Greetings,

Thank you for a terrific forum! I branched off from fishing to rod building as a hobby a few years ago, and have to say it is quite addicting. Currently I'm working on a pair of ultralight spinning rods built on fly-rod blanks. I would like to try polyurethane arbors but have never worked with this material before.

Is it absolutely necessary to use the specialized pilot bit to get as close to my target I.D. as possible before reaming the rest of the way? I only need to enlarge the arbor from .250 to .325 and was wondering If I could simply use my reamer for the job, but am concerned about the hole being off-center. Any direction or insight is appreciated.

-chad

Reamer is fine. If you are concerned about being off center make the arbors at each end of the reel seat out of masking tape (to keep the seat centered). The graphite arbor will take care of the entire center area saving weight and epoxy. This method requires you to pre-glue the arbor to the blank rather than inside the reel seat (or you can glue everything at once).

The pilot bits are a nice time saver for me but I often have butt diameters approaching one inch.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

If you're already close, just move straight to a reamer. The key is to use a reamer that is a close fit and rotate the reamer in the bore. Twist it with a bit of downward force. Check for fit often and blow the debris out of the bore before test fitting on the blank. Any grit in there can scratch your blank.

If the reamer is so much smaller than you're using lengthwise strokes, it's too small and you could lose the concentricity of the bore.

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

Thanks guys for the detailed tips and suggestions, I'll be sure to keep them in mind as I go along.

-chad

Chad,
I will share a process that really helps to keep the hole centered for me in both the arbors, as well as cork rings, or the finished grip.
In no holding hand - i.e. the hand that I use to hold the arbor, ring, or grip, I wear a cloth glove. The glove protects my hand, it prevents from a defect or unknown sharp edge from cutting my hand, and it allows me to let the item slip in a controlled way as I am reaming.

When ever I ream, I use one of many different sized diameter circular tapered files. When ever using a file with a given spiral pattern on the file, I turn the file against the spiral. This direction allows me to force the spinning file into the object being reamed, without having to worry about the file screwing itself into the object and then splitting the object wide open.

-----------------------------
The process to keep the hole centered in the object, is to let the object slip partial rotations from time to time in my cloth glove covered hand. Since the object is slipping partial turns as the reaming is going on, the hole will remain centered.
If the hole is starting to go off center a bit, as soon as the object twists a bit, the centering is corrected. By doing this continuously through the process on a limited basis, the hole in the object stays well centered.

-------------------------
I have taken all of the circular files and have ground a point on each of the files. This lets me start a somewhat larger file into an object with a bit smaller hole at the beginning of the process.
Then, on the handle end of the file, I cut the triangular handle nib that is part of the original file.
Then, I chuck the file into my lathe chuck leaving only a few inches of the large end of the file protruding from the end of the lathe chuck. Then, while spinning the file, I use a centerless grinder to flat grind the end of the handle for a perfectly circular centered end on the file that is long enough to allow entry and secure fastening into a variable speed drill. I use the variable speed drill to hold the file/s when reaming.

I have 5 various sized files that allow me to cover the entire gamut of rod blanks that I use in the production of rods.

Be safe

Roger, appreciate you sharing your methods on reaming. I suppose one could also cut the screwdriver-like handle off those circular files with an inch or so of smooth surface at the handle end, then chuck said end into a drill for reaming?

The reamer section of my little workshop holds only a few reamers with belt sander abrasive, some files, and a jig I made for my drill to shape cork handles. Would love to own a wood working lathe with all the goodies one day, but for now I'm content with watching you pros show us how it's done.

-chad

roger wilson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> -------------------------
> I have taken all of the circular files and have
> ground a point on each of the files. This lets me
> start a somewhat larger file into an object with a
> bit smaller hole at the beginning of the process.
>
> Then, on the handle end of the file, I cut the
> triangular handle nib that is part of the original
> file.
> Then, I chuck the file into my lathe chuck leaving
> only a few inches of the large end of the file
> protruding from the end of the lathe chuck. Then,
> while spinning the file, I use a centerless
> grinder to flat grind the end of the handle for a
> perfectly circular centered end on the file that
> is long enough to allow entry and secure fastening
> into a variable speed drill. I use the variable
> speed drill to hold the file/s when reaming.
>


Roger, from what you are describing are you working with machine files that need to be reworked to use in a drill, is that correct?

