Dedicated to the Making of Fine Bamboo Fly Rods

Transcription

April 2014 (Volume 55)
Dedicated to the Making
of Fine
B a m b o o F ly Ro d s
Inside this issue:
The First Cast
4
Scarf-a-Tip
6
Restoring O-8-3
10
The Ventilated Fly Rod
Grip
18
Travelling Angler:
James Reid —
Living Aloha
25
A Bamboo Toaster
35
Making Ferrules
50
Watercolor on paper courtesy of Alfonso Jaraiz Puig (http://artificialfliesdrawings.blogspot.com)
April, 2014 (Volume 55)
Page 2
Page 3
New Offering
We at Power Fibers have decided to offer web site hosting services for
anyone who wants to set up a web site at an affordable price. We’re offering space for you to upload your site along with a secure login to maintain
the site. If you’re interested in more information, send a message to
[email protected].
Page 4
The First Cast
Todd Talsma, Editor
Right off the bat, I have to apologize for how late this issue is. Waited
for a couple of articles, life got in the way, but the issue is here!
We’re looking forward to the gathering season with the Grayrock gathering, the Colorado Cane gathering, the Catskills gathering and the Southern Rodmakers gathering all coming up in the next six months. This is
just a few of the gatherings that are out there. I haven’t left any particular gathering off the list for any reason, These are just the gatherings that
I can think of off the top of my head! I’ve said it before, but if you’re out
there making rods, you owe it to yourself to make it to one or more of
these gatherings. The information you can get and the relationships that
you’ll build are hard to come by in any other way. For me, after making
connections with people that I’ve met via email or phone the best part of
the gatherings is being able to cast many different rods. If you’re thinking of making a certain type of rod, there’s a pretty good chance that
someone will have that rod (or a very similar rod) at the gathering. What
better way to find out if you really want to make that particular rod than
if you have a chance to cast it before you even start. I have a couple of
rods that I never would have started
on had I know how they cast. These
Warning!
rods aren’t my cup of tea when casting. Now, I may have been a little Because many aspects of bamhasty with my judgment and I should boo rodmaking bring the maker
pull them out again after I’ve had a in contact with machinery,
little more practice casting, I may bladed tools, volatile chemicals
find that I like the rods!!
and gases, the editor and advisory board of Power Fibers ask
you
to exercise the utmost cauI can always use more ideas, feel free
to contact me. If you have a sugges- tion when attempting to build
tion about improving Power Fibers, or mimic any devices or actividrop me an email at the following ties mentioned in this magazine.
e m a i l
a d d r e s s : Please have any devices you
[email protected]
build and use in your shop
checked by a safety professional
before attempting to use such
devices. This is to guarantee
your personal safety and that of
others around you.
If you choose to build any device or use any technique found
in this magazine, you are doing
so at your own risk.
Power Fibers
Online Magazine
Editor
Todd Talsma
Contributors
Lee Koch
Gary Marshall
Dennis McGraw
Mike McGuire
Dean Shirota
Tony Young
Copy Editors
Bret Reiter
Carol Talsma
Mark Wendt
Advisory Board
Russ Gooding
Bob Maulucci
Bob Nunley
J.D. Wagner
For more info contact:
Todd Talsma
[email protected]
8412 North Maple Court
Zeeland MI 49464
616.772.5043
Copyright © 2014 by Power Fibers
AV Young Ferrules
Machined from Nickel Aluminium Bronze
(AMS 4640) a very high strength aerospace bronze made in standard sizes from
9/64 to 16/64 in regular Super Swiss
style, truncated, micro and step down.
Non standard sizes and configurations including rope knurling available upon request.
All configurations:
$ Australian 65.00 for 1F/2M
$ Australian 55.00 for 1F/1M
www.avyoung.com — or — [email protected]
Page 6
Scarf-a-Tip
Text and photos by Lee Koch
Well, I guess if you make rods long enough, eventually one will come back broken. This was the
first time for me, a tip broken between the first and second guides. Trail-side vegetation was the
culprit.
(Continued on page 7)
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Page 7
Rather than make a new tip, I decided to try to scarf a new section (first time for me). It is not so
easy to find a scarfing block to buy on a moment’s notice, I found out, but my friend Alan Kube
had shown me how he built his, so I went to work. It takes a router table, a couple of bits, a drill
press, a file, two pieces of hardwood and a couple of clevis pins. Here's the block, opened like a
sandwich.
The two angled grooves at the center of the 'sandwich" are the good ones. Each is about 20 thousandths deep, and cut with a 120-degree router bit. The grooves on the outside of the sandwich are
where I screwed up my first pass, cutting the grooves too deep and cutting off the little "anvil" that
you need to support the stick as you plane it down. I learned what I had done wrong, flipped the
block over, and got good grooves the second time. I clamped the two sides together and drilled two
holes through for the clevis pins to hold the sides together. You want a tight fit for these pins. I
countersunk the holes for the heads of the pins, so I could put the block in a vise when I plane the
angle into the sticks. It took a couple of hours to get the tool built.
Here's the block with the new tip section in the block - the fat end of the section has already been
planed down. The break occurred between the 1st and 2nd guides. I cut back some of the bamboo
so as to put the splice under the 2nd guide.
Page 8
Here are the two sections glued up with Titebond and held in place with binding string.
Let the glue set, clean up, and wrap the guide right over the scarf.
The tip is cut to size, the last guides and tiptop re-applied, and soon it will be ready for final finish.
Pretty fun, actually. You'll notice that this was a flamed rod - one of the harder things is to flame
some new bamboo for the replacement section, so that it will look right. I think I did pretty well.
Page 9
Page 10
Restoring O-8-3
Text and photos from Gary Marshall
O-8-3? Well many rodmakers may well know straight away what this is and those that have read
Garrison’s book will doubtless have come upon his system of marking his rods. For the uninitiated,
Everett Garrison first started his marking sequence in 1931 with the letter A, so the letter O represents a rod made in 1945. The first number denotes the rod length in feet, so this is an 8ft rod and is
also marked with the model number 212 as a confirmation. The final number “3” shows that this
was the third such rod made in that year.
