I'm building a bass casting rod and the components that I'm having a problem with are the Fuji, TCSD Deluxe Trigger Reel Seat #16 and the FSG-387 Rear Split Grip. When I glued them up there is a mismatch between the reel seat and the cork. In other words, they are not flush with one another. When I dry fit the two, I rotated them individually until there was a pretty good match between the two and I was pretty happy with the transition between the cork and the reel seat. If you moved your finger over the two there was hardly any difference and certainly nothing I couldn't live with. After I glued them up there is now a more pronounced mismatch. I figured that I would gently push the cork around so the two were flush but there was absolutely no "give" to the cork. How do you overcome this issue? Should I have cut off the tenon on the cork? Also, I'm using a #16 polyurethane arbor with the reel seat if that enters into the equation. Also, this issue is not a matter of sanding. In some spots it is the reel seat that protrudes out from the cork. There really aren't any spots where the cork is higher than the reel seat.

Did you try a dry fit of part before gluing them up. That tenion is suppose to slip inside the reelseat, but after looking at a picture of the cork, it does look a little longer than what I make my tennions on handles to slip inside the reelseat. I guess I am not sure what you mean exactly by mismatch between the parts. Any way to post a picture of it?

So, you dry fit, teh cork was thicker then the edge of teh seat. Installed, teh cork shrunk and is smaller than the seat? Uhm....does teh cork grip you are using have 2 tenons on each end? Is it possible, that if it does you installed teh grip "upside down"?

just a guess. did you test fit before or after you reamed the grip and arbor or after. If after could be your grip and or arbor were reamed off center. ricky

Thanks for the replies thus far.
1. It is somewhat difficult to describe but when you stand back and look at the rod everything looks fine. The cork pushes up agains the reel seat and all is well. When you get closer however, you can see that in some spots the cork is perfectly level with the reel seat and in other spots the reel seat is not flush with the cork. If you take your finger and go back and forth over the cork and the reel seat there is a small "bump up" as the finger moves from the cork to the reel seat.
2. the cork has only one tenon and that is why I included its nomenclature in my original post, so there is no misunderstanding about the cork that I'm using. Thanks again.

Ricky,
Come to think of it, I did dry fit **before** I put the arbor in.
But still, I'm wondering, how else would I do it? I can't ream both the cork and reel seat at the same time, can I?

So the diameter of the cork does not match with the diameter of the reelseat is what you are saying? WIth using premade grips, the cork does not always fit up perfectly with reelseat.

Mike, yes, and I should have stated it as plainly as you just did.
The diameter of the reel seat does not match the diameter of the cork but during dry fit it seemed to be "close." After glue up there are spots that are obvious and I was wondering why the difference between pre and post glue up.
Your second sentence may tell the whole story: "using premade grips, the cork does not always fit up perfectly with reelseat."

Charles,
Your situation is not too unique when working with a product like cork that is a natural product that can swell or shrink slightly as a function of heat, humidity and other factors.

I expect that the maker of the grips is given a specification to meet that specifies a certain finished dimension that is essentially the same as the finished size of the reel seat.

But, depending on the particular grip, the grip may have been exactly the same size, a touch larger, or a touch smaller - especially after being stored in a ware house for different lengths of time and shipped from where it was made to a distributor, to a retail shop to you.

Then, the reel seat itself may have some small variation in it as well.

So, as the words imply, it is up to the Custom builder to insure the fit of all components on a Custom rod, before doing final delivery of the product to the client or to ones self as the builder.

In most instances, it is nice to get the grip a bit on the large size. That way, if the grip is a bit large, one can always do some final sanding to get the perfect match that you write about.

Or, even better, you can buy larger cork rings, glue the rings together and then use a lathe or similar device to shape the grip to the grip that you desire.

I expect that you did an excellent job with the products that you were given. Here is where it is very important to you as the builder to pre measure and pre shape every component to meet your particular needs - BEFORE- doing any gluing on the final product.

If you don't already have one, pick up a good caliper for measuring items. You should measure the diameter of the finished reel seat. You should measure the end of the cork grip, and generally want it to be just a touch larger before you start your glue up of components. The reason that I suggest that you have it a touch larger than the reel seat, is exactly what you have experienced. i.e. due to any number of reasons from being slightly off center in the arbor, the reel seat, or the grip, you may have perfect alignment on one side of the grip but not be in perfect alignment on the other side. But, if the grip is a touch larger, you can always knock off the high spots on a grip with sandpaper to get the perfect custom grip that you as well as most builders strive to obtain.

Summary - obtain or make your grips slightly oversize, so that when it comes to the final fit and feel of the rod, you can custom shape your grip and reel seat to the final fit and finish that you desire.

Good building.

Roger

Charles,

If I recall, the butt end of the TCS isn't vertical, it has an angle to it. During the dry fit, if things aren't a pretty snug fit, some of the issues can be masked, particularly if you use an arbor material that has a little give to it. When mounted with cork, the bottom section near the trigger stuck out just a bit from the cork, while the rest of the seat matched up with the grip. Being on a little panfish rod that I keep around for kids, I didn't fuss over it much, but used it as a lesson to use different seats in the future.

Joe

Charles, did you dry fit the grip and reelseat to check if it was still good after you reamed it or just glue it on.

Ricky,
Here's what I did in order.

1. While holding in hands, dry fit cork and reel seat. It looked and felt good.
2. Glued arbor in real seat.
3. While holding in hands, dry fit cork and reel seat. The reel seat now contains arbor. The dry fit looked and felt good.
4. Dry fit everything on blank. This is where is started looking "less good." It was flush in some areas and not flush in other areas.
5. Glued everything up. Now the diameter mismatches are apparent to any rodbuilder inspecting my work.

For some reason, I feel that you may have created an air pocket and it may have caused the grip to move slightly while in the drying process

Ron Weber

Next time

Ream and test fit the cork
Put the arbor in the seat mark where it will sit on the blank Ream and test fit

turn each for the best fit Do any sanding and or cutting to make SURE they fit mark with tape so they aline when glued

Now if you are saying there are gaps in between the cork and seat Either replace the Cork from the butt Unless you can get the seat off with a little heat- if you can loosen the seat Reshape the cork refit the seat - reglue

Bill - willierods.com

SOunds like the cork grip was not bored out perfectly coencentric. THat's why it fit on a dry run, but when you glued it up it was off. So the cork was perfectly concentric to teh reel seat, teh arbor & seat were concentric to teh blank but the grip was not (or maybe oyu didn't ream the seat arbor perfectly - tha twould cause it to be off.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2011 02:36PM by Billy Vivona.

I agree with billy either the grip or the arbor maybe a little of both were not concentric. It does not take much to make things not fit right. (I know i have been there more than once) ricky

Guess I didn't intrepret the problem while reading, I assumed it had a gap between the seat and cork.