The original question was:" why don't reel seat manufacturers offer bushings that fit their seats??? "

There is no doubt that it can be difficult, if not seemingly impossible to ream a foam arbor concentrically. They just ream so darn easily. For me, other than wrapping the guides, it's the most time consuming part of a build.

I use a reamer that I made out of one of my old factory rods. I used a 1" wide, 150 grit sanding belt that I split down the middle, as the abrasive on it. The finer grit makes reaming slower, but not being as aggressive, aids in staying concentric. Also, since moving into my new house a few years ago, I came up with a little set up that makes it easier for me.

I have a small vise on one of the work benches in my basement. I drilled a 1 1/2" hole through the bench top under a portion of the vise's jaws. The hole is to allow the reamer to pass through it. With the arbor already epoxied into the reel seat, I chuck the seat up in the vise,as straight up and down as I can. Then I just stick the reamer in and pretty much let gravity and slight pressure provided by me, do its' thing, as I turn the reamer by hand. It's slow, but it works.

Personally I'd love to see them made out of a higher weight foam, as I am sure it would make it easier to stay concentric while reaming. The higher weight foam might also allow the arbors to me made with larger IDs, because it would add rigidity to the product. I know I would appreciate an arbor with a .375" ID. I bet they'd sell a lot of them.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2021 08:34AM by David Baylor.

Billy Vivona Wrote:
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> The original question was:" why don't reel seat
> manufacturers offer bushings that fit their
> seats??? "


And the answer remains the same - they are purposely undersized to allow the average builder to mount them and have enough margin for error so that the seat can still be easily slid into place over them. The closer the arbors fit the seat, the more critical the ID sizing and locating become.

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

99% of the foam arbors I use need shimming to fit the reel seat.
My method is to first ream the arbor. I cut it into 4 pieces and then ream each piece to fit snugly on the blank where I want it.
That way I am sure that the arbor is concentric to the blank.
Then I epoxy the arbor in place with epoxy.
Then' if needed - I spiral wrap either "C" wrapping thread or fly line backing to take-up the slack between the reel seats OD.
Sometimes a wrap has to go up and then back for a second overlapping wrap to get proper fit.
Then I epoxy the seat to the arbor.
Herb

I think if you're selling shims/arbors for use in reel seats they should fit nicely when being glued in. The CF insert tubes I mentioned above sell for $10 each as Fuji Perfect Fit Decorative Inserts. Which in this case they ain't/don't. I love Fuji stuff and will continue to use them, hoping they return to holding tolerances as they have in the past. The tubes need a thin tape arbor or two on the blank to keep them concentric, now I find they also need one or two on the outside to keep them concentric in the seat. This creates a pain in my butt! Also, having removed a few tape arbors from the old days, I never want to do that again. I can't imagine one ever failing unless it wasn't installed properly in the first place.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2021 07:04PM by Lynn Behler.

I believe the manufacturers make the arbors undersize so they will fit any brand or unbranded reel seat that may appear in the market place .

I get the next size larger arbor I drill a hole to the diameter of the of the smallest taper diameter of the blank.

I mount the arbor on a mandrel and machine the arbor for a snug fit in the reel seat. At this point it is easy to ream the arbor to fit the taper of the blank,because very little material has to be removed since one end of the arbor is at the same diameter as the blank.

Another way is to start with the next size larger arbor and fit and bond to blank, then with a lathe, power wrapper, drill motor or any other device sand the arbor to fit the reel seat.

Either way using an over size arbor and fitting it to a reel seat for me is better than starting with something undersize which requires shimming.

John

In cases where the arbor is a finished piece that is going to be seen, you're at the mercy of the manufacturer. But as far as the foam arbors are concerned, Mud Hole sells arbors from size 11 all the way up to size 30.

I'm with John. Making something smaller is a lot easier and a lot less time consuming than it is making it larger. For me it's a no brainer

Often the options to address problems depend on the equipment you have. As a hobby builder I do not have a lathe to turn arbors. I have come to like dry wall tape. A few issues have driven me to this determination. Reamers are typically tapered more aggressively than blanks. If gluing the arbors into the reel seat before reaming, the rear of the seat is often over reamed. I have had to add masking tape to get the rear of the seat to get a good fit. If gluing shorter arbors to the blank, they need to be reamed very carefully, not just to get the seat to fit, but to keep the seat aligned with the blank. I have one rod that the reel seat slide over the arbors fine, but it did not end up parallel with the blank. Dry wall tape can be a little messy, but I know my reel seat is concentric with the blank and it seems bullet proof to me.

Jeff

I have walked that road and share your observations.

When reading all the responses for various topics it is obvious that there are many approaches to complete a task, but the bottom line we all wind up at the same end point.

Thank you for your post it is very informative and provides much food for thought.

John

There are several reel seat manufacturers that use a reel seat with bendable interior fins that allow the same reel seat to nicely fit a large variety of rod blank diameters with no arbors needed. Check them out.