I like and have used both Flex-Coat and graphite arbors, as well as cork and dry wall mesh arbors. I like these better than cork & drywall mesh, but cork is third. Many of you like Flex-Coat arbors the best, why? Graphite, why, why not?

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

How do you center your reel seat using flex coat ?

I prefer Flexcoat just because of their length and for me, they are easier to work with. Just a personal preference, not saying that they are better than the graphite!

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!!

The Flex Coat arbors are not graphite, they are made from 4lb urethane foam. The ones most people refer to as graphite are actually brick-foam, similar but different from the urethane type.

A solid graphite arbor would be somewhat heavy compared to any of the foam types.

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

Fred, not sure what you mean by "center" I glue a flexcoat arbor the entire length of the reel seat and then bore/ream to fit the blank

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!!

Mike Barkley Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Fred, not sure what you mean by "center" I glue a
> flexcoat arbor the entire length of the reel seat
> and then bore/ream to fit the blank

i do the same thing...ive never tried the graphite arbors though...i use the flexcoat arbors because it goes the length of the reelseat and its easy to glue in ream out and put on

I like the Flex Coat arbors too. The size 18 really fit nice in the NPS 18 seats, but last night I was working on a NPS 20 and the size 20 arbor is pretty loose. Oh well. What I am going to start doing is gluing the arbors into the seats when my parts orders arrive so I have them all ready when I start doing handles.

Anyone using Fuji BRC butt caps might notice teh arbor fit in there too.

I prefer the Flex Coat for the same reasons as Mike. I do not like a 2 piece arbor. I want it to go the whole length of the seat. Much easier to work with for me. I have both in stock and wont use the 2 piece, only in a pinch.

Chuck I remember a while back a post about fit possibly by Bill Stevens.It turns out they make two sizes I think was the end result.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

Thanks Fred. I just spiraled on some 1" drywall mesh and one layer tightened it up nicely.

I like the flex-coat arbors for NPS spinning seats. When you put an entire sz. 18 arbor into an NPS 18 seat, you end up with just about 1/2" portion on both sides of the seat that doesn't have an arbor. Then, I make tenons on my cork pieces to fit into that remaining 1/2". So, it works out perfectly.

A couple of comments.
Cork, tape, flex coat and graphite arbors will all work fine.

I typically turn my handles on the blank, so it is not much of an issue with respect to the particular arbor.
When I glue up a handle, I spin the blank while applying glue so I will glue the entire assembly - including arbors in one shot. I use 30 minute epoxy for gluing, so that means that I have about 12 minutes of decent pot time to get everything together and aligned before the glue starts getting too tacky.

Tape - my least favorite - because when I do everything in one shot, it is a pain to stop after putting the back grip together, and then having to tape the blank for the reel seat.
Cork - not a bad way to use up old or poor quality cork. Easy to machine, shape and size for the blank and reel seat.
Graphite arbors- these work very well and give very good feel of the blank to the reel seat, since they are relatively dense. It doesn't matter if it takes several or portions of an arbor to fill the reel seat. Simply cut or size as many as necessary to fill the reel seat. Drill out each arbor to fit the blank at that station.
That is really the downside of grapthite arbors --- VERY TOUGH to Ream or Drill. As soon as the flex coat arbors came out - I was happy to leave the graphite arbors and move to the flexcoat.

The foam is dense enough to give good feel, easy to ream or drill and a nice fit in the reel seat.

For the post that mentions that the 20 arbor is too loose - always keep a variety of arbors on hand. If you happen to get a "large" 20 sized reel seat, you can always go to a 22 sized arbor, and turn it down to match the id of the reel seat for a tight fit.

If you don't already have a chop saw - get one. A chop saw - using an abrasive cut off wheel makes very short work of many many different rod building chores.

Even the small 2 inch chop saw, from China for $20 - with the saw blade removed and replaced with a 3 inch abrasive wheel does short work of arbors, cork, and blank cutting.

------------
Summary -
Flex coat is best arbor - one piece - easy to cut - easy to trim, and easy to ream and inexpensive.

Graphite arbors - very good feel - but very tough to ream. Not difficult to turn to size- if you happen to have one a bit too large. Simply chuck it into the end of a tapered file and spin it against a belt sander and sand to size.

Cork - great use of old or poor quality cork. However, sometimes the cork is of such poor quality that you end up with some pretty big voids which end up being filled with more glue and weight.

Tape - simple, cheap, but a bit on the soft side and tend to lose a bit of blank feel to the reel seat.

Take care
Roger