I was all excited to finally start assembling the handle of my NFC 703. I am using a full handle as opposed to a split grip. I was assuming that the procedure was straight forward....send the reamed cork handle to its final position at the bottom of the blank after having marked where the barrel of the reel seat will span and rolling two or three tape arbors in strategic places for it to slip over. Naively, I did just that.

The problem is, the cork handle will not slide over the appropriate sized tape arbors. After reaming the cork to fit the blank, there isn't very much meat left on the cork. A little too much pressure here or there is going to end in disaster, so I have resisted. But without further reaming of the handle, it is not going to slip over the tape arbors. If it doesn't slip over the arbors, it cannot find its proper place at the bottom of the blank, and without those arbors, you cannot properly fit the reel seat.

How the heck is this supposed to work? I must be missing something obvious.

I think you have 2 options.

1. Slightly over ream the cork so that it slides past its landing spot. Add the arbors and then slide things into place from the front and rear. (Definitely use a long cure epoxy, Rod Bond or something with an hour or two cure time.)

2. Install the cork. Install a foam arbor in the seat and ream to fit its final destination.

I would probably go with option 2.

For most cork handles, the handle is reamed to fit the blank, and then slid into place after applying epoxy to the blank. The reel seat arbors are then applied and then the reel seat slid over the arbors. However, Due to the shape of the VSS handle, it is difficult, if not next to impossible, to wrap tape arbors to the blank or even use foam arbors, What I do is to epoxy polyurethane foam arbors into the reel seat itself. Once the epoxy has cured then ream the reel seat to fit the blank. Once reamed the VSS seat will slide into place with no problem. Make sure to sparingly coat the mating surfaces of the handle and reel seat with epoxy; don’t use a lot of epoxy. For most VSS and IPS based grips. I ream both the handle and the reel seat to dry fit the blank. I will then glue the handle and reel seat together, and after curing, then glue the whole handle unit to the blank. By gluing the foam arbors inside the reel you don’t have to worry about splitting the foam arbors. The foam arbors are very easy to ream, so be careful not to over ream. Be sure to clean up any epoxy that oozes out between the reel seat and the cork, If needed you can use a tie wrap or folded over rubber bands to hold the overlapping grip and reel seat together. Hope this helps. If not clear let me know,
Norm

Thanks guys. Now I don't feel so dumb. :-)

I am assuming that the foam arbors that you refer to are commonly available. Yes?

Yes they are quite common. Can get them at most of the dealers.
[www.mudhole.com]
Norm

Ok, so after reading this post, I can say Im happy I havent tried using VSS seats yet. It seems to be a pain to install the seats...

I don't think it to be a pain at all unless I am not understanding correctly. Ream the bottom cork to fit the area it will be glued to and glue it. Then work upward from there. Prepare the blank to fit the reel seat and at the same time prepare the top cork to fit the area it will be glued to. Then I epoxy the area of the reel seat and fix it to the blank and also the frond cork and epoxy it and let dry. I usually do the bottom cork and let it dry so I can apply pressure and get the reel seat and frond cork tight to each other. I just did a Fuji seat last night.

No more difficult than any other type handle, just a slightly different way of putting it together. Both the VSS and IPS grips are quite comfortable.
Norm

Sorry Ernie, I just looked up the handle kit you were talking about. I would still do it in sections. Put the cork on fitting it good. As I said, I always like the bottom section dry to I have a base or some leverage to get things snug and fit perfectly. Then I would put the reel seat in. It looks like you it would be easy to epoxy the areas needed for a proper, good fit even with the cork in place first. I don't see a big difference in the VSS vs the split grip as far as application goes. I hate taping blanks to fit cork. I like to go slow in reaming and have a perfect fit without up with tape or other. For seats I use arbors as some others have mentioned.

Ernie

Don't worry. You will like the final product. The VSS handles are very nice.....especially if the hidden thread foregrips are used.

Rog

OK...just got home from work.

