rod building lathe question

[brad72]

g'day all, I would like to have a go at making my own rods but not sure how to go about making a rod lathe.
I have heard that an old sewing machine motor is the way to go just not sure about the rest of it.
If anybody has built thier own I would love to know what you have used and how you have done it.
would be very greatfull for any advice you can give.

[agnes_jack]

G'day Brad
There are a few blokes on here that have made thier own rod lathes, Volvo is worth talking to and I think Heath was building one recently.

I have one of the commercial style ones, I can post some photo's of if you like to get some ideas. A sewing machine motor and pedals, and some rollers made from old pram wheels will do the trick nicely. There was a thread on here a little while ago, where a few of the blokes put up photo's of some of there setups, if you can do a search.

Regards, Tony

[Touchy - R.I.P.]

I would just like to know where some of our amateur/hobbie rod builders go to get the blanks (graphite in particular) & any other assorted rod building gear . Touchy ><>.

[agnes_jack]

Touchy
There are a number of suppliers selling blanks and rod componentry.
Fuji stockists should be able to get you the range of Samurai blanks and kits that contain all parts--grips, reel seats, guides, threads, etc
Pacific composites do a huge range.
Wilsons do live fibre and Kilwell blanks.
Theres quite a few.
Are you coming to the M&G Touchy?

Regards, Tony

[Billo]

An old 2 speed power drill ....can slow it down for finer threadwork and glassing , or speed it up for quicker thread work

Touchy , most larger / decent tackle shops should be able to get full supplies of building equipment .
Most rods i have built have been with pacific composite blanks and fuji components ...i know Budds on the south side has or can get everything ...i need to find somewhere up north near bribie now

[Touchy - R.I.P.]

brad72,Mate sorry to hijack your post but I will be in touch as the rod building process gets underway I'd be interested in seeing how you are going & how you setup re the lathe ect. what sort of rods you are gunna make ect OK?, Billo, I must be talking to the wrong tackle shops as the 4/5 spoke to didn't want to know. Tony, No wont be coming up this time, getting the other hip done 9th sept. Cheers Touchy. ><>

[roz]

Brad72/Touchy,

You don't need a lathe for rod building (my opinion only) some rod builders don't use them.

It does make running the binding for the guides a lot quicker, but if you are like me and only do a few each year it's no big deal.

Turning them by hand really isn't a problem.

The only time I miss having one is when I am waiting for the epoxy to go off. But then I just flick on Austar for a few hours.

roz

[Willo]

I would just like to know where some of our amateur/hobbie rod builders go to get the blanks (graphite in particular) & any other assorted rod building gear #. Touchy ><>.

Yeah Touchy
I get a lot of my stuff from MudHole in USA or Mo tackle mail order in Aus
Get Loomis blanks sent over from Mudhole

[Volvo]

Touchy, sent you a PM mate..Will try dig up some homemade rollers for turning your blanks and send a pic of them,and for around the $40 or thereabouts you can get a complete rotisseri set up running off a coupla batteries for the drying process other wise ask some of the gang to repost pics of their homemade outfits and you might just get an idea or two from them..
I turn by hand but use the elcheapo battery operated rotisserri for drying and works a treat for me:0..
CHeers

[SCOTTYGC]

http://www.anglerpacific.com/distrib...stribution.cfm


try this link touchy

scotty

[brad72]

thanks for the sugestions fella's.
I managed to get my hands on an old sewing machine motor for nicks so if i can knock something together on the cheap that would be great but either way i will still be having a go at building a rod.
my first project when i get to that stage will be a spinning outfit for casting metal slugs.
I am just starting to get into softplastics so as i progress I'm sure there will be more rods i need or want for that.
will also have to look into those sugestions for blanks last time i asked about them at my local tackel shop the guy didn't want to know about it just tried to talk me out of building my own by telling me i needed to spend around $1500 on a lathe.
anyway thanks again any more sugestions would be greatly appreciated

[ancienttinnie]

I built my own lathe last year, used a sewing machine motor and a commercial chuck. It took me about 30 hours of labour and nearl $400. Suggest for only a few rods use a commercial set of rollers and rotisserie for drying. Pacific Composites do some excellent graphie blanks, new range of Hastings graphite blanks at the trade show and there is always the mail order or internet, but is better if you can hold and feel the blank. Can supply pictures of lathe and some measurements if interested.

[Jethro]

I had a look at making a rod lathe when I first thought of trying rod building. Have to agree that a lathe isnt really needed if you are only going to build a few rods a year.

Below is a picture of what I use. It may not be the prettiest but it gets the job done for me. I just use the rollers and a fly tying bobbin to tention the thread.

It is a little bit more time consuming doing it this way but I recon I get a better finish than if I was to use a lathe. As for drying a battery operated rotisiery motor is ideal

[SURF_SNIPER]

rollers are totaly unessasary on a lathe, though if yo want them they work well too. one of my lathes use rollers on a sliding alloy track and the othe uses " Y " type metal brackets which you can adjust the height on.

when it come to motors sewing machine motors such as the old external singer type are excellent for binding, make sure you get the foot peadal and place along exstension lead onto it so you can move it along the rod where your binding. sewing machine motors are way too fast for resining and there longevity for rotating a rod for long periods os very poor.

For resining i use motors off edge banding machines ( wood workers would know what theses are , they put the laminate edging on chipboard and so on.) they turn at the perfect slow speed for spining resined rods, are a fan cooled induction motor and can not be heard running at all. they can run 24/7 with out a prob, therfore i leave our rods sping overnight when resining for perfect results. they take a standard chuck which ive modified to acept any size blank. ive also built an arm the allow the sewing machine motor to flip in front of the resining motor so that i can bind and resin on the sam lathe.

Might try and take a few photos to so you and explain better

Drew

[Needmorerum]

Any chance of some pics Drew? Sounds like you got this down pat.

Corry