of the help.

Rick