I have been trying to determine how to measure a blank for exposed blank casting reel seats. If a reel seat is 12.5 mm, where is that diameter? Butt end? Middle? Front of reel seat?

I have a couple of blanks that I want to buy reel seats to build the rod. I don't have a supply of various sized seats to try. I would like to use my calipers and measure some distance from the end of the blank.

I guess the real question is "Are blank exposed casting seats tapered, or are they uniform diameter throughout the length of the reel seat" ?

Does it vary by manufacturer?

Any tips or insight would be appreciated.

Thanks
Bert Nagy

They are tapered since the molds to produce the seats have to have draft on them to be able to pull the parts. In most cases the draft on the seats, probably 1 or 2 deg on a side is less than the taper of the blank, although blank taper varies drastically in the reel seat area. If you don’t have a selection of seat sizes your best bet is to measure at the back end of where the seat will go, order a seat 1mm smaller and ream it to final size. In most cases you can get a better fit by reaming the seat than you do with just installing the correct size seat anyway.

If you are looking at the Pac Bay Minima seat then you have to know where the seat will set (sit, set, sat pick one) and order the one that fits your blank. The fixed hood is the end that you need to figure where it will set. The threaded end only comes in one size if I'm reading the information at Pac Bay right and that's 15.5mm ID. The fixed hood comes in 9.5mm to 15.5mm. I haven't installed one yet myself but just ordered this morning from MudHold all the fixings to do a minima seat and a split butt on a Batson/Rainshadow RX7 IP842.
Someone a couple of weeks ago wrote a post/reply on how to locate where to fix the split seat and how figure the split on the split butt. It went something along the lines of do this then do that and the seat and split butt with then be determined automatically. I searched for days on end for that post to no avail. Who ever posted it please direct me to it and I will be in your debt forever. Or at least until next week sometime.
Bob
PS if none of the stuff I ordered fits then it goes in the drawer with all the other stuff that didn't fit. Someday I'll buy a blank that fits all that stuff and build a nice rod.

I've used this in the past and it has worked great. This was a reccomendation for Batson reel seats.

When ordering the correct size, most casting reel seats
are mounted at about 10” from the rod butt, and the
blank tapers about .040” in the first 10”. Subtract .040”
from the butt size inch listed in the catalog. For
ordering purposes order one size up and one size down
to make a sure fit.
EXAMPLE: Rod butt size .493”
Subtract - .040
.453 = HK 610 C

I always have the seat fit about 2" above where it is going to rest. Then ream to fit . Reaming also scratches the inside of the seat for a better bond.

Bill - willierods.com

reaming can also cause the seat to scratch the finish on some blanks. you can end up with a a really ugly exposed section. just varies on the blank finish and how roughed up the inside of the seat is.

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never had that happen to me. I make them snug not real tight.

Bill - willierods.com

Alex, i had that happen with scratching too on a very nice St Croix.
Kind of annoying to say the least.
I now keep one of those gator Glass blanks that feel like sandpaper around as a sort of reamer. They taper from about 1/4 at the tip to almost an inch at the butt, after the reaming to fit i first run the seats over the gator Glass blank and that gets most burrs and pieces of grit out of the seats.
Its not rough enough to ream, but enough to move burrs if that makes sense.

If you used the glue on - grit - to make your reamers that is why. I make mine from the tape strips from Mud Hole. No grit to come off in a seat or handle.

Bill - willierods.com

Bill - that can happen with sandpaper reamers also. Trust me... some of these finishes aren't real durable when you start twisting a reel seat on and it's nothing more than a little snug.

Sure you can correct it by smoothing out the inside - but for someone learning, I;d like to save them the agony of screwing up a blank and having a ton of scratch marks.

I've had blanks scratch from something as simple as sliding the tip in the seat and letting the seat slide down the blank.

Just be aware of how rough it is inside that seat if you reamed it. And it's not grit coming off... it's from a rough surface on the inside of the seat after reaming.

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Never had a problem maybe just the way I do things ????

Bill - willierods.com