first time club build failure

I recently attempted to build my first set of golf clubs. I used shafts pulled from Titleist clubs and assembled them with Grand Hawk XP24 component heads. After just the third hit on the pitching wedge and 8 iron, the shaft failed and snapped right at the hosel. I have included pictures of the breakage. I stopped hitting the rest of the clubs at that point out of fear that something else would break. Below is the links for the equipment that i purchased.

As a back story side note, I assembled these clubs in my garage (cold) using 24 hour epoxy. After realizing that the epoxy had not setup after 18 hours, I moved the clubs into the house and let them sit inside for an additional 9. When I returned, the clubs were solid. I suppose this could be an epoxy failure however at this point I am thinking a shaft problem. Any suggestions? Obviously being a first time club builder this is very discouraging.

http://my.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...=1&_trksid=m38
http://www.golfideas.com/28/Irons/52...P-24/tabType/s

The third picture is meant to highlight the fact that the shafts were abraded past the end of hosel. Also, the hosel was NOT a tight fit when I installed them, as a matter of fact they were actually very lose. Also, I purchased a set of shaft tip weights that didn't fit inside the ends of the shafts. The website clearly states that both objects were .370 shafts.

Please advise

Ha ha that almost happened to me at golf galaxy the guy screwed on the head for a titleist iron. I took a few swing and all of a sudden i heard a rattling. I looked down and saw the club almost unscrewed!

it appears that the shafts are the wrong size. It appears that the ebay seller sold me .355 shafts that were labeled as .370s. Time to have a discussion with the ebay seller.

The only thing I can think of with the shaft size is that they dried on a weak angle. I build clubs and the one thing you do not do while building clubs is put them in cold weather. This also goes for clubs that you buy and just leave in an extremely cold or hot environment. This kills the epoxy and destroys the club through the fact that the head will fall off or break the shaft. You may have made the shaft brittle as well by leaving them in the garage and then warming then quickly by putting them inside the house. I would never suggest buying shafts off ebay as well because a lot of people do not know what they are talking about when it comes to golf shafts.

That's some tough luck, but at least you know it's not really your fault.

I've really been thinking about building a set of irons. I'm scared to death something like this will happen. Thanks for posting about it and the update.

i posted this on another forum, and this was the answer that I got. http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index....

You ABSOLUTELY cannot use .355s in a .370 hosel. There are spacers that can be used (but I wouldn't) to surround the shaft, and I have also heard some so-called clubbuilders who say that if you twist the shaft as the shaft is installed the epoxy will surround the shaft and provide a cushion all the way around. In real life....neither one works.

And FWIW....unless they have changed recently, ALL Titieist shafts are .355 unless they are a special order.

***update***

I rebuilt the clubs with proper sized .370 new dynalite shafts that I purchased from my local golfsmith. The new shafts work perfect and I am happy to report that the clubs held up great to a session from mats at the range yesterday. I am also happy to report that I love hitting them. The ball flight isn't as high as my old clubs (stiffer shafts) but the distance is good, and I am happy with the results.

You can use a brass shim to install a smaller shaft in a larger hosel fine ( http://www.myostrichgolf.com/clubmak...oducts_id=1169 ). I've done this quite a bit with woods and never had an issue. May be harder in your case given the taper on the 0.355s c.f. the 0.370 parallel hosel.

Your shaft shearing may be the smaller shaft in the .370" hosel but how much epoxy did you use? If you use too much and the resin fills up the inside of the shaft so that the level reaches about the top of the hosel, you'll create a shear point when it's set and the shaft snapping is much more likely. Not really seen it with steel shafts but seen it plenty with graphite.

my method of applying epoxy was to take a tee and smear it into the epoxy and put some into the hosel. Then I took the shaft tip and rolled it into the epoxy until it was evenly coated. Installing the head, I pushed it onto the shaft and shimmed it around the shaft and then holding the head I gave the shaft a good solid tap or 3 into the floor of my garage. I don't think I used to much epoxy.