So how did this venerable piece of classic American rodmaking end up with me? Via the current
owner of course! His acquisition of the rod was more unusual. The original owner was an American
diplomat who was serving in England and fished the chalk streams. When he finished his tour he
presented the rod to the then river keeper who has used it ever since.
Condition
This is a well used rod and showed the scars of battle when passed to me. It only had one tip and
that was about five inches short. T he tip top and all guides on the butt were replacements but the
snakes on the tip looked original. The handle and reel seat were all functional and the cane was in
good order apart from a small delamination in the tip and some small chips.
Page 11
The ferrules were of an early step down pattern with a long shoulder on the male. The slide was
quite rough as was the shoulder, mechanical force having been used at some stage in the past. The
two tone ferrule whippings were original but the female ferrule was loose on the cane so the whipping was cracked.
The finish on this rod was some sort of shellac (badly crazed and oxidised), but the whippings were
varnished with those on the tip showing Garrisons signature transparent silk.
An interesting point to note is that this rod does not exhibit the reddish purple glue lines that were a
signature to his later work and stemming from the use of Resorcinol Formaldehyde glue. This earlier creation used a glue which leaves no lines and needless to say, there are none visible on the rod.
Scope of restoration
The basic desire was to keep as much original work as possible and to restore the rest using materials as close to the originals as practicable and as listed below:
•
•
•
Photograph all elements for record purposes and mark the layout of the rod on a paper roll.
Handle – keep as original, only surface cleaning allowable.
Reel seat metalwork - remove corrosion, clean and remove the worst of the scratches without
•
•
•
•
•
•
Page 12
dismantling.
Handle trim wrap and hook keeper – refinish the existing silk after rebonding and cleaning the
keeper.
Female ferrule – clean off old bluing and reblue, rebond onto the cane.
Male ferrule – remove the worst of the scratches to obtain a workable fit and reblue. Retain existing silk work and refinish.
Butt cane – strip all old finish and rings and straighten cane before rebuilding.
Existing tip – Strip off old rings, silk and finish. Make and splice in place a new top section constructed to the original dimensions. Colour match to the existing cane before rebuilding.
New tip – make a new tip to the original dimensions using cane with similar nodal spacing and
using Garrison node stagger to match the original. Colour match with the original cane. Make
and fit a new nickel silver male ferrule to match the existing ferrule.
Sourcing the parts
“The book” recommends a range of possible rod finishes but calls for the silk to be finished with a
Tung oil based varnish so this was selected for refinishing and a dip tube arrangement was constructed to simulate the original method used.
The transparent silk used for the guides is actually white which goes clear when varnished and Garrison used Belding Corticelli size A. After some time trawling the internet I managed to locate a full
spool of 1940's silk in the States.
Belding silk, 1940’s vintage.
Existing (left) and “new” snakes (right).
Page 13
Handmade stripper guide
Two sorts of tan coloured silks are called for to make the two stage ferrule wrap, grade A up to the
tabs and grade B over the tabs themselves. This detail is aimed at preventing any splitting from affecting the integrity of the ferrule wraps, the intention being that any flex at the end of the ferrule
will occur at the silk junction. The silks from the now defunct Holland manufacturing company
could not be found so modern ones were tried until a good match was found to the existing wraps.
The snake guides on the tip had a blued finish and matched the “Perfection” guides listed in “the
book.” The company still exists but ideally period items would be preferred. These were eventually
found in Canada along with two matching tip tops.
The existing stripper guide was a non-original agatine lined example so the only guidance on a replacement was a picture and size requirement from the book. The pictured guide looked quite similar to some examples offered for sale but on receipt these were the wrong size or a poor match. I
therefore elected to make a stripper guide of the correct size and used a nickel silver frame with a
polished stainless steel ring.
The work
Stripping the existing finish posed no problem as the shellac flaked off easily. Great care was required to protect all the inscriptions and these areas were scraped close to the lettering and then
lightly abraded. Existing guides all came off without damage as did the female ferrule which was
Page 14
fairly loose. The fit of the ferrule showed the tabs wrapped over the corners of the cane as per Garrison’s preferred method, so it was re-fixed in the same location.
Existing and new ferrules with reel seat.
Checking the ring spacings showed the original tip guides exactly matched the listed dimensions
whereas the butt had had an additional guide inserted. The decision was made to replace the rings
throughout the rod to the original specified dimensions.
Close working with the existing tip revealed a short length of delamination in the cane at about half
the section length. This was repaired in the same manner as the tip splice, overwrapping in fine silk.
The new cane work was executed in conventional fashion using a Urea Formaldehyde glue and the
matching ferrule was again fitted with the tabs wrapped over the corners of the section.
The spliced in tip was fitted in accordance with Garrison’s own repair instructions in respect of the
splice orientation and the taper of the splice. The only concession to modern methods being the use
of a finer silk for the overwrap together with thinned epoxy sealant to give a stronger and less visible
joint.
Page 15
Rod with new cane components.
Colour matching the cane was difficult with neither light flaming nor Potassium Permanganate
working. The new cane had to be coloured with a blend of different spirit stains to get a match.
Working with the Belding silk caused some problems. At size A it is thicker than I would usually
use for transparent wraps and I wanted to use a varnish finish for a number of reasons. Firstly, this
was as it was originally done. Secondly, it is readily removable thus complying with the general
dictate not to do any irreversible work. Thirdly, using an amber coloured varnish gives the wraps a
distinctly golden hue that is lacking if modern materials are used. “The book” suggests that just
flooding the wraps with varnish will achieve the required transparent finish but rather more care
than that is required, especially using thicker silk. A flood coat is required but without causing drips
and starting at the tip of the foot to drive out air in the “tunnel”. As this coat dries and shrinks
(varnish is only around 50% solids) it will try and draw in air so before this happens another coat
must be applied quickly and this in turn watched to make sure its integrity is maintained especially
at the tunnel entrance.
Page 16
Once a colour match had been found the darker silks were mercifully problem free.
Varnish dipping the rod was relatively straight forward with the surface being well flatted back between coats. There is no mention in “the book” of polishing a finish (probably regarded as superfluous) so I determined to leave the varnish at full gloss with only apparent defects polished out.
