Fuji guides

[quang tran]

Most of guides I'm using are older Fuji guides . Lately look at newer Fuji guides they seem the ceramic glue to ring not clamp to ring by traditional method . they look nice but your guys have any problem with that

[cbar45]

Hello, got a picture or link?

My newest Fujis are Alconites and Concept "O"'s that date back to about 2021.

The ring shape and method of gluing looks different than old Hardloys, but seems they perform just as well or better.

No problems here..

[quang tran]

Newer guides of whatever style ,high frame ,low frame .concept... SIC ,Alconites .... will mounted different and people can replace rings when it broke . It's hard to see in the pictures I post here , the black one is new double foot Alconite the gray one is old hardloy ,the old one we can not change ring

[cbar45]

Thanks for the photos.

I can say that of the newer guides I've never had a ring that just popped out; usually it cracks first from being handled roughly/set down in the rocks.

Believe there are some builders who purposely pop out the ring to powder-coat the frames, but that's something I've no experience with.

[quang tran]

Another day Benny say his rod got crack guide when fish in cold day , It never happens to me even years ago I did fish on day 20 degree F ,ice up on rod tip quite often .Fuji always try to improve their product and it seem every other try to copy from them

[cbar45]

Fujis are my first choice for guides and also some from the Batson line.

Seaguide has been the worse when it comes to pop-outs, but strangely their tip-tops are quite strong.

[MACflyer]

No problems here with the newer Fuji guides. I prefer the older Hardloys, but they're getting harder to find.

[JasonGotaProblem]

No problems here with the newer Fuji guides. I prefer the older Hardloys, but they're getting harder to find.

Would you say you hardloy ever see them lately?

I've had nothing but good luck with modern Fuji guides. Knock on wood

[quang tran]

The reason I pay attention on new design when i hear Benny 3 have broken guide when fishing in cold weather ,then some one report the ring pop out when heat up to apply powder paint . It have to do with expend or shrink of metal ring with temperature when ceramic not and again it seem they have more problem on non Fuji guides 

[jurelometer]

The reason I pay attention on new design when i hear Benny 3 have broken guide when fishing in cold weather ,then some one report the ring pop out when heat up to apply powder paint. It have to do with expend or shrink of metal ring with temperature when ceramic not and again it seem they have more problem on non Fuji guides 

I noted this on Bennie's thread:  these type of ceramics have extremely low thermal expansion.  They use SiC in spacecraft applications for this reason. It seems highly unlikely that ceramic rings are going to be more easily damaged during colder weather on planet Earth.

There is going to be some sort of adhesive used to attach the ring to the frame.  This adhesive will be less temperature  resistant.  Adhesives that can handle a sudden increase to 409F are not so common, and are probably not used by guide manufacturers. This is one of the reasons that as much as I love powder coating, powder coating perfectly good stainless guide frames does not seem like a great idea to me, especially after the ceramic rings have been installed.

-J

[JasonGotaProblem]

Pretty sure the modern-est Fuji guides are pressed in/frame formed around the ring, without any glue involved.

I've never seen one pop out without the frame being really badly damaged.

[jurelometer]

Pretty sure the modern-est Fuji guides are pressed in/frame formed around the ring, without any glue involved.

I've never seen one pop out without the frame being really badly damaged.

Ooh..you are right.   Thanks!

The ceramic paste must be formed around the ring and then baked to remove the binder and sinter the ceramic in place. A bit tricky as they have to deal with the difference in thermal expansion between ceramic and stainless. I wonder if a bedding layer of some sort is used.   I checked the Fuji site to find out, and of course nothing useful.


One other comment:  As a rule of thumb, the more expensive the insert material, the more brittle it is.  The top end inserts are also a bit lighter, which might possibly have some benefit in certain situations.  But if you want durability, the lower end Fujis are a better choice.

There is another thread where we go into coefficient of friction, loading, heat dissipation, and all the other marketing claims. My take is that the difference from ceramic insert types is insignificant in actual fishing situations.

Fazlite is Fuji's most recent low end ceramic - more modern but filling the same product niche as the beloved Hardloys, and is available in the same frames used in the high end guides.  More durable, same performance, lower priced.

 -J

[Midway Tommy]

Interestingly enough, the first two rods I built 35 years ago were with Hardloy guides. Since then I have built at least 40 rods, all with SIC guides. None of the aforementioned guides have ever cracked, chipped or popped out and I fish in hot and near freezing weather. The one thing I can say is that every time I pick up one of those two Hardloy guided rods I threaten to rewrap them with SICs because they feel like lead weights compared to all the others I built.

[quang tran]

I don't have an accurate scale to weight guides but some report alconite and SIC have about same weight ,thinner ring and actually ID is bigger for same ceramic ring ,the different only 5% weight .
  Compare the very old Fuji # 40 SIC guide with plastic shock ring with new Sea-guide ,Fuji heavier about .5 gram even the metal .20 mm thicker

[jurelometer]

Interestingly enough, the first two rods I built 35 years ago were with Hardloy guides. Since then I have built at least 40 rods, all with SIC guides. None of the aforementioned guides have ever cracked, chipped or popped out and I fish in hot and near freezing weather. The one thing I can say is that every time I pick up one of those two Hardloy guided rods I threaten to rewrap them with SICs because they feel like lead weights compared to all the others I built.

Broken ceramic rings of all types are common where I fish. I have never seen the failure, just noticed that a ring is missing. I presume itt happens from getting bounced around on a panga.  Many of the pangeros prefer old fashioned guides without inserts for this reason.

-J