Jump to content
vytautas

Rolling your own blanks

Recommended Posts

Hello all,

Does anyone knows, it is possible to roll blanks in your own "garage". I mean if it's possible to make such of small manufacture for rod blanks? What do I need to start? Graphite sheets? Oven to "bake" blanks? What else? And is it there any suppliers that can sell such of things?

Thanks,

Vytautas

Link to comment
Share on other sites

VERY difficult to do.

I got to roll my own blanks at the St. Croix factory and it is an involved process that requires some pretty technical and expensive machinery.

A simplified version of the process...

Stainless steel shafts (mandrel) are coated with a release agent. A worker takes long triangular sheets of graphite cloth and tacks one edge to the mandrel. This is then set on the table of a rolling machine. The machine gets settings for every different blank. When you push the button a flat platten lowers onto the blank and it moves away from the operator. It also twists slightly to account for the taper in the blank. The blanks are then put onto a machine that wraps a 1 1/2" wide strip of celophane spirally down the blank. The blank is then hung verticly, butt up, in an oven to bake. After the blanks are done baking and have cooled they get placed in a pneumatic puller and the mandrel is jerked out from the center of the rod blank. The blanks are then unwrapped by hand. Then fed 1 by 1 through a special sander that sands the spiral ridges of resin off to create a smooth blank. The blanks are then painted by inserting them into a paint resivoir through a diaphragm of rubber with a small hole in it. And then hung on a conveyor system that runs through a large oven.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yea, it'd be pretty tough to get the proper tooling. Lots of money. Skill wise it isn't really tough. Who would make some?...I don't know what to advise you there. Most of the big outfits (St. Croix...) contract roll for smaller outfits (Cabela's, Galyan's...) if they aren't in full production at the time. But even that is probably a really big order for a single guy operation. I'm guessing that to get cheap, you'll have to go overseas and contract from someone over there. Taiwan, China... And I don't know any companies there. PacBay has their stuff done overseas. Some of Forecast/Rainshadow. Then of course, Fenwick, Berkley, Shimano...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...


×
×
  • Create New...
Top