Reshafting help needed

[Eracer]

I've never re-shafted a club, but am going to reshaft my Sumo with an Epic that I just bought from tmag (thanks).

I'm looking for advice from the experts, as well as from those who have only done one or two shafts. I have qustions about every phase of the process.

I regrip my clubs, so I have a good vise with soft jaw inserts.

I have a heat gun and a torch. Which should I use? How do you know how long to heat the hosel.

What about the old ferrule - do I cut it off, melt it off, or what?

Do I need a special epoxy or will any good epoxy do?

Wire brush for the hosel - with a drill shank, maybe?

Anything else that I need to buy?

How deep does the new tip go into the head? Until it bottoms out? Or is there a specific dimension?

Do you fill the tip with epoxy, or just smear it on the outside of the shaft?

What about the ferrule - do you epoxy it in place?

Any other pointers or pitfalls I need to watch out for?

Thanks for any help you guys can give.

[ezra76]

Not to be a buzzkill man but I'd seriously not recommend doing the Epic as a first install. I learned my lesson. I was told by the Graffalloy Rep., Chad Hall, that due to the Nanofuse the tip prep is critical. He said he's been in on the Epic since day 1, 3years in the making. Here's a copy of the last Email he sent me...

John,

Thanks for the information. Due to Epic’s Nanofuse construction, there is a very strict protocol that must be followed during tip prep / assembly. Did you follow the instructions on the sticker located at the butt end of the shaft?

I will get you another shaft on us, but I would need to have your shaft sent back to me for evaluation. Can I get your contact information?

Thanks,

Chad Hall
Director of Marketing
True Temper Sports

[Eracer]

Originally Posted by ezra76

Not to be a buzzkill man but I'd seriously not recommend doing the Epic as a first install. I learned my lesson. I was told by the Graffalloy Rep., Chad Hall, that due to the Nanofuse the tip prep is critical. He said he's been in on the Epic since day 1, 3years in the making. Here's a copy of the last Email he sent me...

John,

Thanks for the information. Due to Epic’s Nanofuse construction, there is a very strict protocol that must be followed during tip prep / assembly. Did you follow the instructions on the sticker located at the butt end of the shaft?

I will get you another shaft on us, but I would need to have your shaft sent back to me for evaluation. Can I get your contact information?

Thanks,

Chad Hall
Director of Marketing
True Temper Sports

That's what I'm looking for. Thanks, man.

[warbirdlover]

Eracer,

If you were installing a "normal" shaft (JK) there's some good info on how to do it in the Golfsmith site. Very detailed. Pulling the old one without damaging anything is the tricky part.

I don't do mine!!!

[Rockford35]

Wow, that's alot of questions. While I'm with Ez to a point on the Epic, I'll try and answer a few of these if I can...

Originally Posted by Eracer

I've never re-shafted a club, but am going to reshaft my Sumo with an Epic that I just bought from tmag (thanks).

I'm looking for advice from the experts, as well as from those who have only done one or two shafts. I have qustions about every phase of the process.

I regrip my clubs, so I have a good vise with soft jaw inserts.

Do you have an extractor? You'll need one for graphite. Steel you can just work loose with your hands and an oven mitt, but graphite requires a puller.

I have a heat gun and a torch. Which should I use? How do you know how long to heat the hosel.

Use a heat gun. For regular joes like you and I, the heat gun works best. For pros like Lyle and the like, they use torches as they've done a ton and know how much heat to use. And, with a gun, you don't need to treat the clubhead with blue remove afterwards if you cook it too much.

What about the old ferrule - do I cut it off, melt it off, or what?

Cut it off. You can press it off with a ferrule cutter using an extractor, but cutting it off with a utility knife works. This takes patience and perserverance. Ask Gun, he'll tell you why you (I) shouldn't rush. (re: HiBore)

Do I need a special epoxy or will any good epoxy do?

Use clubmaking epoxy. It has the holding thresh hold for clubs and the break down temp for removal. For the 6 bucks epoxy costs from GS, don't be cheap.

Wire brush for the hosel - with a drill shank, maybe?

I found wire bits at the local hardware store for like 30 cents each. If you have a dremel, they sell them cheap for that too and they last a long time.

Anything else that I need to buy?

Sandpaper, mixing sticks for the epoxy (I use popsicle sticks), a rod saw blade for your hacksaw (so sweet), some nail polish remover (with acetone) and some drill bits. In total, this whole list will cost you $20, max.

How deep does the new tip go into the head? Until it bottoms out? Or is there a specific dimension?

Heads differ from company to company, but you can figure that anything beyond 1.25" is sufficient for a standard bore or blind bore, and thru bore are obviously to the bottom (in most circumstances). Basically bottm the shaft out, draw a line on it at the top of the hosel and measure. Common sense will set in at this point, unless your name is EZ.

Do you fill the tip with epoxy, or just smear it on the outside of the shaft?

Smear the outside of the shaft. The rule of thum is "more is better, even if it means more to clean up." There's no sense shafting it only for it to come loose 3 swings later. That 90 yard walk is a long one.....(on a roll here...LOL)

What about the ferrule - do you epoxy it in place?