Conclusion
This was a challenging restoration as working with such a valuable rod is not good for the nerves,
but the end result is very pleasing and I hope complies with all the best principles that such work
demands. It has always been a working rod and I am sure it will now have many more active years.
Green Highlander
Flyfishing Company
Home of Bret’s Bamboo Ovens
These are the best bamboo ovens you can
buy for heat-setting and heat-treating.
Visit our website at:
www.greenhighlanderflyfishing.com
- or [email protected]
Page 18
The Ventilated Fly Rod Grip
Text and Photos by Dennis McGraw
I am a hobbyist fly rod builder. To me building rods is a pleasant pastime that allows me to relax,
be creative, and escape the day to day stress that accompanies living in today’s fast paced and demanding society. I build rods for myself and I indulge in a relaxed pace, spending time in parts of
the process that I find enjoyable and interesting. The repetitive motion of a hand plane over a strip
of cane can almost become meditative at times.
I enjoy the planning process of rod building almost as much as the actual construction of the rod
itself. I try to find inspiration for my rods in form, function, the requirements of the fishing environment, my fishing style and rods from the past. One type of rod that I really enjoy both making and
fishing are the one piece fly rods. They are simple to make, extremely pleasant to cast, and very
well suited to the small Appalachian streams here in West Virginia. A small isolated mountain
stream, a few dry flies and a beautiful one piece fly rod is my idea of perfection.
In pursuit of this perfect set-up I am making a Tom Smithwick 5’6” 4wt one piece fly rod blank
coupled with a Paul Young inspired ventilated grip. My hopes are that this combination will give
me a purpose built rod that will be light, delicate and enjoyable to cast.
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Page 19
The purpose of this article is to illustrate my process of building a Paul Young inspired Ventilated
Fly Rod Grip.
Most one piece fly rods have very short small grips. I have large hands and am not a fan of small
tiny grips. The rational for a small grip on a one piece rod is that the grip stops the rod from flexing.
A flexible ventilated grip should allow me to have a larger grip and still maintain the flexibility near,
and even into, the grip. I think a 7 inch cigar shaped grip would work perfectly.
Good quality cork is getting hard to find. I for one do not mind minor voids in the rings except in the
end ring that meets the rod blank. I always pick my best ring for this position. I also want to use very
strong clear glue as these rings will be bonded to the blank only and not each other. Thirty minute
two ton epoxy should work nicely.
This the grip measured out and marked in pencil on the blank, I began reaming out the rings to construct the reel seat and grip. I wanted a nice close fit as the glue bonds between the cork and blank
will be critical to the strength of the grip. After all the rings are prepped, I did a quick test fitting and
after a few adjustments I was ready to glue.
Page 20
During this phase it’s important to have all your supplies ready and handy. Once the glue is mixed
the clock is ticking and when the glue starts to harden you’re done. For this step I used pennies as
spacers to create the gap between the rings. They work very well and if they happen to accidently
get glued to the cork or blank they are very easy to break free without damaging the rod.
To start I used masking tape to create a small space the width of a cork ring at the very end of the
blank, this allowed me to shape a tapered ring separately from the reel seat. This last ring was added
after the reel seat was shaped and the slip rings were added. With the masking tape spacer in place I
mixed the glue and began applying glue and adding cork rings. The construction of the reel seat is
first. These rings are securely glued to the blank and each other for additional strength. I used a
small stick to apply the glue to the blank and the sides of each ring as it is applied.
With the reel seat completed I added penny spacers and rings to construction the grip. I used three
pennies for each gap; this allowed me to get a nice even space and this configuration also supports
the rod nicely on the bench while the glue sets. Because the glue bond on these rings is so critical, I
carefully but quickly applied a small amount of glue to the blank and carefully added the ring making sure there is enough glue to create a secure bond. This process is continued until the grip is finished and the grip is secured in a homemade grip vise with light pressure. Be careful not to apply to
much clamping force this can distort the rings.
Page 21
Page 22
After the grip dried, I unclamped it and began the rough shaping. I used an electric drill to turn the
rod during the shaping process. A lot of caution must be used during this process. Keep the drill
speed slow and steady. If the rod rotates too fast it can easily become unbalanced and break the rod
blank. At the beginning of the shaping process I am pretty aggressive and use a rasp to get the general shape. I then use sandpaper from 60 grit to 220 grit to finish the shape of the reel seat and grip.
Because I am a cheapskate I use stainless steel men’s rings (size 8) as slip rings. These are very inexpensive, last forever and are very close to the I.D of purpose built slip rings. I will add that the
steel rings work best with a cork reel seat as the cork provides a little give and allows the steel ring
to gain a better hold on the reel foot. They do not flex as much as aluminum or NS and do not provided as much purchase on the reel foot when used with a wood insert reel seat.
This completes my brief article on the basic construction of a Paul Young style ventilated fly rod
grip. I hope you enjoyed or at least found this interesting and helpful.
Page 23
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Page 25
Traveling Angler: James Reid—Living Aloha
Text and Photos by Dean Shirota
I initially found out about James Reid from the various fly fishing forums that I frequent and found
out that he was into building bamboo fly rods but more importantly two handed bamboo fly rods. At
first I thought he built rods only for himself but after searching to the far ends of the internet for two
handed bamboo makers I came across his web site. I was pleased to see that he build a wide variety
of bamboo rods but the one that really caught my eye was the “saltwater special.” For my particular
fishing needs in Hawaii I was looking for the ideal bamboo fly rod. One that I can use for sight fishing to bonefish; but if the weather got bad I could fish two handed spey casts. I contacted James to
get his input on a rod that would fit my needs and found him to be a wealth of knowledge. I told him
that I would put in an order in the near future since I already had a Bob Clay 12 footer on the way
and needed to pay for that rod before I added my name to his list. The following day I fished with
my good friend Craig and mentioned to him that I was going to order another bamboo rod. He said
he wanted to see the rod so when I got home I sent the link to James web site. He must have liked
what he saw because two days later I got a text message from Craig saying he submitted a deposit
for his rod order.
Flash forward to present day: James let me know that he is coming to Hawaii for a family vacation
and asked if I had time to fish. I told him, “You bet!” We then made arrangements to fish three days.
