I've never had any issues with aligning my eyes when replacing them butvit always been such a tedious task for me. Even when I think I have them just perfect, I still look down the rod and pontificate thinking one eye is .001 out of alignment with all the others. My girlfriend calls me a "perfectionist to the extreme", i just want to make it right!

Right now, I have a "V" shaped jig the blank sits in and I run a grease pencil down the middle of the jig to strike a line to center the eyes.

I was wondering how many people use the laser alignment tool? I was wondering if it would be advantageous to me to have this tool?

I ran my fluorescent lights exactly on top of my rod wrapper, it leaves a white line down the middle of the tubular blank all the time.
I imagine the foot on the lazer tool is sized for a 16 mm seet, maybe smaller if it's sized for fly rod seats, I use a lot of larger seats, which I'm sure gives you a bit of slop to contend with during mounting, my lights aren't affected my such things.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2017 09:59AM by Spencer Phipps.

Tony

I have tried the laser alignment and I found it too fussy to work with. It took a very long time to set up and get results but it finally did work. I imagine that if one does a lot of rods a faster system would be developed to speed up the process.

I take the blank and sight along the length and find the straightest axis and check it against a spine finder, usually they coincide, but in any event I build along the straight axis.

I start with the butt guide in line with the reel seat and work my way to the tip. After each guide is wrapped I sight along the blank and adjust the guide so it is in line with the butt guide and reel seat. When all the guides are in line and the tip is bonded I prepare for the finish coat.

This is what I do and I have had no problems or complaints. I offer this only as a suggestion as another way to set up guides.

If you could, borrow a system to see if it works for you, it would save you money if you decide against it, if it works for you then you would be in a better position to select the best laser system for your needs.

John

Tony

I've got a laser tool - somewhere. Found it was more trouble than benefit.

The issues I had:
1. Blank must be dead on straight or all is lost from the get go. So, if you're mounting guides on or opposite the spine instead of the straightest axis . . .
2. Unlike John D above, I had to mount tip top, then guide 1, then 2, etc. to the stripping guide last, else the butt guides would reflect or shadow the tip section guides.

hi Mr. Perfect..your never going to get it RIGHT because there,s no such think as a straight blank to begin with..maybe if you build an ice rod with two guides, counting the tip -top.lol..

Tony,

Do waste your money. I bought one and found it didn't work as well as aligning the guides with my eye. I sold it to a guy in Montana for 1/2 the price I paid and ate the shipping costs. Just my 2 cents!

Don Campbell
don@sensorfishingrods.com

A simple method to insure that the guides are in perfect alignment.

On the guide ring side of the rod, sight down the rod and align any guides that are out of place.

Then, flip the rod over and sight down the non ring side of the guides. The only guides that will be visible are the larger guides which may be seen as an overhang on each side of the blank.

Then, as you get further down the guide, slightly rotate the blank and each of the smaller guides should all appear on the side of the blank at the same time. To verify, rotate the blank slightly in the opposite direction to be sure that each of the same sized guide all appear at the same time.

By using the combination of the initial alignment down the ring side of the guide and the final alignment by sighting down the non ring side of the blank. The last alignment gives you a very quick instant check that each guide is aligned perfectly.

---
p.s.

Do your guide alignment by having a lot of light in the area and do the guide alignment by sighting against a white background. The white background lets you see any misaligned guides very quickly.

Good luck

I use my wife’s laser eyes to align my guides. I wrap the guides pretty much in a straight line, well at least they are on top of the rod. Then take the rod to my wife who holds the rod, eyes down the blank and tells me which way I need to move the guides. This has worked for me for the past 49 years, with thousands of rods. In fact she never lets me epoxy a rod without her looking at it first, and it only takes a few minutes. Nobody has ever complained about crooked guides. Tony, try this with your girl friend, who knows she might have an eye for it.
Norm

I haven't tried one of the laser alignment tools for reasons already mentioned. It just looks too cumbersome.

What I do on conventionally wrapped casting rods is, I mount an old reel that I have spooled with yellow 50# test braid, and mount it in the reel seat. I then center the reels line guide over the center of the blank and run the line through the guides. I tie a 1/4 oz weight to the end of the line, and let it hang down. Then I simply site down the blank to see if the line is following the center of the blank. Once I get it looking good, I'll stand over each individual guide and make sure the line is in fact running down the center of the blank, and that the guides feet are in line with the line running through them.