You shouldn't have to. The excess epoxy that I refer to above should be sufficient. You put the ferrule on and use the head to "seat" it where it sits on the shaft. When you push the epoxy covered shaft into the head (spinning it while you go to assure full epoxy contact, the excess works it way to the top and contacts the lower of the ferrule, keeping it in place.

Any other pointers or pitfalls I need to watch out for?

Be patient. Getting quick gets you into trouble.

Measure twice, cut once. Or, cut once, buy twice. Whatever you want.

Use more epoxy than you need. The excess is a good guage for how cured the epoxy is as well.

Don't - DON'T - touch anything painted with acetone or nail polish remover. Paint fingerprints look like shyte on shafts. TRUST ME.

Do your work in the garage or basement. The family room is no place for a man and his epoxy. Especially if your wife is home. Again, TRUST ME.

Remember, I'm a Canadian, so much of this might be in metric, so you'll need to convert.




Thanks for any help you guys can give.

I dunno if this helps, E, but I do what I can.

Be patient and go with it. This is very, very easy if you learn the ways of the force.

R35

[ezra76]

That too. Without a shaft puller, kiss the old one goodbye. By the time I'd barely even broken the epoxy bond on the Superquad's stock shaft it was ruined. Not a big deal if you're going to trash the shaft anyway. I know the shop I go to only charges $20 for the whole deal, pull and reshaft, so it's worth it if I want to keep the old one. If I get that Quad TP reshafted I'll take it there to save the pull but when I get the V2 for the SQaud I'll be doing it myself.

[ualtim]

Wow, the other day you said you would not even think about it and now you trying to reshaft with an Epic.

With the expense of the Epic, you may want to bring it in to the nearest Golfsmith and have them do it. If you still want to do it on your own, Rock has parted with some good info and WBL's advice to check out the Golfsmith web page instructions is excellent as well.

My only additional piece of advice is to try it out on a steel shafted club first to get the hang of pulling the shaft. I do not have a fancy extractor (just a crow bar looking device I bought at GS for less than $15 several years ago) but I had a lot of practice on steel shafted clubs before I tried a graphite shaft. To date, I have only screwed up on one graphite shaft which was a total brain fade as I did not use the crow bar device and tried to screw it off like a steel shafted club.

Good luck.

[Eracer]

You guys are awesome. Rock - you've convinced me to buy the tools, then go down to "Play It Again, Sports" and pick up a few $10 drivers for practice, before I set out on the great adventure - of joining the ranks of the true shaft ho's, that it...

Thanks again - I'm going to let a pro handle the Epic.

[ualtim]

Oh no, we have created another shaft 'ho monster.

Next thing you know Eracer will be searching E-bay for a TEE that he can reshaft and put in the bag.....

[ezra76]

Originally Posted by ualtim

Oh no, we have created another shaft 'ho monster.

Next thing you know Eracer will be searching E-bay for a TEE that he can reshaft and put in the bag.....

I just saw a minty 15* for $135 shipped.

[LyleG]

I always put a layer of epoxy on the inside of the ferrule. It helps it slide up the tip and will prevent ferrule creep down the road.

Mix the epoxy for a good minute then roll the bottom of the tip in it till you have a nice ball of epoxy on the bottom 1/4 inch. Insert it in the hosel and twist it around and up and down. Pull it out and ensure you have epoxy coverage everywhere, both in the hosel and on the tip. Now dip the first 1/2 inch quickly into a jar of shafting beads and install the shaft in the head.

The shafting beads help to increase the bond of the epoxy and help center the shaft properly.

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by ezra76

I just saw a minty 15* for $135 shipped.

Ya, I spread that around to those looking as well.

Apparently, it's still snowing in VT.



R35

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by LyleG

Mix the epoxy for a good minute then roll the bottom of the tip in it till you have a nice ball of epoxy on the bottom 1/4 inch. Insert it in the hosel and twist it around and up and down. Pull it out and ensure you have epoxy coverage everywhere, both in the hosel and on the tip. Now dip the first 1/2 inch quickly into a jar of shafting beads and install the shaft in the head.

This is a great tip, especially the bolded part. HUGE mistake by many is to half a$$ mix the epoxy. A definite no no.

R35

[ezra76]

Originally Posted by Rockford35

Ya, I spread that around to those looking as well.

Apparently, it's still snowing in VT.



R35

Lol. He's looking for one of those? I'd like to hit one head to head against the R7TP's. The TP's are nuts.

[Rockford35]

I just came back from the range. I hit 300 balls, 75% of them with the driver as it was off mats (boo).

The other 25% was with the FW's, both the 3 and 5. I'm killing these TEE fairways. It's just disgustingly easy to hit huge bombs with both. I could do it with my eyes closed.

I also had a show down with the drivers. No clear cut winner at all. The 8* TEE launches much lower, which makes it a good candidate for a wind day driver, while the other two are higher, but longer. The DCT head with the Graman 780 is by far the longest driver I have ever hit. The FT-3 is very close, but shorter by a few yards. That DCT is huge.

R35