I have this idea that someone with the right tools needs to make. Create bushings that match the ID of popular reel seats. Each busing would have a centered hole that would match a standard drill bit. You would slide the bushing in the reel seat then use the proper drill to make a perfectly centered hole in the arbor. Even if the factory hole in the arbor is off center, the bushing will keep the drill in perfect position.

Anybody want to make a set?

Larry

I think I get your drift here. What you have is a bush with a perfectaly centered hole which acts as a guide when drilling out an arbor previously glued into a reel seat. You would have to glue in the arbor and leave enough room to fit your bush in. The other problem would be if the hole in the supplied arbor was off center a twist drill will still have a tendancy to follow that hole. You would be better off with solid arbors in fact.

Taking your idea a bit further how about a long metal bush say 5 inch nominal length with an internal bore of 4 inches long to match the bore size of the reel seat. The one inch solid part of the bush could be drilled out to various sizes and would act as a drill guide whan drilling the arbor which is placed inside this JIg Bush. The walls of the Jig would need to be sufficient to fit a locking grub swrew to hold the arbor in position whilst drilling.

It's the sort of jig someone with a metal cutting lathe could lash together very quickly. If you are using a lot of reel seats with the same ID then you would not need too many of them. I fear that with the newish FC arbors it seems most builders who use them find they work well enough to not need tools like this.

This jig could be further modified to have a large od on the rear end so it could be effectively clamped to the work table of a simple drill press, improving safety and potential accuracy. In effect it would look like a T. Don't know how commercial this would be. But If I had access to a metal turning lathe right now I would start playing.

Thanks for your thought s on this one.

Tight Lines

Mike O.

That sounds even better. I just see this as acurate not depending on the factory hole to be centered. FC is great but not 100% perfect I'm sure. But I don't always use FC arbors, sometimes depending on the situation I go to the older type arbors. Anyway, just a thought.

Hi Larry

I think it was a great thought. I too remain unconvinced about pr-bored arbors. It's great how the board causes us to think out new angles and the such like.
If I was more IT literate I would have been able to sketch out my idea which would be so much better than words alone

Cheers

Mike