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How-to Make a Capped Rod

Since folks seem to be falling in love with our spinners just as much as we have, we wanted to share the love and tell you about how the rod is constructed. As a note if you end up using our design and being blessed by it and want to do something for us to say thank you, we LOVE getting flags from other people/ministries! No pressure, but just putting it out there 😉 

First let me give credit where it is due and say this design was inspired by the basic concept Katt from Victory Hill Flags and Banner uses on her wind sticks. So blessings and thanks be to her both for the original inspiration and for blessing my extension of her idea.

The basic premise for spinners is simple: the flag has a length of ribbon that is open on both ends, a “capped” rod slides in and the cap portion keeps the flag on the rod, but the ribbon is loose enough it will “spin” around the rod.

Some things I’ve learned:

  • The material of the flag has to be heavy enough to help pull the flag around the rod (I had trouble with the 5mm silk not being heavy enough – here’s video of an example at 45 seconds in you’ll see the one in my left hand twisted around the rod)
  • It is a fine balance of having the ribbon loose enough to spin and tight enough that it doesn’t bunch up and cause tangling that way. You’ll have to play with this to find what works based on the fabric you’re using.

Let me pause to give this disclaimer, Dyed4you and myself personally are not responsible for anything you may do with the information below. The materials are chemical, likely hazardous, and please don’t set your house on fire with the torch!

With all that said, here’s how the rods are made. There are 4 things you’ll need to make the capped rods, and those 4 things come from TAP Plastics (there are also 2 option items that come from Home Depot and Amazon):

  1. The rods are 3/8″ hollow acrylic tubes
  2. The caps are 3/4″ acrylic cabochons
  3. You’ll need Weld On to cement the pieces together (see note below)
  4. And micro-tips for your weld on to keep it from going everywhere
  5. OPTIONAL: self-igniting torch which you can pick up at Home Depot
  6. OPTIONAL: I use this cane rack to hold my rods as I’m working on them

NOTE: After I finished this tutorial, I discovered another cement that holds even better, to use it replace the weld-on and micro-tips in #3 and #4 above with:

I have TAP Plastics cut my tubes to the sizes I want so I don’t have to do that. So when it’s time to make rods I start by slipping them in the holes of the cane rack and positioning the cabochon “caps” below.

Wearing gloves and being in a well-ventilated area, put your micro-tip on your Weld On. 

 

Put a drop in the center of the flat side of the cabochon. You want to have enough that all sides of the tube will seal, but not so much that it goes over the edge of the circular rim.

I add the weld on to all the cabochons and then move the rods onto them. If you pause to do each in-between I find the weld on will dry in the micro-tip. So move quickly, but carefully.

Gently set the tube down onto the Weld On and then push to seal.

 

If you have some Weld On run over the side, you can try to wipe it off with your gloved finger.

It is a fine thing if the weld on goes up the inside of the tube, this increases the hold. Here’s a solid connection:

 

They need to set for 24 hours.

Once complete a solid connection will look like this:

Troubleshooting

What to do if you get weld on someplace you don’t want it. I got some on my glove and touched a tube and on the others it dripped out further than I wanted. Here you can see:

This is when you can fire torch. I strongly suggest you YouTube this and find out more but basically you can use heat to smooth it. I have about a 50% success rate and even then since the look isn’t perfect I only use the rod for personal use or to giveaway. But it’s possible.

 

In this case I tried heat on both and keeping with my success rate, the one with the blemish on the tube turned out usable, but the other got overcooked and the bubbly edge it created catches so it won’t work for spinning.


Other

You may also find the end you grip to not be smooth enough for your taste. You can use the flame to smooth/soften, but again I have a mixed success rate. Though the bubbles don’t keep it from being able to be held, they don’t feel any better than an edge that is more distinct than I’d like but they do feel like an accident, which isn’t good (in my opinion). All that to say I have better success doing this on bendies that need softening than this larger size.

Turn the end in the flame quickly then gently use your fingers to mold the end. Obviously don’t burn your fingers (which I do regularly). It’s a learning process to determine how long is long enough vs too long.

This tube is good on the right side, but bubbly on the left.

And that’s it! Hopefully that information was helpful 🙂 As always, happy worshipping!!!

10 thoughts on “How-to Make a Capped Rod

  1. Thanks, sis. Don’t know if I have the nerve to attempt that! Lots of variables that could go wrong, lol, but super sweet of you to bless us with that info. May God’s blessings overtake you, in Jesus’ name.

  2. Ok, I’ve decided to give it a try. I went to TAP and got the supplies. Squeee! One question, how do you straighten the tubes once TAP cuts them? I feel like I’m back to rolling wooden dowels on the floor to see which ones aren’t warped! ;-D

    1. No worries – they arrive straight so you won’t have to worry about it 🙂

    2. BTW I hope you’ll share pics and / or video of your creations!

  3. I went directly to TAP since it’s just down the street and around the corner from my house. They pulled the rods off the floor and cut them for me. They were not completely straight. Maybe I need to order through the website to get straight ones. Thank you for responding, and I hope to post what make soon, God willing!

    1. Wow! Well either they are when they ship them or the bend in them isn’t enough to be noticeable or affect its ability for spinning because I haven’t had that problem at all. Good to be aware of it though. Thanks for the heads up!

  4. How do you keep the flag from sliding off the uncapped end? Thank you

    1. A combination of centrifugal force and your hand keep the flag on the rod. Hope that helps!

  5. I went to the TAP website and they are quoting a min. Of $18 for shipping to my oregon address. Does that sound right to you?

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