I just completed my home-made rod wrapper. I used pretty much all scrap material from other projects. The only things I had to buy was the thread tensioning stuff (which I found at McLendon Lumber/Hardware store) I know I sorta went overboard with the number of thread holders, but hey, it looks cool I bought a Rainshadow RFX8+ blank at the Flyfishing Show, I'll start building it, when the components arrive.
Looks great! If you find that the V notches are scratching your blank, you might want to place a strip of felt or velour in the V's. Very good job. :thumb: Don
actually, I can't decide what to use to line the notches. I tried felt, but it didn't look right. I also tried craft foam (very thin) and I like the way it felt, but it too, didn't look right. I'll figure it out, and thanks !!!
Boondock very cool. I remember a long time back looking for those tensioners..McLendon..geez, I never even thought to look there. You may want to consider adding a third, free standing, post to your wrapper. It may help with wrapping the ferrule areas of your blanks.
thanks DLoop, I would be very open to any suggestions to improve on the design. So what do you mean a third freestanding post?
In this picture, the post on the left is what I meant by freestanding. It's not attached to your main base unit and can be used on either side, at any distance from the base. It just helps balance a longer blank section. Also, when you are wrapping very near the end of a blank section you may not always be able to use your two primary posts conveniently, so you use this freestanding one and just 'one' of your base posts, with both post positioned off to the same side releative to your thread line.
ok DLoop, gotcha. I built a freestanding stand exactly like the ones on the base (matching their height).
that should do ya. i don't see how the wrapper dloop posted can work. not enought thread i actually wrap better on my lap, but you can't get up when the phone rings and have to time the toilet breaks. my only tool for years was a dictionary and a shot glass for the thread. now i have a cabelas model that has two supports that clamp whereever you need them and a clamp on thread holder/tensioner. very flexible but yours looks better. did you get a drying motor yet?
Tony, I quickly grabbed a picture off of Cabelas to simply show what was meant by a third post, not as an example of a good thread system. Boondock, what you built is awesome. Be sure to tell us how it works out.
that's a wrap ! wrapper works well, here's some pics... I used single foot, ceramic rings, for the running guides... now to apply some finish...
