Shaft Breakage...A Couple Questions

[naj959]

Hello folks. I was playing last week and pulled out my trusty 8 iron from just off the fairway in some fluffy light rough. I made my swing and at impact I heard an odd sound and felt this strange sensation. My ball sailed towards the green but the flash of metal tomahawking across the grass distracted me. Low and behold the shaft snapped inside of the hosel. I've never seen this from playing a regular shot . Thank God my playing partner was far off to the right and out of harms way. So I have a some questions for the knowledgeable club builders around here mainly for my own educational purposes. 

 

1. Is improper assembly a possible cause of failure? I have assembled a few sets of clubs over the years. Definitely not an expert but I feel competent enough to build my own stuff. I bought the heads (PtxPros) and shafts (Shimada Constant Taper) off of Facebook. Did all the prep work, epoxied them up with the Golfworks standard stuff and let them cure 24 hours. Have been playing them for about 3-4 months. 

2. Did the club fail due to a manufacturing defect? I've heard of the KBS C-tapers having bent tips and breaking after being pulled. I wonder if the Shimada have the same problem? some of the tips did look very slightly bent when I installed them but I did not think it would affect play.

3. Should I be worried about the rest of my set?

4. Does anyone know what profiles would be similar to the Shimada Constant Taper stiff flex? It feels very similar to a KBS tour V in my opinion. I'm reluctant to spend $75 on a single replacement shaft.

5. How do I remove the old shaft in the hosel? My first thought is heat and a drill. Just drilled out an old 3 wood but I'm not sure if steel is the same procedure?

 

Thanks for taking the time to read, Cheers!

 

 

[mmowen01]

Looks like the shaft was full Epoxy. Where the shafts used pulls that didn’t have the old epoxy cleaned out or did you use so much epoxy it went that far up the shaft. 

[Sparty4202]

That much epoxy up past the hosel can cause a weak point causing the shaft to break.

[Sean124]

Holy crap, that’s a lot of epoxy

[naj959]

So sounds like part of the blame was on me as I did not do my due diligence in inspecting the shafts. Some of them had tip weights in them. I did not take the time to remove them and clean them out. I'm guessing the previous owner put them in with a TON of epoxy. I was wondering myself how so much epoxy got way above the tip weights? Lesson learned 😅

[naj959]

2 hours ago, mmowen01 said:

Looks like the shaft was full Epoxy. Where the shafts used pulls that didn’t have the old epoxy cleaned out or did you use so much epoxy it went that far up the shaft. 

Yes pulls that were a little shoddy looking to be honest. Uneven tip trimming but I thought they'd be ok. Should have taken a closer look. Guy sold them to me cheap so I can't really complain. My fault for not being thorough in prepping them. 

[jomatty]

I’m surprised there was enough air gap to not have them back out…

[Socrates]

5 hours ago, mmowen01 said:

Looks like the shaft was full Epoxy. Where the shafts used pulls that didn’t have the old epoxy cleaned out or did you use so much epoxy it went that far up the shaft. 

 

4 hours ago, Sparty4202 said:

That much epoxy up past the hosel can cause a weak point causing the shaft to break.

This is an old golf repair tale.  Epoxy up the shaft has no effect on the shaft or breakage.  None. Zero.

[Socrates]

Shafts breakage like that is likely due to over prepping of the shaft and creating a weak spot.  Very easy to do in a 90 gram shaft where the wall is thinner than normal.   If the tips were already bending, you were living on borrowed time as they are already compromised. 

 

If it were a manufacturer defect, the shaft would have broken in a few shots.  In steel, it is very rare to have a defect that would cause a breakage.

 

Lots of youtube video on how to remove a shaft.

[Billfitz]

10 minutes ago, Socrates said:

 

This is an old golf repair tale.  Epoxy up the shaft has no effect on the shaft or breakage.  None. Zero.

True. If anything that epoxy should make the shaft stronger where it fills it, not weaker. When the shafts were pulled they might have been weakened by the heat and/or by being twisted and even bent when they were pulled.