There's been some talk on the forum recently about Shaft Puring, or Spine Alignment of shafts when you re-shaft a club.

For those interested in this topic, you might find this little YouTube video rather interesting.
It is from Pat Dempsey, a former Longdrive Champion, who now runs his own company that caters to selling premium custom drivers, many to longdrivers.

http://patdempseyblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/finding-spine-of-shaft-is-it-necessary.html

This video link above shows the benefits of finding the spine of the shaft and then re-shafting properly.

Best of luck to you all,

Joe Golfer

You need to know that Shaft Puring by SST Puring, is NOT the same thing as spine alignment. Puring is more like FLO alignment done on a computer controller machine. It's the next step up from spine alignment. You might call it "Fine Tuning" for spine alignment.

This is the best discussion of shaft orientation I have found on the net. I used a "feel finder" to find the spines and NBP on a Vista Tour X-flex driver shaft. I had this club for a couple years and liked it, but wanted to optimize the shaft orientation to see if I would like it even better. After reading most of the resources I could find, I wasn't sure which way to orient the shaft. I started by orienting the NBP along the target line. The result was very disappointing. The shaft felt "mushy" and I lost significant distance. So I have proceeded to pull the shaft and re-install it in several new positions, hoping to find the orientation that I like best. Orienting the spine along the target line feels pretty good, but slightly off-line seemed even better. So, I am going to try it oriented at about 2:00. This puts the softest (dominant bending tendancy ?) NBP direction at about 11:00. My reasoning is that in the downswing, the flex direction is about 2:00 - not 3:00 until just before impact. What do you think? I'll report on my field test.

What I'd recommend it that you do a FLO alignment on the shaft, now that you did the spine alignment. This will find the proper alignment for the shaft so it will flex in a STRAIGHT LINE, during your swing, which is very important. Having done spine alignment and having installed shafts as you did, I completely understand what you are saying. If you do a FLO alignment on your shaft, I'm sure you will be very pleased with the results. I would never think of building a golf club without doing both a spine alignment and then a FLO alignmnet. If you need any assistance with doing a FLO alignment. please let me know, and I'll be happy to help you out.

Thanks, Don. Your discussion of FLO alignment is very clear. I assume that it has to be done without the head attached, and it would seem to be easier without the grip also. I had an old drill chuck that I thought would be great for a weight, but it was a quarter inch chuck, so was too small. I am thinking a 3/8 inch chuck would be perfect if it isn't too heavy. A laser pointer could be mounted in the hole opposite the gripping jaws.

Getting back to the FLO direction, it seems to me that the bending of the shaft during the swing is more complex than a simple straight line. At the top of the swing, the club face is roughly parallel to the target line and as the club begins the downswing, the shaft would start bending toward twelve o'clock. As the downswing proceeds, the club head and shaft are rotating with respect to the target line and the bending direction would move from twelve o'clock to three o'clock as the club head squares to the target line at impact. The combination of rotation of the shaft and resulting flexing does not fit neatly into a simple straight line flex. That makes me think there may be a more optimum orientation than is suggested by FLOing or by Puring. In other words, the bending during the swing is three dimensional. Without some kind of finite element computer analysis, the best way to determine the optimum orientation seems to me to be trial and error. It seems to me that the optimum orientation of the spine might be a few to several degrees before or after three o'clock. Because the NBP seems to have a dominant direction, it seems that the orientation of the NBP (roughly a few degrees before or after twelve o'clock or before or after six o'clock?) might be important. Finally, what may be optimum for one shaft, with respect to the orientation of the spines and NBP, would have to be repeatable with several shafts before any conclusions could be drawn from a trial and error approach. The torque of the shaft would seem to be another variable that may have an effect.

What are you guys using for spine alignments / FLO.

I saw on ebay they have some tools for spine alignments. Like a cylinder and a couple bearings. Is that all you need?