The week prior the weather was absolutely gorgeous and the fishing was good. The day I picked up
James and his wife Emily from the airport the weather was cold, overcast, windy and rainy. I
thought to myself, “I hope that he didn't bring the bad weather with him on this trip.”
Day one:
The weather was cold, windy, and looked like it was going to be wet the whole day. I prepared for
the worst and I am glad I did. I picked James up from the airport and we rolled up to the flats.
Page 26
James was nice enough to bring a variety of his rods to do some Hawaiian field testing. James fished
a 7wt single hand rod and I fished a 4/5wt trout spey rod. We headed to the first spot and right off
the bat James hooked and landed his first Hawaii bonefish.
We fished a bunch of other spots during the day and James was able to land a new species of fish for
him, including a nice sized goatfish.
Page 27
We ended the day by fishing the edge of a reef. Here, James got a nice sized trumpetfish.
Not a bad day first day.
Day 2:
On the second day Craig, James, and I fished in Hawaii Kai which was far more exposed to the
winds. Craig fished his new saltwater special, James fished his 5wt spey and I fished James’s 12
foot Summer Spey. James said that this was his go to rod to fish many of his British Columbia waters and I understood why. We were fishing in steady 30mph winds with occasional heavier gusts
and the rod still felt light in hand and could pound out some serious casts. We all fished hard but did
not get any bites. We took a short break to bring James by the Nervous Water Fly Fishers shop to
see Sean and then worked our way to other flats. On the way, we picked up Clayton, the one that
opened Hawaii’s first and only fly shop and started the whole flyfishing for bonefish scene in Hawaii.
Page 28
When we got to the flats we all split up and went off to find our own waters. James had wanted to
catch a barracuda on the fly so I set him up in a likely holding spot for barracuda and he went to
work.
I was getting a little bored so I started fishing and, as luck would have it, hooked and landed the only
barracuda caught during the trip.
Page 29
Early in the evening from a distance I saw Clay had hooked, fought and landed a bonefish with
James’s 5wt two hander. He ended the day by catching two nice sized bonefish and a goatfish. Not
bad for a short three hour session.
Craig was casting in a really fishy but gnarly area and hooked three bonefish with the Saltwater Special but lost them all to coral. He caught a few rocks and one that he thought was rock that turned
out to be a nohu or scorpion fish. This is one of the few fish in Hawaii waters that one needs to be
careful with due to poisonous spines.
Page 30
As the tide went out we all congregated in one general area. I was fortunate to get a bite and landed
a nice sized bonefish.
I was done for the day so I had James fish the two handed rod. He hooked into a really big fish that
took him way into the backing and eventually cut him off on the reef.
James pounded the flats hard until sunset but did not get any additional bites.
Page 31
As we walked in we were treated to the most beautiful sunset. Not a bad way to end another day in
paradise.
Day 3:
This day started with high hopes. Out of all the days this one was the nicest by far. We quickly
waded to a fishy spot and I told James that I had the feeling he was going to hook up within 13 casts
and sure enough he did.
Page 32
After he landed and released his first bonefish for the day. I walked down a little way and made my
first cast of the day and hooked into a nice sized bonefish.
James eventually landed four bonefish this day.
Page 33
We even shared a double bonefish hook up.
He even landed a bluefin travally.
In all it was a fun-filled trip and it was a total pleasure finally meeting James and having the opportunity to fish some of his rods. I’m sure I will be getting couple more rods for my fishing quiver after fishing his rods.
Page 34
Page 35
A Bamboo Toaster
Text and photos by Mike McGuire
I have a requirement to be able heat treat strips of bamboo for a building fly rods to about 350° F. I
used to bake out high vacuum systems at considerably higher temperatures using heating tapes
wrapped around them. It occurred to me that a similar approach might work well for this requirement. Part of the requirement is that the temperature should be reasonably close to the same over the
whole length of the bamboo strips.
The Oven Tube
I decided to use a 6 foot piece of copper tubing because as a good conductor of heat, it should help
to keep the temperature even. A1 inch nominal diameter tubing should be quite large enough to hold
a bound up bundle of rough planed triangular strips in a hex configuration for any size rod I might
want to build. It also would not require too much heating tape or a huge amount of power to reach
the desired temperature. I got some slip-on end caps. I did a bit of sanding of the ends of the tube so
they would fit easily.
Heating Tape
I found a variety of tapes available from McMaster Carr at this link: http://www.mcmaster.com/
#3641k26/=od0k3. The one that seemed best was a 96 inch length of "Super High Temperature Heat
Rope" for $45. It's good to 900° F which is well beyond my requirements, and at 400 watt in can be
controlled with a rotary light dimmer which commonly can handle up to 600 watts.
Heating Cord Wrapped on the Tube
In the picture above the tube is supported at each end by a piece of wood with a 1.25" hole through
it. Below is a little box to which the wood is clamped. For actual use, the tube is supported by fire
Page 36
bricks. I got them at the ceramics/pottery supply house. They are very soft and easily cut, drilled
etc. The little boxes are sized to fit them and are screwed to the board. I used a stainless steel hose
clamp at each end of the pipe to hold the heating cord in place
Temperature Measurement with Thermocouples
A thermocouple is the junction of two dissimilar metals which produces a voltage across them
which varies with temperature. There are several standard ones. You can read all about them at this
link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermocouple. I chose use type K which is Chromel-Alumel, alloys of nickel etc. One can buy them made up and packaged, but they are extremely simple to make
from thermocouple wire which is a pair of the two metal wires insulated from each other. Stripping
the wires and twisting a few millimeters of them together at the end makes a junction. However at
elevated temperature the wires oxidize, and the junction gets flakey. Ideally they should be welded
together, but this takes a fairly high temperature torch or a small spot welder. What I do is cold weld
them by hitting the twisted wires with a hammer on an anvil surface. Type K (and other types) is
available from McMaster at this link: http://www.mcmaster.com/#type-k-thermocouple-wire/
=qzvbgl. I acquired 10' of the #24 900° fiberglass insulated wire at about $1 a foot. The wire color
code for type K is yellow for positive, red for negative. The simplest way to read the thermocouple
is to acquire a digital multimeter with a temperature probe capability. This will invariably be for the
type K thermocouple. It will come with a thermocouple, but it will be pretty stingy on length. Prices
run $30 and up. Note that in previous versions of this article on my web site, I used type T thermocouples (Copper-Constantan), but made the switch for compatibility with the multimeter.
