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Hi all,
I have been thinking of starting to build and repair my own rods and any advice on wear and how to start would be very much appreciated.
Also should i do a course and if so are there any in Brisbane or the Redlands area?
Thanks in advance
Runamuck
Occasionally there are rod building days put on in Brisbane, but there hasn't been one for some time now.
There's a million videos on the web and there's Facebook group and things the the custom rod builders guild which can help.
I have a heap of books including Dale Clements "advanced custom rod building" which you can borrow if you like.
The mechanics don't change much whether you're doing a light spin or offshore rod.
When you start out its best to source your components from someone like Ross @ therodworks
That way when you choose a blank, he can ensure all the other bits like reel seat, winding checks etc are the right size.
Pedro can also help with bits locally, but he's away working at the moment.
You can find him on Facebook.
You don't need a lathe to start, but you'll quickly move to one if you keep at it.
You'll also find you won't save any money making your own rods.
What you will get is a rod that fits both you and the application perfectly (if you do it right)
You may find that people that do it for a living are less likely to offer more than general advice.
Unfortunately there's heaps of guys that milk them for info then call themselves a "custom rod builder" and start selling stuff at rates that amount to a couple of dollars per hour.
In my book, don't charge until you can do quality work and then charge a proper hourly rate.
Runamuck, i'm no guru, i build for myself and familly, probably built about 12 or 15 rods in total over the past 8 years. I do it because i end up with exactly what i want. You need to be building the high quality stuff to make it worth while of buying it. I keep things simple, i'm not up to fancy weaves and threadwork and the like as yet but i can pretty things up in the more basic ways. After building my first rod on a v block setup a built myself an electric lathe, imo a lathe is a must if your building high end rods from scratch, V-blocks fine for repairs etc but when you get into stuff with underbinds and double or triple overbinds a lathe is a must, your not in the game without one imo. I taught myself from an old ian miller cd i had as well as youtube and some tips from the likes of Owen and Stuart at precision rods.Ross at the rodworks is a great resource for both advice and blanks etc. Like i said above, i focus on high quality components, durability and "built right the way i want it" the fancy stuff i leave to the guru's. Epoxy work and tips in handling the overall epoxy job is the thing that i have found to be most helpfull as once i had a lathe binding was easy.
Scott
Thanks Owen and Scott for your responses, much appreciated.
My thoughts of doing this was to create a hobby that i think would be enjoyable plus i can make stuff for the family, myself and do running repairs as needed. I would also like to get the grand kids involved once i know what i am doing too.
When buying high quality gear, what brands should I be looking at? As for a lathe, we can make one, shouldn't be to hard given that we own an electrical business so that might be a nice job for an apprentice....hahaha...just kidding I will do it.
Firstly let me say I just do it for my own amusement. I don't rate myself as a "rod builder". Lots of guys build more rods in a month than I will in a lifetime and they have probably forgotten more than I know.
As far as blanks go it depends on what you're doing I guess.
I've had good results with Batson/Rainshadow, Samurai, Hastings, Calstar etc
Fuji & Alps are typically what I'd use for guides & reel seats.
You can make your own lathe for sure.
I see an AC servo drive coming up ;)
Actually I have an unfinished one where I've stripped the drive motor & control board out of a mig welder.
I actually got the apprentice to wire it up.
Now all the switch holes are drilled out of alignment >:-/