I am trying to make a reamer or 3 out some scrap blanks I purchased and I am not having much luck finding a good abrasive tape to use on it. I tried the 3M striping that is used for stair treads and that wears out in seconds and you are changing it so often that you may as well just file them out instead. I would rather stay with a tape on abrasive rather than a glue on grit mainly because anything is going to get dull and need to be changed.

Anyone have any good suggestions on this?

I have the tape from MudHole. Lasts a long time.
Don't use the grit, said it comes off inside a cork handle and can scratch a blank

Custom tackle Supply has some tape type that works real well. Check with Bob there to see what he has.

Scott,

Ask one of your suppliers for a roll of the Flex Coat reemer material. Spiral wrap it on your scrap blank with contact cement and you are good to go. I have some of the old Feather Weight aluminum ferrels glue on mine so that I can chuck them up in a jhand held drill. I reem a 10 inch rear grip in maybe two minutes. Try it you will like it. By the way the material just lasts and lasts. Go for it.

Gerald Mc

Why not use a belt sander thingy in 80 grit & spiral it up the scrap blank? For EVA, 40 grit?

I've got a bunch with the grit, I've never once scratched the blank, although pieces of grit do come off and get inside the grip. You can usually tell when this happens, because you hear it when reaming (under power, 700RPM or so). All you have to do is put the grip on a scrap blank and wiggle it around and the loose grit is no longer in the grip.

You can also find the stuff used to fill hotel and restuarant ashtrays and use that - it's very coarse grit. Although you'd have to locate a janitorial supply vendor in your area. It may be easier to just get some of the items mentioned already from a sponsor and be done with it.

For anyone interested, there is an article in the online library here on making tapered reamers.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2005 09:09AM by Tom Kirkman.

scott i use graphite grit on my reamers its getting hard to find.... i know jann's netcraft has it buy some cheap cork for the handle... epoxy the length of your blank with something on the table to catch the grit let epoxy get just a little sticky and then sprinkle the grit on until covered while turning on the rod dryer dont be scared to use alot of epoxy so grit sets in good when dry yll have some of the best reamers available i havent made new ones in over eight years still going strong good luck anyway you go tight wraps crabtree's customs

The Flexcoat belt grit is by far the most durable, when spiraled on different size pieces of blank with contact cement you have a reamer that is truly durable. Loose grit glued on comes off, especially if you use power, the glue heats up and flakes off. I have used the belt grit reamers to ream not only grip material but reel seats and pcv pipe.Jesse

Flexcoat belts are the way to go!!!

Mike

Scott,

I cut strips about 3/4 wide from a belt sander belt and spiralled them around an old blank then epoxied them leaving a small gap. You can have just about any grit you want...makes good use of old scrap blanks. The one I use the most I put a cork handle on. Works fantastic. The gap seems to allow space for the ground up cork to sit similar to most drill bits.

I use the grit I sell and don't have any problems with the grit falling off inside the cork grips. If I do have any fall of I always blow out the excess dust inside the grips and that gets out any harder composites.

me either neil ive been using mine for eight years now no falling off and sure aint no sign of over heating?????????? i ream out all kinds of cork eva and hypolon with mine..

For power reaming the Flexcoat tape works best for me. I tried using grit but it just didn't hold up long with power reaming. Guess it's whatever works best for the individual, but before making a final decision you might want to give Flexcoat tape a try.

Stan

I've used the same grit reamers for over 15 years, probably closer to 20. They still work great although the one is getting a bit on the dull, worn-out side. Initially, a bit of the grit came off, but I haven't had any come off in years now.

Putter
Williston, ND

The problem with GRit reamers, is when regular rodbuilders make them, they don't do it properly. I haev a few grit reamers which are great, and others which all the grit came off the first time I used it. And of course other ones which have bald spots. Certain materials will eat teh grit though, Andy's burnt cork is one of them, fo rmy reamers at least.

Rat Tail files make excellant reamers also. You can cut the tang off and chuck them into a variable speed drill and they work great (Power reaming is much easier and more effective if you run the drill in reverse when reaming so that the reamer does not bind up)

Mike



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2005 11:55AM by Mike Barkley.

I think the problem that everyone is having is the epoxy they are using. I have found a 24 hour curing time epoxy. I use my own private label Reel Seat Paste that really works great and don't have any failure. If you use the 5 minute or the 7 to 10 minute curing it just won''t hold up under the conditions when you use your reamers. I have reamers that I made 30 years ago and they are still working and no failure. So if you make your own I recommend using a 24 hour curing time two part epoxy.

Neal Cissel
Neal's Fishing Products
www.nealsfishingtackle.com

Neal - does that include Rod Bond/Kardol? I tried reamers with one of these brands, I'm honestly not sure which - I ended up with a grip FULL of grit, and a bald blank. lol. I blame this on user error, I assume I didn't use enough epoxy. I did notice the paste epoxy was warm and sort of sticky, which kind of made me wonder if those weren't teh right epoxies to use

I have some arbor bits that the tubing was glued on with Rod Bond. It got hot drilling out Andy's cork and came loose on me. This was weeks after it was epoxied together.

The reamers I made were used with 5 minute epoxy and I've had no problems with them (other than initially), but I'd take Neil's advice and use a slower setting kind just to make the reamer easier to make if for no other reason. I was too rushed when I did those and lost the last little bit of the grit on that reamer first time used. I had to re-glue and do that end over right away. The 5 minute had begun to set up and the adhesion factor had gone to zero on me.

But still no problems years later on, not even with Andy's burl cork.

Putter
Williston, ND

I also use belt sander stuff. The adhesive used to affix the grit to the strips is made to withstand the heat a bit better.
You get heat issues particularly when you power ream. I made my reamers with handles like in the on-line article, and drill the rings close to diameter so that I can hand ream with very little effort. This enable me to go slowly to get a good fit.

A tip to remove grit is after blowing out and knocking the grip, pass a bottle brush up into the hole and give it a good brushing out, twisting and pulling out whatever may remain inside. I clipped the bristles on mine a little shorter to stiffen them. Works great.