I have been scouring catalogs in anticipation of building my first rod, and in order to preserve the feel of my current rod, I am going with a Fuji 22mm reel seat. I see that the appropriate graphite arbor has a 21 mm OD, so there's a fairly substantial gap of .031 inches between the arbor's OD and the seat's ID. Is that acceptable, or do I go to the next size arbor, which is too large and take down the OD?

They're created undersized as most builders will never get them perfectly centered on the blank. At which point you'd never get the reel seat on. So, everybody leaves some margin for error. I suspect that after mounting the arbors you'll find the fit to be close, although not snug and things will be just fine.

If you desire absolute perfection (not needed by much admired) then buy the larger arbors, mount them and then take them down to a perfect slip fit.


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Give some thought to the F;ex coat arbors. lighter, more sensitive and very easy to work with. It's only my opinion, but I think that they are far superior to Graphite.

Mike

The Fuji's are a closer fit, almost perfect in fact. Because you're dealing with one long arbor instead of two or more separate ones, a couple degrees of mis-alignment won't stop you from easily mounting the seat. Or you can mount the arbor in the seat first, then ream/bore to fit the blank. It's a great system.

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Tom,

Did you mean Flex Coat??????

Mike

Yes, I meant the Flex Coat arbors are a closer fit. Sorry for any confusion.

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Mike

The Flex Coat arbors are not lighter than the black graphite foam ones. As a matter of fact 1 full length Flex Coat arbor weighs nearly 3 times what 3 black graphite ones do. I've weighed them.

The Fuji arbors are not graphite - they're brick-foam. If you cut the Flex Coat arbors into the same relative lengths, they weigh roughly about the same. Neither weighs very much, both being lighter than comparitive amounts of tape or wood or cork.

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Sorry about that, I thought they were lighter! Either way, the weight on either is negligible.I still prefer them

Mike

What about the generic graphic arbors carried by Mudhole?

I've tried those. The quality was not as high as the fuji graphite arbors. I had to do more shaping on the outside of those than I did with the fuji ones. It could also be that I might have done a really poor job of reaming those opposed to the much better job I normally do (being rushed @#$%&!) If I were you, I'd spend the extra and get the fuji arbors. haven't tried the flex coat arbors so I can't say anything intelligent about them.

Tom posted

"Or you can mount the arbor in the seat first, then ream/bore to fit the blank. It's a great system."

Now that is backward to what one would normally do but it makes sense.

Just another good example of the "Tricks of the Trade" that can be picked up here.

Thank you Tom.

I rechecked my notes...

1 Flex Coat 17mm, 4.22" long arbor, weighs 89 grains. 3 of the 17mm graphite color arbors, measuring a total of 3.66", weigh 47.1 grains. So, the Flex Coat arbor is only going to be about twice the weight.

I'm still undecided about which I prefer. I like them both.

It has to be less than that. you're talking about a 3/4" difference in length. You would have to cut the Flexcoat arbor down to the same size of the 3 other arbors (or just cut a piece of Flexcoat arbor to the same length as one of the other arbors. Are the ID and OD of both identical? that also would have to be considered.

Mike

Like Flex Coat - cost, availability, length, fit up speed

Run piloted Flexcoat arbor tool with hand drill - three seconds

Stare at it for 10 seconds and decide how long of a piece.

Hack saw off the piece I need - three seconds.

Ream inside with tapered reamer and fit to blank - 1.34 minutes

Slide on blank to end of seat place on U40 pretreated blank

Coat outside arbor with U40 - five seconds

Shove in place with mixing stick - two seconds

Place foregrip and winding check - ten seconds

Wipe down and clean external area with denatured alcohol - three minutes.

Drink a few toddies while the thing is drying.

Don't Worry Be Happy!!

This will not be the thing that brings this rod back in the door for a Warranty Meeting.

Gon Fishn

Ok, I've got one cut down...

The Flex coat arbor measures, .654 OD x .254 ID x .931 L and weighs 22 grains.

The graphite foam one measures .670 OD x .268 ID x 1.018 and weighs 14 grains.

Surprising! Goes to show they are both good. For 6 grams, I still prefer the ease of use of the Flexcoat. Personal preference, though

Mike

"grains" huh

I know what kinda scale you're using .... ;-)

Yea, and I know its accurate because I haven't blown myself up yet!


Mike - it is most certainly personal preference. I, personally, am still torn. I like certain things about each of them.

Actually, I like the graphite foam ones, because they're easy to shape and I needed two, so I ordered two and I got two ....


BAGS full of them now.