I would think that anyone who has put this reel seat / cork handle on a blank before knows what I am talking about. If it were a split grip, you would first determine where you would want to put the fore grip....the reel seat and the corresponding cork. Assuming you had marked the spot for this on the blank, you would then set out to ream the cork so that it would fit nicely around the blank AT THAT POSITION. Now....the reel seat rides down the blank and needs to mate with the cork the way THIS reel seat mates with the cork. The barrel of the reel seat is 4 and 3/4 inches long. Two of those inches at the butt end fit INSIDE the cork, and over the blank. Some type of arbor needs to be in place for those two inches of the reel seat so it sits properly. If you wanted to make tape arbors, you would have two choices....mark your spots and place the tape arbors on the blank, and then try to slide the cork from the top down the blank and OVER THE TAPE, so that the cork is in its rightful premarked spot on the blank. If you could do this, the tape arbor(s) are now sitting INSIDE the top two inches of the cork, practically touching the sides of the cork. The small space between the tape and the cork will be filled by the barrel of the reel seat when you slide it in over the tape arbors, and come to a stop when the seat meets it s mating surface with the cork.

The problem is, you CANNOT slide the cork handle over the preplaced cork arbors if it is reamed properly. If you reamed it enough to slide over the arbors, it wouldn't even be close to a proper fit. The other option would be to over ream the cork in the first place so it travels two inches or so further than it will sit when the job is done, roll your arbors for the reel seat, then push the handle up the blank and into its proper place over the arbors. This once again makes for a terrible fit of the cork to the blank. And I am using a full length handle...not a split grip. My options are limited.

The best suggestion was to glue arbors inside the reel seat barrel, then ream the reel seat to fit the blank at its intended position. But here's the problem. The " 16 " Fuji VSS reel seat does not have an ID of 16mm, it has an ID of 13mm! Apparently nobody, including Fuji, makes arbors for anything with an ID of 13mm! So far I'm really loving this reel seat. I'm about to give it a burial at sea.

Just take a size 16 foam arbor and turn it down. If you don't have a lathe, screw the arbor on to a piece of 1/4" threaded rod. You can get it at most hardware stores. The hole in the arbor is usually 1/4". Chuck the threaded rod into you cordless drill, and carefully sand the arbor while turning using a piece of sand paper (about 150 grit or so) attached to a flat piece of wood. Sands extremely easy and quick, so check for fit often. It's not that difficult to do and only takes a couple of minutes at the most. They do made arbors smaller than 16 but they are difficult to find because of low demand. I haven't used the 16 VSS in a while, I mainly use the 17 VSS (ID 17), or the 16/15 VSS (ID 15) if I want something smaller. I do use a lot of the 16 IPS seat, it has an ID of 16. Hope this helps.
Norm

[www.mudhole.com]

The 14 mm should work. The arbors tend to come in slightly under the stated diameter. If not a light sanding will get the job done.

Edit: I see they may be out at Mud Hole. Those arbors are a PacBay product so another vendor may have them. Utmost Enterprises carries a lot of PacBay items and may be worth a call.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2021 10:42PM by Joe Vanfossen.

I’m no expert, but I have done several of these (my favorite). Ream cork to fit, as usual (no arbors). Slide into place. Build two tape arbors for the reel seat (these will be outside the cork, towards the front). Now, slide the cork up a few inches (stopped by the arbors) and epoxy the blank where the cork handle was. Slide the cork back down to its eventual position. Slather up the rest of the reel seat area and arbors with epoxy, you will have to turn the cork to get all the way around the blank. Be generous, the excess will settle in the lower part of the inside of the reel seat (once slid in place) and harden to form an arbor for the lower part. The cork will center the lower part of the reel seat(while epoxy sets), the arbors will center the top part.

This is for a split grip. I guess a full handle would have to have the cork epoxied first, and the rest done quickly before the epoxy under the cork sets. Maybe enough epoxy can be put under the lip part of the cork without turning the cork, but I have always just spun the cork.