Just a quick warning for those with the dream reamers. I was using my smallest one with a cordless drill today to ream out a 10" cork handle and the fiberglass rod delaminated. I'm not sure why, I wasn't using it long enought to heat it up and in fact kept cleaning it every 10 - 15 seconds or so and it never seemed more than a little warm. So, if you are going to use them on a drill be VERY careful.

Hmmm. I bought a set at the show. Thanks for the warning. If you hear from the manufacturer with any updates, let us know.
Thanks again.
Chuck Horan

We've used ours for several months now, and built about a dozen cork handles with them. We've had absolutely no problem and we didn't clean them as frequently as you did. As someone said recently, there's no substitute for 2300rpm.

We got them from FishSticks4U. I'm sure Batson will stand behind this product, just like they do for everything else.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods

I have done 25-30 sets of grips with NO problems, I believe you might be seeing one of those proverbial "one in a thousand" factory defects. Call Batson or your vendor and I am sure it will be taken care of. The product is super and no one should be afraid of making the investment.

I've not laid eyes on a dream reamer, but can say that anything put together with a thin layer of epoxy stands a chance of failing if it gets even the slightest bit 'warm'.

Jay

And maybe you just got a bad one. They probably sell hundreds and hundreds of these and there's always a chance that a bad one got out. Just be careful and wear eye protection. Any of these tools can go bad or break so just be prepared.

Burton,
I had the exact same thing happen to mine. Only the smallest though. The others are fine. Randy.

I didn't know that those reamers were for chucking in a drill. A couple of years ago I made some by inserting and gluing a piece of steel rod in the end and chucking them in my drill. First I melted the epoxy off of one and lost the grit and on another one the fiberglass rod splintered at the jucture with the steel rod. I had better luck with a rat tail file and a drill running in reverse. I now use spade bits. It takes a couple of minutes now to bore out a handle and then a little reaming.

Some commercial reamers do not use epoxy for attaching the adhesive strip.

Thanks for the reply guys. I'm not sure what I did wrong or what happened. I haven't had a chance to talk to the guys from Custom Tackle (got them from those guys at the rod show) about it or the guys from Batson but just wanted to get the warning out before anyone else ran into the same problems. I'll let you guys know what I hear back from them.

I have absolutely zero doubt that Bill and the guys at Batson Enterprises will work with you to uncover any problem and make things right. As someone else here said, you may have just gotten a defective one. It happens.

..........

I don't have a set of 'Dream Reamers' yet but the ones thet I've made here at home that I chuck into a drill I use at a pretty low rpm. I mean about 100 - 180 rpm. I keep that drill set at about or a little bit less than 1/4 speed and it runs at 750 rpm max. I had a reamer come apart at full speed a while back. From all I've heard those are the best commercial reamers for sale for rodbuilding. Rod blanks aren't made to spin. Most have very little hoop strength(?). Is this a good way to say this? Ralph

If at first you don't succeed, go fishing, then try, try again.

Burton ... what direction were you going with your drill??

Use contact cement to glue the grit belt on the blank, not rod epoxy. The rod epoxy gets soft when it heats up and will not hold the belt or grit in place. The ones I made with contact cement are awsome, I have reamed reel seats, grips etc and not a bit of problems. Jesse

Jim, I was alternating between forward and reverse. I didn't think about that before but, I wonder if that had any effect on loosening the fibers of the fiberglass?

Thanks, Jesse!! I never would have thought that contact cement would be stronger that epoxy. Since you are supposed apply contact cement to both surfaces and let dry before mating the parts, how are you doing it???

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2007 09:41PM by Mike Barkley.

I thnk Jesse might have read teh instructions which come with FC reamer abrasive strips.

Burton - The instructions that came with the reamers were perfectly clear, forward (clockwise) with a drill and reverse (counterclockwise) if by hand.

BTW, for everyone's benefit - according to Batson, the sandpaper is to be applied with gel super glue and you only need to replace whatever loosened or wore out - not the entire reamer at once.

Clockwise (CW) and Counterclockwise (CCW) can be mis-interpreted, depends on whether you are looking away or towards the drill. Forward and Reverse are a little better, though not perfect. Since Batson equates CW with Forward, It's virtually certain they mean CW looking away.

Tom Doyle Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Clockwise (CW) and Counterclockwise (CCW) can be
> mis-interpreted, depends on whether you are
> looking away or towards the drill. Forward and
> Reverse are a little better, though not perfect.
> Since Batson equates CW with Forward, It's
> virtually certain they mean CW looking away.

You are working too hard to find the answer. Put the handle on a reamer and you will quickly figure out what is meant - one direction will ream cork and the other direction will undo the handle.