Alternatively, one can set up an ice water reference junction, read the voltage with a meter with
range down into the millivolts and use the table below to convert to temperature. Otherwise skip the
rest of this section down to Equalizing the Temperature.
Thermocouples are used in pairs wired in opposition to each other. One of the junctions is held at a
reference temperature, typically 0° C, the melting point of ice while the other is used to make the
measurement. Multimeters with temperature probes create the reference electronically.
Thermocouple Hookup
Page 37
The figure on the prior page shows how a thermocouple measuring system is hooked up. It is really
that simple. The colors correspond to the standard insulation colors for type K thermocouple wire.
Now how to turn the voltage reading into degrees? Below is a table from the National Institute for
Standards and Technology (http://srdata.nist.gov/its90/main/), following the links to http://
srdata.nist.gov/its90/download/type_k.tab. The excerpt below covers the range of interest.
The design goal 350° F is 176°C. If °C is not comfortable, here is an online converter http://
www.wbuf.noaa.gov/tempfc.htm
ITS-90 Table for type K thermocouple
°C
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Thermoelectric Voltage in mV
0
0.000
0.039
0.079
0.119
0.158
0.198
0.238
0.277
0.317
0.357
0.397
10
0.397
0.437
0.477
0.517
0.557
0.597
0.637
0.677
0.718
0.758
0.798
20
0.798
0.838
0.879
0.919
0.960
1.000
1.041
1.081
1.122
1.163
1.203
30
1.203
1.244
1.285
1.326
1.366
1.407
1.448
1.489
1.530
1.571
1.612
40
1.612
1.653
1.694
1.735
1.776
1.817
1.858
1.899
1.941
1.982
2.023
50
2.023
2.064
2.106
2.147
2.188
2.230
2.271
2.312
2.354
2.395
2.436
60
2.436
2.478
2.519
2.561
2.602
2.644
2.685
2.727
2.768
2.810
2.851
70
2.851
2.893
2.934
2.976
3.017
3.059
3.100
3.142
3.184
3.225
3.267
80
3.267
3.308
3.350
3.391
3.433
3.474
3.516
3.557
3.599
3.640
3.682
90
3.682
3.723
3.765
3.806
3.848
3.889
3.931
3.972
4.013
4.055
4.096
100
4.096
4.138
4.179
4.220
4.262
4.303
4.344
4.385
4.427
4.468
4.509
110
4.509
4.550
4.591
4.633
4.674
4.715
4.756
4.797
4.838
4.879
4.920
120
4.920
4.961
5.002
5.043
5.084
5.124
5.165
5.206
5.247
5.288
5.328
130
5.328
5.369
5.410
5.450
5.491
5.532
5.572
5.613
5.653
5.694
5.735
140
5.735
5.775
5.815
5.856
5.896
5.937
5.977
6.017
6.058
6.098
6.138
150
6.138
6.179
6.219
6.259
6.299
6.339
6.380
6.420
6.460
6.500
6.540
160
6.540
6.580
6.620
6.660
6.701
6.741
6.781
6.821
6.861
6.901
6.941
170
6.941
6.981
7.021
7.060
7.100
7.140
7.180
7.220
7.260
7.300
7.340
180
7.340
7.380
7.420
7.460
7.500
7.540
7.579
7.619
7.659
7.699
7.739
190
7.739
7.779
7.819
7.859
7.899
7.939
7.979
8.019
8.059
8.099
8.138
Now the millivolt range seen above may seem a problem, but it turns out that quite cheap digital
Page 38
multimeters available today have a 200 mV range with 0.1 mV resolution which is adequate for this
job. I got the one in the picture below from Harbor Freight for $4.
Cheap Digital Multimeter and Ice Water Reference.
Equalizing the Temperature
For control I put one thermocouple right in the middle of the length of the tube held in place with a
hose clamp, and several more at 6" intervals out to the end for test purposes in getting the temperature equal. I later realized I didn't need the others because I could bore a small hole in an end cap
and insert a thermocouple long enough to reach the middle and move it a measured amount to get
the temperature at other locations. Before I started testing, I put one wrap of fiberglass insulation
over the length of the tube between the two bricks.
One Wrap of Fiberglass.
Page 39
The stuff I used was about 3" wide by about 1/4" thick. Then I started to test. I ran the dimmer control up to full power until around 175° C or 350° F was reached and then backed off until I found a
setting where that temperature would hold. After it had come to equilibrium, I measured the other
positions. Here are the results:
Middle
6"
12"
18"
24"
30"
172°
172°
160°
150°
138°
96°
This was not too bad but I needed to do better. The results suggested more insulation on the ends. A
second layer between 30" and 16" from the middle gave the following results:
Middle
6"
12"
18"
24"
30"
170°
170°
168°
168°
162°
116°
Considerable improvement, seemed to be on the right track. Added a third layer between 30" and 20"
from the middle for these results:
Middle
6"
12"
18"
24"
30"
172°
174°
174°
175°
174°
128°
This is looking about right. Applied the same wraps to the other end for these results:
Middle
6"
12"
18"
24"
30"
170°
174°
179°
181°
181°
140°
Second and Third Wraps Applied.
Page 40
Rather than keep chasing this, I measured with the thermocouple on the inside to get this result:
Middle
6"
12"
18"
24"
30"
177°
177°
177°
179°
177°
138°
So for 24" on either side of the middle it looks like I have a reasonably uniform temperature. The
heating cord only runs to the 30" point so there is 6" unheated on the ends which accounts for the
drop there. It does help to add a little wrap of fiberglass on the end as shown here.
