It seems the most common type of tool for wrapping guides is some sort of post with a vee cut out of the top. Sure, Renzetti makes their Rod Lathe but is anything that exotic needed for basic hobby builders?
Being the tinkering, do-it-yourself, kinda guy I am, making my own stand only seems natural. Are there any design no-no's to avoid? Most stands I've seen have felt strips in the vee's, is there any better material?
Lastly, does anyone know of a source for small electric motors that would operate at slow RPM's. I'm sure you know where I'm headed with that...

Thanks,

Rick,

Designing the rod building tools is almost as enjoyable as building the custom rods.

The last chapter of Dale Clemen's book goes into great length about various types of rod building tools. It is a good source of ideas if you want to build your own tools.

Almost all of the sponsors sell small electric motors for finishing rods. I would check the sponsor links on the left hand side of the page first. If you can't find anything there, then I would recommend that you check out the online catalog at www.allelectronics.com for motors.

Dave

Well Rick, Consider the following -

1. I have been wrapping my own and doing others for over 25 years. I dont have a shop, I made my own, because when I started you could not find any "wrappers". I used to do everything by hand!!! Got pretty good at it I did.

2. I got my wrapper by using standard 1/4's, notched 'em,. put felt in the vee's - after about 250 rods, the felt wore out. Go figure - just replace the felt with some good glue, for the hobby guy that is good.

3. I found a mandrel and mounted an oversize crutch cap with a bolt on the end. then I used a vacuum cleaner rubber belt on an old singer sewing machine motor [120 volts ac with plug and [with foot pedal] . I wired everything in series so I could use my foot for speed control and with a little practice my fingers for thread tension control.

4. My rig is older than dirt, but I still use it today. Oh, I used a router to notch out the mounts and put a small solid piece of stipping the entire length of the 8 ' base board - that way the rod holders can slide up and down the base board for various lengths of rods.

5.. to hold the rod in place, you can cut up various size hypalon grip material and insert your blank then insert assembly into the crutch cap on the mandrel. Works great for me -= but now I am looking at handles and such so a lathe would work better -

6. I have made all kinds of rods from the naval base at cuba to san diego and used them all and sold them all, good basic action in wrapping and layout goes a long way.

hope this rambling helps a little

good luck

oldsalt - Ron Beagles USCG retired

Rick,
I have had more pleasure in building rod lathes for myself the past twenty years from wood ones to a nice aluminum that was built from scrap commercial window frame that had a T-slot perfect for sliding the rod supports. A sewing machine motor and foot pedal works fine, as a matter of fact the ones I used had more power than the Dayton 1/15hp that is sold for wrapping lathes. For rollers on the rod supports go to your local full service hardware or Home Depot and go to the isle that has drawers full of do dads and get some sliding door rollers, then to the o-rings and find the one that fits over the roller.For the headstock you can use a 1/2 shaft, bronze bushing mounted in a piece of wood and a 4-6" fan pulley with a heavy rubber o-ring for a belt(plumbing store) . A rubber butt cap screwed into the shaft can act as a chuck, or like I did use a piece of 2" dia. alum. brought it to a friend who had a metal lathe and cut a pulley and chuck from it. Hey they all worked great, and last year after I couldn't find anything else to do to them, I sold em and bought a Clemens!, and yes I have already modified it!! Good Luck and have fun doing it

I just made my own wrapper/dryer with ball bearing rollers purchased at the hardware store. A picture would be easier to understand than all the writing I could do. e-mail me if your interested.
Tom Smith

Try roller Blade wheels they have ball bearings and are easy to find always use masling tape on blank made my chuck out of a PVC end cap and thumb screws

Great feedback, man my creative juices are flowing now. Thanks for sharing your ideas and experience.

I guess coming at this from two sides. One as a rodbuilder, and the other as a vendor with access to supplying some helpful manufactured wrapping equipment.

One aspect, is that some would just like to get into the building or rods, rather than the building of equipment for the rods. If one is so inclined to do your own, and have time in doing it, that's great.
But for those, who just want some helpful tools and equipment to get going with rodbuilding you can get some handy manufactured hand wrappers from various sources. The Flex Coat hand wrappers, and speed wrappers aren't really that expensive in the scheme of things when you consider their usage over time. They serve a purpose well with extensions, thread tensioners, and V groove or roller supports that can be easily adjusted. It makes rodbuilding fun, in that you can just get started and have a few good looking professional tools at hand.

As for power wrapping machines, the rodsmith is decent for a price that will enable several functions from automatic foot controlled rod turning while wrapping , but also you can use manually. The motor and chuck will enable one to turn cork if you wish, and also double (or triple) as a finishing motor. The nice thing is these have a nice base with supports and once levelled you are just ready to get going.

The new flex coat catalog is available which presents some useful information about a few types of rod wrapping equipment. If someone would like this or further information about Batson Power wrapping machines, Pacific Bay Rodsmith, or our catalog just drop an email. We'll soon have these listed with our on-line shopping site as well.

What is also amazing is the 'add-on's' that some will put even on the ready made equipment. There always seems to be a 'better way'.
The other thing is that much of this equipment is designed for easy takedown, and transport if need be.

Rich
Richard's Rod & Reel

I saved up a grand for the Renzetti lathe w/options. Very disappointed
Reasons listed below:
1.) Lots of parts missing on arrival
2.)1/10 HP Motor burned out on 2nd rod turning cork
3.) Super thread carriage dosen't work properly(missing parts)
4.) Directions very vague and hard to follow
I'm Going to talk to them hopefully Saturday at the rod conclave
Wish I had bought something else that was cheaper!!!

They did send some of the missing parts free of charge.

If you're shopping, here's some feedback. Built my own and wrapped 10 rods on it before I realized its limitations - silk threads and noodley tips. I researched, shopped (hard to do with none on a shelf to hold / play with), and eventually bought a Master Rod Wrapper from Russ at GW.

While I am in love with its functionality and how the product wraps the rod, I admit that I am disappointed in the "roughness" of the piece itself. The design is good and well thought our, but:

1. some of the tongue / groove joints aren't smooth enough to allow free or even easy movement along the track length. Nothing a little sandpaper wont work out.

2. The track / base is warped and requires c-clamps to sit flush and not wobble. Nothing a couple od c-clamps wont work out.

3. The acrylic stands are tapped to allow attachment via woodscrews to the tongued bases, which allow (theoreticly) free movement along the track. The taps are crooked and the stands dont sit straight in them.

Most of this is cosmetic - you can still wrap a rod well with the thing. No, I haven't shared this with Russ yet - at this point because I will just deal with the cosmetic things, but I will send him my feedback.

Just a comment on David's post about the Renzetti Lathe.About a year ago I had called Renzetti to order bases and supports, but there was some question if my headstock would fit the bases. The gentleman I spoke to was unsure and did not want to take the order until he or I spoke to Andy to make sure they fit. I called again but was unable to get an answer on the fit. I e-mailed Andy three times and still no answer!! Gave up on then and drove out to Clemens were I had Dick's undivided attention, he answered all my questions and sent me home with what I needed. I had spoken to two other rodbuilders who had the same problem of unanswered E-mail's, they to bought other lathes. End of story, no. SEVEN MONTHS later my e-mail was answered: "you will have to check with Andy on the fit question". A stern reply from me followed. I hope the people at Renzetti read these comments so as to improve on customer service!One other comment on the motor problem, The Dayton motor is widely used on many rod lathes and is of good quality, maybe you just got a bad one! Not Renzetti's fault.