Tip Top Tips/Help?

[EvanT123]

I have a rainshadow rx7 781 rod and the tip top keeps coming lose. I normally shave some of the glue off and put it in the tube but the tube is very narrow and I cannot get a lot of glue in there. Does anyone have any good tips on getting glue in the tip tops or how to attach the tips tops when the tip tube is very small?

Much appreciated thanks.

[gr8outdoorz]

Heat up your glue stick and rub the melted glue on the blank instead of in the tube. Slide the tip top over the glue & clean off excess. You can put a dab of finish over the junction if you want added adherence. 

[S Hovanec]

After a couple coming loose after being in the rod locker in the summer, I started using 5 min. epoxy on my tips.  No more loose tips.

[Kevin22]

I usually just use a drop of locktite GEL super glue on the tip of the blank, then slide the tip on. 

[MickD]

In New York it is unlikely that a good tip top hot melt properly installed will fail to retain the tiptop properly.  At least in Michigan, I've never had a failure.  I suggest you simply try harder to get smaller chips into the tube and rotate the tiptop as you slide it into place.  I cut the chips off the edge of the hot melt stick and then curl them between thumb and finger to make them small cylinders, then stick them in.   If you can get enough in so that it comes out when the tiptop is slid on, it is on the blank as well as the inside of the tube, and should work.  

Putting it onto the blank sometimes works, but sometimes gets scraped off when the tiptop is slid on.

I used super glue once when I was unable to get hot melt, and it works for retaining the tiptop, but it will come off a lot harder the next time, possibly damaging the tip of the blank.  Good retention, poor removal.

[FloridaFishinFool]

I use some fine sand paper rolled up to scratch up the inside of the tip tube some to give the glue something to grab on to. Next I put some cut off pieces of the glue inside the tip tube for most of the length of the tube. Once the glue is inside the tube I heat it up to melt it onto the inside of the tip tube. I also melt some glue onto the rod shaft all the way around to make sure that glue is distributed everywhere the tip tube will cover. Lastly, I heat up the metal tip tube and the glue on the rod shaft, and then slide the tip tube onto the rod and align it and let it cool. Once cooled, I then remove the excess glue and go fishing.