i am considering building my own seats using acrylics and wood and have a question. when drilling out the seat, should the ID of the seat be just a tad larger than the OD of the blank, for strength, or be way over size and utilize an insert as when using a commercial seat. thanks

Jim,

I ream the reel seat to fit the blank, just like you would a cork grip. I have only done wood inserts, so i can't speak to the acrylic material.

Carrington

Jim, I usually drill the hole just undersize and then use a file to fit it to the blank. It takes a while but I think that the final result is worth it. It also takes less epoxy and I hope that will keep the reel seat from spinning on the blank down the road.

Jim,

I use the acrylic all the time. I drill out the seat just undersized to the blank, then I chuck a smaller bit in the lathe head stock and "work" the extra material out of the acrylic or wood, until I get the perfect fit that I am wanting. You can let the piece turn as you apply pressure just where you want to remove the material....it's very easy to do and works like a charm......my files just collect dust!

Just for fun....how heavy is Acrylic compared to arbors? WOuldn't you build a more efficient rod by reaming a majority of material out and mounting on an arbor made form a lighter material....I dunno like masking tape? lol.

Billy,

Just for fun.....and I KNOW I'll get a "reaming" LOL for this one....but......I believe the acrylic mounted directly to the blank adds sensitivity that an arbor wont give you. There is aded weight with acrylic, but if you keep the grips down small and nice, the added weight is in the right place.

DR

Billy,

On rods where weight would be an issue (U/L, etc), I over drill the holes (seats/grips) and use Flexcoat arbors. Otherwise I bore just undersize and use a reamer in a variable speed drill mounted in a vise pointing straight up and slowly lower the piece down and up on the reamer. That way I get a tapered fit on grips. Acrylics ream very easy as does wood. Just go slow to avoid to much heat. The Dream Reamers from Batson are great for this.

Wouldn't touch the sensitivity issue with a ten foot pole!!!!!!!

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!!

"Wouldn't touch the sensitivity issue with a ten foot pole!!!!!!!"

LMAO!!!!

DR

Mike - you might be able to touch the sensitivity issue with that pole, depending on the pole's mass density and the orientation of the pole to the sensitivity when you actually touch it :-)

Ok, I'll shut up now...

Rich,

Don't start!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!

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!!

LOL!!!!!!!!

DR

Rich is just stirring the pot!!!!!!! ROFLMAO!!!!

Bill in WV

There is a trade off to be reckoned with either way. More weight generally means a less sensitive rod. You'd almost always come out ahead on weight by making the seat insert with a much larger bore and filling it with a very lightweight yet rigid 4lb urethane foam. Or, the standard brick arbors. But then you'd have one additional material involved which in and of itself can also reduce sensitivity.

Without any way to accurately measure any input, it's hard to say for sure which would be more sensitive, but my guess would be that the often very heavy weight of the acrylic inserts would reduce the sensitivity more than boring it out larger and filling with a lightweight yet rigid arbor.

....................

The only thing I worry about with wood, a natural material with a thin wall will tend to crack or break. The foam arbor will help stabilize the wood more so than masking tape, but for the little difference in sensitivity vs durability I wouldn't take a chance on it.

Tom,

It also matters where that weight is located and how much of it is really there. I've built quite a few acrylic's and I'm amazed by the sensitivity of them vs cork. Same blanks, same guides. It would take a lot to convince me otherwise, my hands tell the tale on each rod in the real fishing world. Like you said, it's only a guess, but I'll take the acrylic ANY day of the week. What I wouldn't do is make a full sized, full length acrylic handle, the weight there would matter, I'm not sure if it would take away any sensitivity, but it would make for a heavier rod.

DR

Since sensitivity is my middle name, I'm going to vote for something we just did for a cusotmer:

He brought us a blank, guides, and an APLS "triangular" reel seat he bought at the Show last Feb. He asked us to build it for him. Although the reel seat was a relatively close fit, the space got a little bigger when we measured the length of the rear grip he wanted. We had a couple choices - build up several layers of tape (not a good solution - to heavy, and definitely not sensitive enough - seriously!), or fill the seat with s Flex Coat arbor and ream it out. But this was one of those times when the ID of the reel seat was "just enough" to be a problem, but not big enough to require much in the way of an arbor. So we sized-down a size 18 arbor to what I figured was about a size 14, glued it in, and s-l-o-w-l-y reamed it until it was almost paper thin, and fit perfectly to the blank.

The reason we chose this solution was that we figured the "skin" of arbor left inside would provide a better purchase for the glue, than the smooth inside of the reel seat. It adds so little weight and it's so thin that we figured it'd have little or no effect on the weight or sensitivity of this stick.

Just one idea that might help.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods

Russ,

I've done that same thing on Bass rods. I found it easier to epoxy the arbor inside the reel seat BEFORE reaming. Then ream the arbor and epoxy on rod.

DR

Uhm, FC has recommended you use their arbors in this manner fom Day 1. And how much can one be worried about loss of sensitivity using an Aluminum seat anyway?

yup - epoxy the arbor into the seat first, then ream to whatever you need it to be. I've had some get ultra thin before, it's a far better method than any alternative.