Wrap on the End
To improve on this, it seemed to need more heat near the ends, so the cord wraps were redistributed
as shown below:
Redistributed Heating Cord--Same on Right End
Page 41
With the insulation reinstalled as before the result of this was:
Middle
6"
12"
18"
24"
27"
30"
172°
172°
170°
172°
180°
185°
172°
The temperature drop at the end was moved further out and compressed over a smaller region, but
more tweaking of the insulation was needed. As I did this the temperature at the middle would drift
around even if extra insulation was nowhere near the middle, so at this point I decided to put a PID
controller on with a thermocouple attached to the middle for a control point. This stabilized the temperature at the middle quite nicely and made the further adjustment of the insulation to equalize the
temperature much easier. My final result was:
Middle
6"
12"
18"
24"
27"
30"
178°
178°
178°
174°
176°
179°
172°
Wiring Details
The heating cord is a single conductor with a lead coming out each end. Wiring it, and connecting it
to power is as shown in the next two pictures:
Wiring to 3 Conductor Power Cord
A cheap source of a good 3 conductor cord was a $3 strip outlet which I scrapped for it. The black
wire is connected to one end of heating cord, the white wire to the other end, and the green wire,
which is ground, is connected to the copper tube. Black, white and green are standard electrical code
colors to the hot side, the neutral side, and ground respectively. Connections are made with wire
nuts. The wires are held in place with insulated staples.
Page 42
Connection at the Other End
The PID Controller
What a Proportional-Integral-Differential controller does is to stabilize temperature to a set value by
applying heat at just the right rate to bring it to the set value in the minimum amount of time while
damping the oscillation about the set value. The following is a very explicit description of how I put
in a specific PID controller.
The PID Controller Parts
The PID controller I got was from Auber Intruments, their Universal 1/32 DIN PID Temperature
Controller (http://auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=14). To
go with it I got a 25 amp solid state relay (http://auberins.com/index.php?
main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=9). I built it up in a 3x4x5" electronic project box
which I got from a local electronics store. Other parts needed were from the local hardware store.
They were:
1. A three conductor extension cord about 6' long.
2. NM (non-metallic) connectors for holding the cord where it passes in and out of the box, 2
needed.
3. Spade lugs for #16-#14 wire to fit #6 stud for connecting to the controller.
4. Spade lugs for #16-#14 wire to fit #10 stud for connecting to the power terminals of the relay
and to ground.
5. 10-32 1/2" screws and nuts to hold the relay to the box--2 needed.
6. Black, white, and green stranded copper wire, #16 or #14, about 2' of each.
7. Toggle switch single pole single throw (SPST) with screw terminals.
Page 43
Assembly
Cut a rectangular hole in the box about 0.900" x 1.800" for the control unit. Put it where it won't
crowd the relay which is screwed to the box. Bore holes for the relay mounting, the toggle switch
and the NM connectors.
The box with all the holes cut
Mount all the parts as shown in the picture below. There are spring clips built into the control unit
which hold it in place when it is slid into the hole.
Page 44
Cut the extension cord about 14" from the socket end and strip about 4" of the outer cover off each
of the cut ends and pass them through the NM connectors and clamp them with the screws.
Wiring the Controller
To make a connection to a spade lug, strip off about !/4" of insulation from a wire, insert it in the lug
and crimp it with an electrician’s tool.
Electrician's Tool
Page 45
Starting the Wiring
1. Crimp a #10 spade lug to the black wire of the output cord and connect to the T1 terminal on the relay.
There is gray plastic cover on the relay you will have to take off to get at the terminals.
2. Crimp a #10 spade lug to the green wire of the output cord and ground it by connecting to one of the
mounting screws of the relay.
More Wiring
Page 46
3. Crimp a #10 spade lug to the green wire of the input cord and ground it by connecting to the other mounting screw of the relay.
4. Crimp a #6 spade lug to the black wire of the input cord and connect it to a terminal of the toggle switch.
5. Take a 4" piece of black wire, crimp a #6 lug to one end and connect to the other terminal of the switch.
To the other end of the wire, crimp a #10 lug and connect to L1 terminal of the relay.
6. With another 4" piece of black wire, crimp #6 lugs to both ends and connect between the same terminal of
the switch as the last one and the terminal 1 of the controller.
7. Crimp a #6 lug to one end of a 4" piece of white wire and connect to the terminal 2 of he controller. Strip
the other end and twist together with the white wires from the input and output cords and screw a wire nut on
the twist.
8. Crimp a #6 lug on one end of a 4" piece of green wire and connect to terminal 3 of the controller. Crimp a
#10 lug to the other end and ground it by connecting it to one of the mounting screws of the relay.
9. Crimp #6 lugs to both ends of a 4" piece of black wire. Connect one end to terminal 9 of the controller
and the other to the A2(-) terminal of the relay..
10. Crimp #6 lugs to both ends of a 4" piece of white wire. Connect one end to terminal 10 of the controller
and the other to the A1(+) terminal of the relay.
11. Make a thermocouple as described above. Connect the Chromel wire (yellow insulation) to terminal 7 of
the controller and the Alumel wire (red insulation) to terminal 6.
Clamp the junction end of the thermocouple to the copper tube of the oven about in the middle with a
stainless steel hose clamp.
Setup and Operation
The controller comes with a manual which may be confusing. Hopefully this procedure list will help.
To set up the controller plug it in, but don't plug in the oven. I strongly recommend running it from a
GFI (Ground Fault Interrupt) protected outlet. Turn it on. On the front panel are four buttons, Set, >,
^, and v. The display has four columns.
To Setup:
1. Push the Set button.
2. Enter the code for setup, 0089. Do this by using the > button choose the column and the ^ and v buttons to
set the numbers.
3. Push the Set button. IntY should appear in the display. Push Set again. A t should appear in the display
indicating that a copper constantan type T thermocouple is to be used, If t does not appear push the ^ button
until it does. Push Set.
4. Push ^, outY should appear. Push Set, if 2 does not appear, push ^ until it does. Push Set.
5. Push ^, Hy should appear. Push Set, if 0003 does not appear, use the >, ^ and < span style="font-weight:
bold;">v buttons to change it to 0003. Push Set.
6. Push ^. Atdu should appear, Push Set. If 000 does not appear, use the >, ^ and v buttons to change it to
000. Push Set.
7. Push ^. PSb should appear. Push Set. if 0000 does not appear, use the >, ^ and v buttons to change it to
0000. Push Set.
8. Push ^. rd should appear. Push Set. if 0 does not appear, use ^ to change it. Push Set.
9. Push ^. Corf should appear. Push Set. Use ^ to set it to 1 to display temperature in °F or 0 for °C.
Push Set.
