Trying to put together my first rod. I have a minima spin seat and it comes with some small sleeves in the package. I assume these are shims for fitting to the rod blank? If none of them fit perfectly would it be okay to put a little tape as an additional shim? Just one layer maybe to get the right fit?

And when glueing the seat halves onto the rod blank how do you determine how far apart to put them? I know they must be close enough so that the seat will close on a reel foot but how much leeway should you allow. Sorry to ask what may be a dumb question but I am new to this and do not want to ruin my first rod project. I thought maybe there is a standard distance for locating the seat halves.

On to another question that shows my ignorance as a newbie rod builder. Looking at the different rod building supply website they all have that emblem of a circle with three fishing rods in it. I even see it here up in the right hand corner. I know this must mean something common to rod building but what? Is it part of a buyers group or something along those lines?

About the symbol its the Custom Rod Builder symbol kind of like the Diver Down Flag. Tom Kirkman designed it.

Ash



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2009 02:27PM by Ash Carlton.

The correct symbol website address is [www.intcustomrodsymbol.org]. You can read all about it there.

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Your seat halves need to be situated so that your reel will be securely held and yet the seat can open far enough so that you can install or remove the reel foot. Best thing to do is put the seat on your bench and put a reel in it. Open the threaded half just about as far as it will go and then situate it so that you can see the maximum distance that will be required between the 2 halves. They don't need to be any farther apart than that.

You should be able to tape up some arbors and mock up the seat on the blank first, and then get an idea of how far apart you prefer the halves to be.

And yes, you can use a layer of tape to get the perfect fit you're after. Just be neat and try not to put any where it's going to show on the finished product.

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Thanks this helps some. I just wondered if there was a set distance that is known to work for most reels.

Neat idea on the symbol.

I just built 2 rods with the Minima spinning seats so I am well versed in how to install them.
[www.rodbuilding.org]
I am not sure what you mean by small sleeves in the package, mine came with 3 parts, reel seat base, threaded barrel, and the hood/locknut.

The base comes in different sizes to fit your blank, but the threaded barrel will have to have some kind of arbor to fit onto your blank. I used a Flex Coat foam arbor, which I glued into the threaded barrel first then reamed to fit the blank. The threaded barrel can be trimmed shorter than it comes from the package, I trimmed mine so it was exactly the same length as the hood and locknut, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to leave 1/16 extra on each end.

When it comes time to install the seat install the rear grip and base part first and let the epoxy cure, 10 min Rod Bond or 15 min Ultimate Gel helps here since you can continue to work on the rod after only a couple of hours. After the grip and base have set up you can install the threaded barrel, at this point you need to have the reel that you intend to use. Ream the arbor you glued into the barrel until it fits just slightly short of tightening down on the front of the reel foot with the hood centered on the threaded barrel. Now you can apply your epoxy to the blank and slide the threaded barrel to its final position. Mount the reel in the base, slide the threaded barrel and hood down and clamp it in place with a cork clamp, which applies compression to the cushion in the hood so that after everything is cures when you tighten the hood to the same place it will hold the reel securely. It also insures that the 2 pieces of the reel seat are lined up straight and not twisted.

You will need something to finish the ends of the threaded barrel. Batson has some new winding checks that have an OD the correct size to fit a 16mm barrel, with different inside diameters to fit different blanks. I didn’t have any of these so I just used regular winding checks which worked OK, but I will definitely be getting some of those Batson checks for the future. I like to run thread finish up over the winding checks to seal everything and make a nice smooth transition to the barrel. Don’t forget to install the winding check between the seat base and threaded barrel before you glue everything together or you will be out of luck.