Anyone ever tried making spinning seat arbors from EVA? I am thinking it would allow for a little stretch, and not need to be reamed to the exact perfect size to get a great fit. It would still have to be reasonably hard stuff - not like the really soft stuff.

Guess I'm on a sythetic material kick today!

Gonna turn some up and try them as soon as I get some EVA!

Thanks,
Marc

Never tried it, so I can't say for sure, but I am not sure it would be for me...

For me I use drywall fiber mesh tape, available at any home improvement store pretty cheap. I dry fit it to get the lengths I need, then unwind it back off the blank to the first turn or 2, then apply a liberal coat of epoxy and wind it back on, so the epoxy fills all the little holes in the tape and is in contact with the blank. By the time the reel seat is on and all that dries it is very strong. Its also cheap, easy to do, and can be used for any type of reel seat in my opinion.

Matt Smith
Greensboro, NC

Depending on the thickness of the arbor, I think you would wind up with something that still wasn't rigid enough - the seat might exhibit some amount of twisting movement.

It would be easy enough to try one on a scrap blank or wood dowel and see.

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

I gues if you installed it like masking tape where epoxy filled the entire gap between EVA arbors (ie 1/2" arboars 3 or 4 under the seat), it should be OK as the epoxy might prevent movement form the EVA. I dunno.

Marc,
I think it would be a waste of time. Bottom line, you need something more rigid for an arbor.
Roger

Guess I'm another vote against EVA arbors. While EVA generally stretches when used as a handle, if it is enclosed in a reel seat there would be no place for it to expand and it would likely wipe the glue off the blank when you install it unless you ream the arbor to fit. I suppose it could possibly compress, but it would have to very soft do that and it wouldn't be suitable for an arbor.

Good inventive type of idea, but in this case I think you can buy or make better arbors from other materials.

Dan

After reading all the posts - I agree, not the best idea - but it sounded like a good idea at the time!!!

Oh well - looks like we stick to real arbors.

Thanks guys - Marc

MArc - why listen to anyone else, that's the monkey see monky do sheep robot method that far too many people employ. Spend 10 minutes and instal a seat over EVA, see how rigid itactually is. IF it doesn't work, try again, you're lookin gat $12 in reel seats to possibly come up with a new technique.