Welding Heads?

Hem

Hem

Life of the Party
Long overdue that I learn to weld some heads. I plan on getting a Meiser switch rod this winter and want to play around with line design to suit my needs.
I have a general grasp of the process. Guess I am curious to hear what people prefer for heat shrink tubing? Generic brands vs say Rio specific tubing?
One of my favorite sink lines has a knick about half way down the line, probably from being stepped on with studs. Still feels pretty strong, I tried stretching to see if it would fail. Am I better off cutting the line and welding, or will a simple bandaid of tubing maybe take a little stress off this area? Worst part is it is the one line I have which I don't recall who made it. Could be a problem...best left alone.
Anyway, I want to play around with some scrap line before I tackle the real deal, appreciate any feedback on the tubing.
 
I buy my tube material from Red Shed fly shop in Idaho, on the web..just get a cheap heat gun..
Welding will melt the cover and fill the divot..
Look at his other videos about making lines..
 
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I came in here expecting a thread I could find a few PNWFF welders who could maybe help me build a custom t top for my boat. Why you all gotta go talking about actual fly fishing 😂

In my previous employment I had a station set up in the warehouse for welding. I welded a ton of lines. I'll say that anything from airflo welded 100x easier and more solidly than any other brands. The PE was so much easier to work with than PVC.
 
Evan B said:
I came in here expecting a thread I could find a few PNWFF welders who could maybe help me build a custom t top for my boat. Why you all gotta go talking about actual fly fishing 😂

In my previous employment I had a station set up in the warehouse for welding. I welded a ton of lines. I'll say that anything from airflo welded 100x easier and more solidly than any other brands. The PE was so much easier to work with than PVC.
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That's what I love about this site, so often you are damned one way or another. Really hate to disrupt everyone's delicate equilibrium and ask a question sometimes.🤣 just effin YouTube it.😂
Mostly I was interested in sources for heat shrink tubing.
 
Hem said:
That's what I love about this site, so often you are damned one way or another. Really hate to disrupt everyone's delicate equilibrium and ask a question sometimes.🤣 just effin YouTube it.😂
Mostly I was interested in sources for heat shrink tubing.
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The heat shrink tubing is a tough one. When I was at echo we had a massive spool of it I doubt will ever run out. But the place they bought it from doesn't exist anymore and any attempts to find a new source failed (fly shops kept asking all the time).
 
I must be a real chicken sh@t. I'll use a factory welded loop because so far I have never had one fail. But if for some reason I cut off a loop or don't have one I'm making a loop with nail knots like this but cleaner. I use braid to make the nail knots because clean and small and then coat with some uv resin. I do a lot of saltwater fishing and I don't want my loop to break on the bigger fish.

 
You got to remember, the tube is just a containment vessel of the molten plastic and is peeled off and discarded after the coating cools. Clear tubing is a must for seeing the process unfold.
 
Thank you one and all.
Wetswinger said:
You got to remember, the tube is just a containment vessel of the molten plastic and is peeled off and discarded after the coating cools. Clear tubing is a must for seeing the process unfold.
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I'm tracking now. I did not grasp this aspect. Makes sense. Thanks a bunch.

Yeah, I'll watch the videos. I still like getting opinions from members here though. Never too old to learn something new. I feel that despite this being an online forum there still is a valuable sense of interaction which ultimately has more value to me than watching video after video.
 
I've cracked three line tips in the last 3 months and it's time to cut & reweld. I must be casting like an @$shole. :)
 
A hair straightening iron works better than a heat gun for welding lines.
Also spool of 30# Airflo Ridge running line is handy to have for building loops on fat spey heads, or for repairs of cracked lines. The Ridge line will weld to almost anything.
If the line has a monofilament core, forget about it. I've never been able to weld those without compromising the core.
 
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