The rear EVA grip does not set even against the winding check, could I sand the EVA down to fit even with teh winding check?

Why would you have the REAR EVA grip setting against a winding check?? Its the front EVA grip that has a winding check on it.

I think its the trim ring between the reel seat and the eva grip.lol! does that sound like it could be it? lol! thats the best i can expain.

I will assume you're talking about a check used on the ends of EVA sections in a split grip or the trim ring on the back of the reel seat. At any rate, I understand you need to square up the grip face.

Sanding the face of EVA to a square face is hard because the foam will tend to just move away from the sandpaper. Here's a better method - set the rod spinning in the lathe and use a section of taut D thread to slice the end of the EVA grip flush. Just press the taut thread down into the EVA and slice off a sliver from the end. That will give you a flat surface to seat the check or seat against. You can round over the edges of the EVA lightly with some medium grit sandpaper if you wish.

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Lorenzo -
I don't know of any reel seat that comes with a trim ring. Was this part of a "kit" or an add-on piece that you inserted between the rear grip and the reel seat? I suppose it really doesn't matter because you can sand down the EVA and shape it to any size you'd like ... because it's what looks good to you (or a customer) that counts. If flattening the face of the EVA is what you were referring to then Tom's method is the best way to accomplish that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2010 08:59PM by Ken Preston.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I got some D thread, I'll give it a try.

The thread works great, cuts through the EVA like butter. Just be careful and don't wrap it around your fingers. I've heard horror stories about what happens if you do that and the thread gets caught on something. I just hold it between my thumb and index finger, so it will slip out if it gets caught.

I would say that if you want a more accurate cut and reduce the danger of using thread to cut eva, try to make the tool that was featured in the last issue of Rodmaker. It also cuts cork and trims blanks.

Bill Marchisella Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would say that if you want a more accurate cut
> and reduce the danger of using thread to cut eva,
> try to make the tool that was featured in the last
> issue of Rodmaker. It also cuts cork and trims
> blanks.


Bill I cant get RodMaker in my country.....so does anyone have a pic of this tool.

Lorenzo,
Another thing you could try. If you use this method, be sure to practice a bit on a piece of scrap EVA to get the method done before doing it on the final grip.

Mount the piece of EVA grip on a manderal in a lathe.

Then, just take a common serrated knife or the infamous Kinsu knives that have been sold around the world for about $3 each. This is just an inexpensive plastic handled 12 inch kitchen knife that uses a multiple serrated, sharp cut on the cutting edge of the knife. Or just a common serrated knife will work fine.

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Although the D thread will work just fine, there is one potential issue with this method. When you use the thread to cut through the material down to the manderal, you are essentially cutting at 90 degrees to the blank. i.e. the cut is perpendicular to the end of the blank. Many folks think that this gives the rod the perfect look. The answer is - it depends. The one issue with this method is that sometimes you end up with a slight outward bulge on the inner part of the cut. If there is this slight outer bulge on the inner part of the cut, a builder ends up with a trim piece that can't fit tightly against the end of the grip.

Here is where the method of using the serrated knife comes in.

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To execute the serrated knife method to cut the grip, Bring the lathe up to speed with the EVA on the madral. Then, holding the serrate knife at a slight angle -- i..e. the cutting edge of the knife should be pointing back down toward the end of the eva that is not being cut. The idea of holding the knife at this slight inward cutting angle is to insure that the outer edge of the grip is just a touch longer than the inner edge of the grip. Then, when the handle and pieces are clamped together in the final assembly, the builder will be sure that there are perfectly sharp edges on each of the pieces that are visible to the user.
When you hold the knife, be sure that the knife is being held so that if the knife catches for any reason, the knife will be pushed out of the handle without flying across the room. i.e. you want the knife to be going into the eva on the direction away from rotation of the handle. That way, if the knife happens to stick, the lathe just pops the knife out of the grip with no damage done. If the knife is pressed into the grip towards rotation, the knife if caught, could be tossed back into the face of the person holding the knife.

Summary -
To make the cut on the end of the eva, just hold a serrated knife against the EVA at a slight inward angle to give a very slight inward taper of the grip from the outer edge to the center of the grip. This allows the compressed and glued up grip to have a very fine tight outer surface with virtually no glue line. Hold the knife against the EVA on the side away from lathe rotation to prevent a possible sticking knife avoiding operator injury.

Take care
Roger

p.s.
Practice a bit on scrap handle material to be sure that you have mastered the method to avoid causing damage to a handle under construction.

In response to Ferdi that he would like to see some photos of the tool, I will post them in the 'photos' section.
If there are any questions, I'll be glad to answer them. Email me at billsreelworld@aol.com.

Check out ahome depot. I think I saw one of those handles there.

Bill - willierods.com