Page 47
End should appear. Set up is done.
Note that if you take too long set a parameter, the controller will revert to normal operation and you
will have to re-enter 0089 and use ^ until you get to the last parameter you were going to set.
To Set a Temperature:
1. Push the Set button.
2. Enter the code for temperature setting, 0001. Do this by using the > button choose the column and the ^
and v buttons to set the numbers.
3. Push the Set button. Su should appear in the display. Push Set again. Use the >, ^ and v buttons to
change it to the desired value. Push Set.
4. Push ^. AH1 should appear. Push Set. Use the >, ^ and v buttons to set the high temperature where the
alarm (AL) light goes on. Push Set.
5. Push ^. AL1 should appear. Push Set. Use the >, ^ and v buttons to set the temperature where the alarm
(AL) light goes off. Push Set.
Push ^. End should appear. Push Set.
Now turn off the controller, connect the oven, and turn it on again. At this point if you press and
hold the > until the AT light flashes, the device will autotune its PID parameters. The indicated temperature will rise a few degrees above the set point, the drop a few below and finally stabilize as this
process goes on. The AT light stops flashing when it is done. This may take a while, perhaps 15
minutes.
At this point it's done.
Using the Toaster
The way I heat treat my bamboo is to attach a thermocouple fed through a hole in the cap to the middle of the bundles of rough beveled strips . I set the oven to 275-300 F. It comes to this temperature
as indicated by the PID controller in a few minutes. The bamboo temperature, as measured by the
attached thermocouple, lags the oven temperature for up to an hour or so. Considerable amounts of
steam come out the holes in the ends of the oven. It only takes one calorie per gram per degree C of
absorbed water in the bamboo to raise its temperature to the boiling point, but then it takes 540 calories per gram to vaporize the water. While this is going on the temperature of the bamboo will be
stuck pretty much at the boiling point of water, 212 F. When the bamboo does reach the oven temperature, I consider I am no longer vaporizing water. I raise the oven set point to 350 F, my heat
treating temperature. The oven and the bamboo temperatures then reach 350 F in about 5 minutes. I
hold it there for 30 minutes and then remove the bamboo from the oven. I do things this way now
because I get a more uniform color of my heat treated bamboo, and a more clear cut knowledge of
the time it spent at heat treating temperature.
I use Epon for gluing my bamboo and use the toaster to heat set it. I set the oven to 180 F and cook
for 4 hours just as it says in the directions on the bottle.
MD Heat Treating Fixtures
Heat Treating Ovens
Straighter strips from oven
Heat strips more evenly
Treat one to six strips
$495
Boyd Rod Company
Ozark Rod Makers School
Rod Making Classes
Mountain Home, Arkansas
Custom Bamboo Rods
Two professional instructors
35 years experience
Build a complete rod
All inclusive package
Lodging, Meals, Guided fishing
Boyd Rod Company
1211 Newman Street
Winnsboro LA 71295
(318) 282-1825
Page 50
Making Ferrules
Text and photos by Tony Young
Ferrules are an expensive and necessary component of your split bamboo fly rod that some would
like to remove from the equation all together, while others consider them to be a source of pride
whenever that lovely pop sounds as the sections are parted.
As far as I can tell there is no easy way to make a decent set of ferrules. Obtaining NS tubing of the
right type, wall thickness and diameters is difficult. Drawing NS is quite a specialized process that is
easy to get wrong as far as overdoing the drawing is concerned and requires dies for each size. Machining ferrules, no matter what the material, is time consuming.
When I returned to making ferrules I had to decide upon which method to employ in making them.
Initially, deep drawing ferrules from Nickel Silver was my preference. I can make the dies and the
process itself is relatively fast. I would have to make the dies, but once made the process is much
faster then machining them.
In the end I decided to machine the ferrules from a material I use at my work place. It's a type of
Aluminium Bronze not unlike Duronze but stronger and known as AMS 4640. It's also more difficult to machine than Duronze. There are all sorts of reasons for me deciding upon this alloy, which
don't belong in this article. Essentially, the material, if it is to be machined, must be strong and hard
to work as ferrules in the long run otherwise the ferules loosen with use.
Having decided upon this particular alloy the next step was designing the ferrules.
I work in engineering and use 3D modeling software. If you're not familiar with 3D software it doesn't just make pretty pictures, it allows you to design a widget and ensure it fits with the other widgets. When you're happy with what you have, it outputs technical drawings ready to dimension and
use in the workshop.
Page 51
Because it's a computer program I can design in metric because it's what we use in Australia. I can
dimension in metric or inches or both when the time comes to make workshop drawings. When I'm
asked to make something, even if it's a little bit out of the ordinary, the answer is yes, all I have to do
is design it following basic principles. You definitely don't need this software: a sheet of paper and
pencil is all you need, but I have the software so use it.
Step one is to design the male ferrule.
Before anything you need to decide upon the wall thickness you'll use. Drawn Nickel Silver ferrules
use about 0.016", if you're using Nickel Silver rod you should use something thicker than that and
the same goes for Aluminum or Brass. For the harder, stronger materials experiment, but the same
as drawn Nickel Silver is a good starting point. It's difficult to machine much thinner than that
though and the weight saving will be very marginal.
Page 52
You should start with the male ferrule because after it's designed you then need to select a reamer
for the female ferrule to suit the male slide for the best fit if need be. So, to determine what reamer
you need, you have the drill size of the male (12/64th for eg.) plus the wall thickness (0.016" for eg.)
plus whatever it takes to make the dimension of the selected reamer of the female plus a 0.002" to
0.003" for fitting and that is the diameter of the slide. In my particular case I use a 7/32" reamer for a
12/64th female ferrule.
Chucking reamers come in metric and fractional sizes and you'll find one that is perfect. You may
have to convert fractions into decimal to find the reamer size. If the size isn't quite right, multiply the
inches decimal size by 25.4 to get the metric and see if that suites better. I live in Australia and deal
only with T&S Tool Supplies in Holland, Ohio, because they're that good.