If you purchased a set of cork reamers they are already set to be used in a drill.

Just wanting to clear this up before someone thinks they need to starting up their cork reamers.

Chester

May your line be tight and your beverages be cold!

Chester,
Yes.
The reason that I use files is that once a file is purchased, it never has to be replaced again. The file does not get dull, nor does it need to be replaced or reworked, once it is set up to be used for reaming. This is of course when the file is used for reaming the typical products used for rod handles and arbors.

By the way, if you want to use circular files in your drill for reaming, but don't have suitable tooling to clean up the ends of the file, just take your file/s to any machine shop and they can prep the files for you in a few minutes.

Be safe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2013 08:57AM by roger wilson.

That is what I thought, I just wanted to make others aware the differences in case they didn't pick-up on that.

Thanks for sharing your ingenuity with all.

Chester

May your line be tight and your beverages be cold!

Chad, if you haven't worked much with the foam arbors in the past, just be aware that any of the methods described will remove material very quickly. Reamers work great and if you can get a couple in small to progressively larger sizes, it will help keep the hold centered. Use the up and down strokes with a little twist to remove material. Check size often.

Terry

For a newbie working with these arbors, Terry has it right. Material is removed very fast. Another way to enlarge the hole in these is to use regular drill bits in your hands. Find the next larger drill bit from the existing hole and carefully work it through the bore. Then the next, then the next, until you get the size you want. This isn't a good "production" method, but works fine for us hobby builders where every rod is a new design. You might be interested in this on shims: [clients.criticalimpact.com]

I do it entirely different:
I only build fly rods. I epoxy the arbor, seat and cork grip and fighting butt - in that order - directly onto the blank. Then it is turned in the lathe as one. So it is important that everything is concentric to the blank.
It is best to cut the arbor into 4 pieces - ream and fit each piece separately. Then epoxy the 4 pieces onto the blank. When the epoxy cures the arbor is spirally wrapped either with size D thread or fly reel backing - depending on the clearance. Sometimes no shimming is needed. Then the seat is epoxied onto the arbor. The seat is always concentric to the blank and makes for a neat job.
Much more accurate than gluing arbor to seat then reaming.
I posted some pictures in the reel seat section to show just how thin and accurate one can ream a foam arbor.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Herb[www.rodbuilding.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2013 07:55PM by Herb Ladenheim.

Thanks all for the excellent information and food for thought!

Roger and Chester thanks for clarifying. Yes I have some dream reamers where the handle unscrews for use in a drill. I was referring to those circular metal files that are cylindrical all the way to the handle, but yes a machine shop would probably be best for someone like me who has no specialized tools.

Terry and Michael, appreciate the head ups regarding ream-ability (for lack of a better word) of the polyurethane arbors. That was another of my concerns having worked with only cork and EVA. The article on shims and ramps was an interesting read.

Herb, great explanation on your methods! How are you cutting your arbors? The polyurethane material looks a bit fragile and I dont have a mini chop-saw. Will a dremel with cut-off wheel work? I'd think for the best cut some sort of jig would have to be made to keep the arbor in place while cutting.

Chad,
Cutting arbor is easiest part of job.
Put pencil marks where you want to cut arbor.
Insert arbor into reel seat.
Poke it out of seat until pencil mark just showing out of seat.
Place serrated knife on mark and "roll" arbor inside seat using edge of seat as guide for knife. Just score the arbor - don't cut it through. Then snap it off at score using edge of seat as leverage.
Repeat with other 3 cuts.

It is important to ream - by hand - not flexcoat bit.

If you want to proceed with this - email me for method to get a perfectly concentric hole. DO NOT USE DREAM REAMERS FOR THIS JOB since the groves are much too large..
Herb

I prep the inside of the seat Glue the full arbor into the seat and when dry Next Day I ream it to fit the blank

If you use a drill with the reamer ( be carefull ) they cut FAST

Bill - willierods.com