Microwave guides

[RyanCastin]

I just recently purchased a Lew’s Pro-Ti and a Lew’s TP1X casting rod. I put 20# braid on it. However when I took it out to test the setup today I noticed that it made a lot of noise. Sounds as if the line is rubbing while retrieving. I tested to see if it was coming from the reel by pulling a bunch of line out and retrieving it with no tension on the rod- no noise. So the noise is coming from the rod/guides. It makes a sort of screeching/rub sound coming from the rod and I believe echoing down to the handle. My line was going through all of the guides and not rubbing on the blank. I believe the rod guides are MicroWave guides? Upon inspection I noticed that the rod tip guide looks as if the line is filing it down or something. Is this supposed to happen with these guys? It looked like there were little shavings of rubber/plastic or whatever the guides are made out of and they rubbed right off when I touched them. I believe this is what is causing the noise as well? Is this a defective guide or are they designed this way? 

[jimmyjoe]

2 minutes ago, RyanCastin said:

Is this a defective guide or are they designed this way? 

 

  In my opinion, yes to both.                jj

[RyanCastin]

1 minute ago, jimmyjoe said:

 

  In my opinion, yes to both.                jj

Are they supposed to file/shave down with use? Looks like its just the tip guide that is doing it which makes sense because it has the most pressure on it. Also do they always make a rubbing noise?

[jimmyjoe]

Just now, RyanCastin said:

Are they supposed to file/shave down with use? Looks like its just the tip guide that is doing it which makes sense because it has the most pressure on it. Also do they always make a rubbing noise?

 

   No, they're not supposed to do either. But sometimes they do anyway. Take it back, and take it back SOON, and see what they'll do for you. If it were me, I'd upgrade to a rod with a ceramic guide system.

   Good luck!       jj

[RyanCastin]

26 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

 

   No, they're not supposed to do either. But sometimes they do anyway. Take it back, and take it back SOON, and see what they'll do for you. If it were me, I'd upgrade to a rod with a ceramic guide system.

   Good luck!       jj

Actually now that I look at what a MicroWave guide actually is, I dont think the rod has microwave guides... LOL

They are standard aluminum-oxide guides... So now, I must ask the same questions again, are they supposed to have these problems?

[ironbjorn]

22 minutes ago, RyanCastin said:

Actually now that I look at what a MicroWave guide actually is, I dont think the rod has microwave guides... LOL

They are standard aluminum-oxide guides... So now, I must ask the same questions again, are they supposed to have these problems?

Are they supposed to have problems? Sounds like a bad business model to require a product with problems. The answer is no.

[RyanCastin]

2 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

Are they supposed to have problems? Sounds like a bad business model to require a product with problems. The answer is no.

Lol I guess I know that. More the question was, are they supposed to wear down/file down with short use?

[jimmyjoe]

1 hour ago, RyanCastin said:

Lol I guess I know that. More the question was, are they supposed to wear down/file down with short use?

 

   No! Something is wrong here. I've never seen even the cheapest ceramic guides exhibit wear. Not at all.  Steel? Yes, I've seen steel wear. Even then, not really soon.

   But ...... not ceramic. Like I said, I think it's defective.               jj

 

p.s. - Is it possible that your guides had ceramic inserts in them, but the insert in the tiptop has broken or fallen  out? That would go right along with what you're describing.

[RyanCastin]

23 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

 

   No! Something is wrong here. I've never seen even the cheapest ceramic guides exhibit wear. Not at all.  Steel? Yes, I've seen steel wear. Even then, not really soon.

   But ...... not ceramic. Like I said, I think it's defective.               jj

 

p.s. - Is it possible that your guides had ceramic inserts in them, but the insert in the tiptop has broken or fallen  out? That would go right along with what you're describing.

That may be the case... I emailed Sportsman's Outfitters where I bought it and will let you guys know if they can help me resolve this! 

Thanks for the help!

[NOC 1]

3 hours ago, jimmyjoe said:

 

   No, they're not supposed to do either. But sometimes they do anyway. Take it back, and take it back SOON, and see what they'll do for you. If it were me, I'd upgrade to a rod with a ceramic guide system.

   Good luck!       jj

The Microwave guides are ceramic guides. They are either Duralite, which I believe is basically a reinforced Aluminum Oxide similar to Fuji's Alconite, or they are Nanolite which as I understand it are made of a type of ion deposition Zirconium, a synthetic diamond ceramic.

 

No, those are pretty good guides and they should not make strange noises and peel off like rubber. There is something else going on there.

[RyanCastin]

1 minute ago, NOC 1 said:

The Microwave guides are ceramic guides. They are either Duralite, which I believe is basically a reinforced Aluminum Oxide similar to Fuji's Alconite, or they are Nanolite which as I understand it are made of a type of ion deposition Zirconium, a synthetic diamond ceramic.

 

No, those are pretty good guides and they should not make strange noises and peel off like rubber. There is something else going on there.

Thanks, and I agree. I’ve been doing research and there’s nothing that gives me a reason to think that the ceramic should be wearing down, especially with only one short use. The noise it makes is more of a vibration/echo which sounds like it is caused by some sort of rubbing. I just took a q-tip to the guide that’s giving me problems and got a bunch of black little pieces that are coming off of it. I’ll attach a pic:

 

In the picture you can see a few little black dots on the q-tip, these are the filings I am talking about. Spent a minute in my room dropping the bait to the floor and reeling it back in and boom there was more of it in the guide. 

[jimmyjoe]

58 minutes ago, NOC 1 said:

The Microwave guides are ceramic guides. They are either Duralite, which I believe is basically a reinforced Aluminum Oxide similar to Fuji's Alconite, or they are Nanolite which as I understand it are made of a type of ion deposition Zirconium, a synthetic diamond ceramic.

 

   I stand corrected. Yes, there are two Microwave guide families; the 12, 18, 20, 25, 30 and 50 with ceramic inserts, and the Air Slim ring which is only steel. Guess which one I saw?  ? ? ?           jj