I do that prior to wrapping, and after wrapping. I'm happy with how well it works, and I can do it a lot faster that way, than I could by just sighting down the blank. Because like you, I would always see at least one that looked the slightest bit off. It was maddening! lol

I should say that I mount the rod in my old hand wrapper that has V block rod stands. I have some dowels mounted in the uprights and I'll take one of those nylon with velcro rod wraps, and wrap it tightly around the rear grip of the rod, and the dowels. The strap keeps the rod from rotating, and the V block rests allow an unencumbered view of the rod and guides.

For a spinning rod I'm going to use the same process. Although instead of mounting a reel, or even just the foot and stem of an old reel, in the reel seat, I'm going to give one of the CRB guide alignment and reel seat spacer tools, that Mud Hole offers, a try. My plan is to drill a small hole near the top of the upright, put a round split ring in it, and then tie the same yellow braid I use for the alignment process on casting rods, to the split ring. Then I'll just follow the same process I do when doing a conventionally wrapped casting rod.

I should have ordered the CRB tool when I thought of using it about a month ago, but I dilly dallied and didn't order it until today. Of course it now shows that the item usually ships in 3 - 5 business days, which means it's out of stock at Mud Hole. Ahh well ...... it's winter, I have time to wait. I'll also be using it to do my casting rods in the future. Assuming it works the way I think it will.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2017 12:51PM by David Baylor.

I made and use this, bolt is 2 1/2 or 3 inches Reel base plate is Drilled and tapped to match bolt thread and locked with epoxy and nut
makes it easy to align guides to match seat
[www.rodbuilding.org]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2017 01:33PM by Barry Thomas Sr.

I do as David does. I use the stem of an old reel attached to a piece of braided line run through the guides with a split shot pinched on it and sight down the blank. Pretty cheap, and no blank is laser straight!

Norman is a very lucky man. God bless Norman’s wife! ~ >*))))))><{

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

I owned a cheap Chinese version a few years ago... but after numerous trials and errors realized that most blanks are not straight so why am I trying to align the guides with a laser? Duh!
Receive one as a prize at the Expo a year or two ago. I still got it, never used it.

Larry, you might want to re-gift that. At least it wouldn't be wasting space at your place!

Norman,

I looked in the Mudhole catalog under guide alignment, but didn’t see your wife listed.

I’m a new builder, and just started wrapping a rod tonight.

I use the Mudhole CRB Guide Alignment Tool, and sight up and down the blank, but will now also use the methods mentioned above.

What I was curious about is: after wrapping a guide, when you go to adjust a guide slightly right/left, the angle of the guide on the blank changes, as the part of the guide near the ring is moved more then the base (if that makes sense)

You must move the guide as a whole keeping the foot parallel with the blank. I grasp the ring with my right hand while using my left thumbnail to push down on the wrap next to guide foot, pushing it into position.

Thank you to everyone for your input. I kinda figured the alignment tool was kind of "hit or miss" and I learned a few new ideas which will help immensely!

Everyone here in Central Florida is just CRAZY about the Airwave guides and no one wants to part with their existing blanks so business has been good replacing them. The problem is that they are so small and black and it seems like every rod is black which makes my eyes go crazy!

And by the way Norm, my girlfriend is ALWAYS right so I'll start having her look at every eye on the rods and that way, they'll always be perfect!

Seriously, one tries to get the guides as straight as possible before wrapping but It is very difficult to get them perfectly aligned at this point, at least for me, and also they may move slightly during the wrapping process. I know that having someone, like my wife, who is ‘WILLING’ to help align guides is a ‘tool’ that is not available to everyone. However, in my opinion having two sets of eyes is far superior to just one set for a number of different reasons. When guides are moved either left or right it is usually just a minute amount but if the foot get off kilter it is easy enough to wiggle the guide ring a little to move the foot into alignment. My wife is sighting lengthwise down the rod and I am looking down at the guides from the top. Within just a few minutes we have all the guides aligned and as I mentioned before we never had anyone complain about poor alignment, and believe me everyone looks! When we go to Tackle shops my wife likes to pick up high end rods and check their guide alignments and very few pass her scrutiny.
Norm

never needed one will never use one one of those tools that might work for someone but haven't ever met any one yet.
would be great for hanging pictures, shelving,just not for a blank as was said they aren't 100% straight.
one of those things every gadget master has to have and probably never use.
after the guides are wrapped then anchor a piece of light colored thread in the center of the seat and run it through the rings to the tip it will tell you if they are correct . a good eve ball works also

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

When aligning guides I do a couple things. I like to point the rod towards a window to use as a backlight. For me it somehow makes it easier to get them straight. I also take the rod outside with the sun behind me to get another view (when it's not 8° outside!). Setting the rod down and coming back to it (even the next day) seems to help. Also always use a reel to make sure they are lined up correctly.

TJB