I bought a spine finding tool made by Golf Parrot ( www.golfparrot.com )on e-bay. Search spine finder in Golf. It is a well made device that you clamp into a bench vise. There are several different ones available on e-bay that all operate in the same way. I have not set up for FLO yet, but plan to.

I have 2 spine finders. one I built from plans I found online, and a second I got to do a review on for this site. Check the in-depth reviews and you will find my review on J.B Spine finder. Excellent product.

As for FLO alignment. I use a FLO weight with a laser pointer that I build, and sell for $30. The addition of a laser pointer works very well, and makes it very easy to get the FLO alignment correct. Once I find the FLO alignment, I install the shaft with the FLO alignment pointing toward the target. I align the NBP toward the target if I want the shaft to play a little soft, or at 12 O'Clock if I want the shaft to play a little stiffer. The FLO alignment test is used to FINE TUNE the spine alignment, which is done first. followed by the FLO alignment.

Dobes; I understand your point about the shaft not bending in a straight line during the swing. But the important thing is the have the shaft UNLOAD in a straight line as the club comes into the ball just before impact. And this is why I have th FLO alignmnet set down the target line. I think if you do a FLO alignment on a shaft you will get excellent results by doing the same thing. You will also notice that the FLO alignment can be the same as the spine alignment, or it can be off by as much as 15-20 degrees.

My FLO weight/laser pointer weighs right around 200 grams, the same weight as a driver head. I also provide a grid to shine the pointer at, so you can see when the pattern is a perfectly straight line, and also so you can flex the shaft correctly. If you don't flex the shaft in the correct direction, your FLO alignmnet will not be correct either. HOW you hold and release the shaft while doing the alignment test is also very important, and I've come up with an excellent way to solve this problem and make the FLO alignment as close to perfect as it can be.

HUH?

Don, I'm curious about the plans that you used to make a spine tool?

I just roughed one out using a pressure treated 4x4 and some cheapo bearings I picked up from Agri-Supply.

Trying to align a shaft for the first time and I'm not seeing the results I thought I would. My bearings spin very freely, after a 2 day soak in lighter fluid and getting blown out with compressed air. I can feel the spine, but I'm not seeing the snap that I thought I would. How important is bearing alignment? I am certain that mine are off as I free handed the drilling process. The version that I just built is only a prototype. I plan to redo it to tighter tolerances when I can get out to the wood shop and have use of my stationary tools and kiln dried hardwood. I also plan to use maple (I have a scrap or two that should be perfect) and cut it to length for my grip size. Also, how much flex do I have to impart to the shaft, 1", 3" 6". Just not sure how far to flex before I should see what I should see.

Can you provide a source for the plans that you used? I am a complete DIYer so I like to build anything myself that I possibly can and still maintain good results.

gab; First off, welcome to the site. As for a spine finder, I'd recommend you forget about wood, and go with a PVC fitting, Get a cross shaped fitting, and you will be happy with the results. I picked up three Flange bearings at my local Ace Hardware for under $2 each. The inside diameter of the cross measures 1.320" and the outside diameter of the bearing is 1.375", so I used a 1-3/8" Forster bit to open up the PVC fitting for a nice tight fit with the bearings. The bearing are 5/8" ID. The fitting measures 3.400" by 3.400", and is white PVC. If you are carefull, you should be able to open up the fitting and get the two bearing lined up very close to perfect.
As for bending the shaft, I use a hang a 2-1/2 pound weight on the tip end of the shaft by a short piece of chain, which is attacked to the third bearing.
After finding the spine and NBP, I use a FLO weight with a laser to FLO the shaft, as the FLO alignment is usually off a few degrees from either the spine or NBP you will find with the spine finder.
To use the spine finder, just clamp the cross in a vise at about a 20-30 degreee angle, so the tip of the shaft is higher than the butt end. Hang the weight on the end , and rotate the shaft to find the spine and NBP. If you have any questions or need a FLO weight/laser pointer, let me know and I'll be glad to help.