Wisconsin Fly Fishing Forums - Rod drying motors

darklake Damsel Fly Offline Posts: 438	Rod drying motors Jan 3^rd, 2018 at 7:59pm Does anyone have any experience with the CRB (Custom Rod Builders) rod drying motor that sells for about $40? I build a rod or so a year, so I don't need anything too fancy, but I would like something that actually performs as advertised, isn't a hassle to use, and won't break in a year or two. Here's a link: http://www.mudhole.com/RDS-Rod-Dryer
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Zed

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Re: Rod drying motors
Reply #1 - Jan 4^th, 2018 at 9:00am

darklake - Have not used your mentioned MudHole rod dryer but personally, I'd go with the 9 RPM model. Not sure how small an O.D. the CRB chuck end will accept. I mention this because I generally apply epoxy & cure one rod half-section at a time (I've two homemade rod turners with 3/8" chucks). Masking tape is always a good thing to have at hand to increase an O.D.

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darklake

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Re: Rod drying motors
Reply #2 - Jan 7^th, 2018 at 8:58am

Hey Tim, nice to hear from you again! I hope your fall pike season went well. Ours was painfully short up here -- after making it into the first week of December in 2016 we didn't even make it out of October in 2017. Way too cold and too much wind in November, which was a huge disappointment. Anyway, I've been using a homemade rod dryer that an elderly friend of mine made from a rotisserie grill, but the motor just crapped out on me. I'm debating between the $40 CRB one and the $80 Flex Coat one. I suppose you get what you pay for ..... And I agree that the lower rpm would be the way to go for me, as I'm not a production rod builder by any means.

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Zed

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Re: Rod drying motors
Reply #3 - Jan 7^th, 2018 at 12:14pm

Hi Dark - My season was just 'okay'. Weather played miserably into it too, and the pikes were profoundly inhibited.

Is there a straightaway method of adding a new motor to your old rod dryer?

Also - those rod drying chucks that look like a toilet plunger end, well....I've a concern about their ability to retain a smallish rod blank O.D. whilst the rod is being turned over a number of hours. Some of the 'jawed' chucks have small plastic hooks that allow one to also loop rubber bands around the rod blank. This ensures that nothing will work its way out of the chuck during the epoxy curing time. Believe me, you'll let an un-cured rod fall out of a chuck only once!

Here's a link to some photos - https://www.google.com/search?q=Rodsmith+Chuck+Support&client=firefox-b-1&tbm=is...

An added cost & complexity but more peace of mind(!?!?)

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darklake

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Re: Rod drying motors
Reply #4 - Jan 9^th, 2018 at 2:03pm

Hey Tim, in thinking about repairing my current set-up I found a replacement rotisserie motor online that turns at 3 rpm. I don't think that would be too slow -- in fact, I think it might allow me to get my brush under the guide feet a little easier as they turn past me. But that should still be fast enough to keep the thread coat from pooling. Thoughts?

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Zed

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Re: Rod drying motors
Reply #5 - Jan 9^th, 2018 at 3:41pm

Hmmmmm....I think that slow of rotation will still be okay for thread epoxy curing BUT if you have some scrap rod sections laying about, I strongly suggest wrapping a few guides on it & make a complete trial run with the epoxy you're going to use on your switch rod.

Caveat: Not sure which epoxy you will use - I've only used regular viscosity Flex-Coat on my builds (2 coats), none of the high-build type epoxies. They may have a different leveling characteristic at such a slow RPM (???).

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Gimp

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Re: Rod drying motors
Reply #6 - Jan 11^th, 2018 at 1:39am

I run a 4 rpm motor and have built hundreds of rods with various types of finish. The problem with the 4 rpm isn't with a level finish, which I have always achieved, it's applying the finish. With two part finishes, even 24 hour cure finishes, with the slow speed of the rotation I still have to work fast to get all of the guides done before the finish starts to set and get micro bubbles in it.

When I first started building rods I had an old cassette player that i cannibalized. "Play" for drying and "FF" for applying finish. Worked great. One of my Ex's tossed it cause she thought it was junk. DOH!

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« Last Edit: Jan 11^th, 2018 at 1:40am by Gimp »

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darklake

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Re: Rod drying motors
Reply #7 - Jan 11^th, 2018 at 9:04am

Gimp wrote on Jan 11^th, 2018 at 1:39am:

I still have to work fast to get all of the guides done before the finish starts to set and get micro bubbles in it.

I wondered if that might not be a problem. Given that I only do a rod or two a year I suppose the workaround is to do the rod in two parts -- particularly if I'm doing a longer rod. I use the regular viscosity Flex Coat and wouldn't anticipate an issue with getting a level finish at 3 rpm. The rotisserie motor that just pooped out on me ran at 6 rpm, which is a nice rate for me. Before I try the 3 rpm motor I'll look around some more to see if I can find a replacement that would run at 6. I found one but didn't think I could mount it very easily.

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Zed

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Re: Rod drying motors
Reply #8 - Jan 11^th, 2018 at 9:33am

darklake wrote on Jan 11^th, 2018 at 9:04am:

I suppose the workaround is to do the rod in two parts -- particularly if I'm doing a longer rod.

This.
Longer rods take a fair amount of time.
I mix one small epoxy batch for half the rod, apply it, put it on my turner,
then mix up a second glue batch & apply to the 2nd rod half.
Racing against the epoxy curing clock is a no-win for me.

I'm going to suggest making some rod blank supports (your typical vee-d 3/4" plywood & base); use these when applying the glue to the thread wraps, then transfer the half section to the rod dryer.

(some have even used a large cardboard box with vee-d sides to cradle the rod blank in - über simple and inexpensive)

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« Last Edit: Jan 11^th, 2018 at 3:35pm by Zed »

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darklake Damsel Fly Offline Posts: 438	Re: Rod drying motors Reply #9 - Jan 16^th, 2018 at 11:33am I finally settled on buying a Flex Coat dryer after having trouble finding a replacement rotisserie motor that looked like it would work for me. The Flex Coat runs at 6 r.p.m., which is a speed I'm comfortable with. Hopefully it performs as advertised.
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darklake

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Re: Rod drying motors
Reply #10 - Apr 17^th, 2018 at 8:39pm

Reporting in that the Flex Coat dryer works pretty well. It's a whole lot quieter than the old rotisserie motor I had been using. It has a rubber diaphragm with a hole in it across the face, and you just jam the blank into the hole to get connected to the dryer. The hole is big enough that it will accept a cork handle, albeit a handle on the slimmer end of the spectrum. Smaller blanks just need to be built up with a little masking tape. The 6 rpm works well for me, and I'm glad I stuck with that speed. Nothing fancy, but so far so good.

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