As you can see in the partially dimensioned drawing of the male ferrule I like the slide to be 20mm
for small to medium size ferrules, you may prefer longer or shorter. The diameter of the slide is the
only part that really matters as far as fitting goes, so you just come up with the rest of the non critical
dimensions so you achieve whatever look you like for the rest of the male ferrule.
Next, you design the female by knowing the drill size of the bamboo end and the reamer size and
slide length based on the male slide. All that remains is to decide on the overall length and general
appearance of the female ferrule.
Remember that you will need to ream the female for the slide, so drill it 1/64th or 1/32” smaller than
the reamer size so it has some material to remove and leave clean. The reamer won’t bottom to the
full depth of the drilled hole because of the bevel on its end. Because of this, the female slide end
has to be slightly deeper than the male slide length. The amount you have to allow extra depends
upon the actual reamer.
The reamer needs to remove some material to work properly but removing too much is not good. If
Page 53
your hole is too close to finished size, the reamer won’t achieve best results. Make sure to flood the
workpiece with “suds” when you ream and don't try removing too much material at once. You want
a straight, cylindrical hole and you won’t get that if you force things.
I design my female ferrules with a 1mm separator between the slide and bamboo sides and also
1mm for the end of the male slide. Although the drawing of the male ferrule earlier shows a flat end
to the hole, this is just a pictorial view of what is in fact an angled drilled hole. It's only 1mm from
the end at the point of the drill. You could ream the male if you wanted to make every possible
weight saving as this would make the end flat. The weight saving doing this is vanishing close to
zero.
Remember, heat build up is bad. Don't use too high a speed to drill and ream and use lots of suds.
So here's the process in pictures:
Using a collet (you can use a chuck) the work piece is secured in the lathe and the end filed flat
ready for centre drilling:
Your lathe needs to be accurate to expect good results. I bought my lathe 25 years ago and it's well
used but the headstock bushes are well maintained so it runs true and the backlash is constantly adjusted on the cross and compound slides.
Filing the end prior to centre drilling. If the lathe tool you use to part or face the end is correctly adjusted you don't need to do this. In this particular case I just sharpened the bit and the shim was just
too thin to avoid a nub on the end so filing was necessary for the centre drill to properly locate.
All drill holes need to be centre drilled to start and this hole must be true.
Page 54
The female ferrule has been centre drilled and turned using a live centre and it's being checked with
a micrometer.
I use these every day and prefer a non digital one but use whatever you feel comfortable with. Whatever you use, do learn to tighten it the same way every time to avoid variations in dimensions. In
fact, if you don't use one of these much it's well worth tightening it to zero using the ratchet and off
again 10 or so times before using it and seeing how often you get the same result. You may be surprised by the variation you get.
Page 55
Notice the compound slide is set at 6 degrees. This is because at that angle 10 graduations along the
compound slide feed equates to close to 1 graduation of movement towards the work piece.
Sine(6 degrees) x 10 = 1.045.
This is very handy when it comes to those whisker thin last cuts.
Page 56
The basic shape with the maximum dimensions has been turned and the knurling I used on these ferrules has been applied to the welt. From here you profile the ferrule to a fair slope to reduce excessive weight tapering it to where the tabs will be.
The magnetic base is precariously set due to wanting to get it into the photo but basically you need
to have some means of determining the depth while you're drilling. I have a length of aluminium set
to the quill of the tailstock that actuates the plunger of my depth gauge giving me an accurate feedback of the depth of the hole I'm drilling.
Page 57
Bronze is bad at dissipating heat so drilling should be done as slowly as possible using lots of suds.
Drilled with the section that will become the tabs turned to finished dimension and ready to be
parted from the waste.
Page 58
Ferrule reversed and the male slide hole is being drilled, again using the aid of the depth gauge.
Reaming, notice the suds, use suds, lots of suds. If you don't have a suds pump use a brush to apply
coolant. Don't use oil, it won’t dissipate the heat quickly enough. A water based coolent is best.
Page 59
Next comes the male ferrule which is secured in the collet.
The male slide turned slightly over sized allowing final dressing after all machine operations are
complete. Setting the compound slide to 6 degrees and using the compound slide feed at the final
stages of this point pays off. The female is partly fitted to double check the micrometer.
Page 60
I don't final fit on the lathe. I personally prefer to do that on the rod using Grobert files.
The difference between a good and bad fit is about 0.0002” (2 TEN thousandths, very, very small).
I've found that the drilling and other stages involved in making ferrules affects the dimensions of the
slide too much to ensure the same fit on the lathe as you get on the rod. These are your ferrules so
it's up to you as to what fit to go for on the lathe, but you've likely been working on these for about
three to four hours by now and ruining the fit at this stage means starting the male again...
The slide and is secured into the collet and the other features of the ferrule are turned. The ferrule is
extended further than it should be here for picture clarity. The shoulder should be hard up against the
collet.
Centre drill prior to drilling and drill as per the female using the depth gauge.
Page 61
Dress to finished dimension the section that will become the tabs after drilling.
Using some method, you then slit the tabs. I use a Sherline that was my first lathe with the mill attachment and small dividing head and this gives good results. If I didn't have the Sherline I'd use my
vertical mill and dividing head but it's set up specifically for slitting ferrule tabs.
An alternative to a dividing head, which is expensive, is a rotary table with a chuck which is slightly
less expensive. This is mounted on the cross slide of your lathe with a slitting saw mounted in the
chuck of the lathe. For a simple thing, the slits can be quite problematic.
Page 62
The ferrules made in these pictures.
That's about it. I found getting the sequence of different steps to be the hard part. The design of the
ferrules is not difficult once you come up with a means of determining the male slide and everything
just follows from there. It is important to make a drawing though. That way, if you're happy with the
results you can repeat them. Otherwise you know what went wrong.
Don't expect to make these quickly, I would think it would take about four hours to machine a first
set of ferrules, possibly longer and unless you're already well versed with fine lathe work it'll take a
few sets before you'll be happy with them.
For my next trick, watch me turn this lump of aluminium into a fly reel!
Page 63
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Transcription

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