I did a stupid thing today... I forgot to clean the interior of the spinning reel seat before attaching it to brick foam arbors with Rodbond. There is undoubtedly some dust in there -- I ground both ends of the reel seat prior to installation.

Given the following steps, is this going to start to spin on me? Can I test the seat now and expect it to hold in the future?

1). I glued the brick foam arbors (approximately 2 inches worth, total) to the blank with Rodbond

2). I ground the seat to fit (Fuji ergonomic DNPSD), and then used Rodbond to slip it over the arbors.

I have about a 1/2 inch at the top of the seat into which I could insert another arbor -- after cleaning the interior of the seat this time. Would that be enough to hold the seat?

Thanks,

Erik

I built several of them before I even heard about "cleaning" the inside of the seat. Never had one come loose. I just would not worry about it. I am sure the brick foam arbors will come apart before the rod bond joint fails.

I wouldn't worry about it Rod Bond, as Bill said, is good stuff. Tried getting it to fail once in a test that was admittedly not very scientific or correct, but it showed what the stuff will take. I glued two nuts to a scrap of blank and than tried to break the bond by twisting the nut off the blank while it was cramped in a vise. The blank failed at over 30 ft lbs of torque.

Most commercial rod making companies don't clean anything and most of their rods fare well over their lives. But, it's always better to clean and scuff all mating surfaces, which you no doubt understand. Your's could certainly fail, hopefully it won't. If you can't get it apart in order to redo it, then just try not to worry about it.


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Don't worry about it. It'll be fine. As Tom said, the commercial rod companies likely never clean/scuff/abrade their mating surfaces, and they don't even use good arbors most of the time (i.e. sometimes, they use cardboard arbors), and their rods hardly ever fail.

Plus, you used Rod Bond. I don't know of any other epoxy that strong. The blank would likely break before the bond.

If you still have access to the end of the reel seat, why not clean up what you can and add some epoxy, either paste or better yet Flex Coat Epoxy Glue liquid to fill the void? Just stand the rod on end and let it flow. That will give you some insurence for the future.


Best wishes,
Ron Schneider
Schneider's Rod Shop
Mountain Home, Arkansas
[www.schneidersrods.com]
mtnron40@yahoo.com
870-424-3381

Rod Bond LOVES dust ... don't worry about it, you will be fine. I can think of dozens of ways a rod can fail due to construction techniques - if that one even made my list, it would be at the bottom ... I use enough Rod Bond that the air molecules are screaming from the pressure. The liberal application of the product is much more important, IMO, than whether a little dust enters into the mixture.

I have used Rod Bond in the past and have gotten it all over my dirty work bench file shavings, cork dust and what ever else that was laying around. Any way I had a heck of atime getting the bond off my bench. My bench had a formica top. So I believe you are safe from reelseat failur.
Good Wraps Bob

Even without Rod bond (I was using whatever came in the Cabela's kit) you'll be ok. My very 1st rod built went strong for many years and is STILL hanging in the rafters in perfect working condition and I never cleaned or scuffed ANYTHING, it was just slapped together. I didn't even know rod building as we see it on here was even out there. I'm not suggesting that things be done this way AT ALL, but I surely wouldn't sweat over not cleaning a reel seat.

Thanks to everyone -- you all have saved me a many hours worth of aggravation! I'll take my chances with the current seat assembly.

Best,

Erik

Erik,

Even if it does fail on you later down the road, and I DOUBT it will, you can always drill a few holes in the seat, inject new epoxy and tighten it back up again, then work a new finish on the seat to cover the holes.

I don't want to cause any unnecessary worry for anyone, but epoxy strength is of little matter if it can't stick to the surface you've applied it to.

I doubt Erik is going to have any problems, but be aware that many reel seats have a light residue of whatever the maker users to get it to release from the mold. This isn't going to help your bond, and could lead to failure in a few cases. Just be aware that you definitely should clean the inside of your seats and then scuff/degloss them to a WBF surface.


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