Quick question,

I have a fly seat that a size 16 arbor fits into without needing to shave anything off the diameter. It’s just barely small enough that if I dropped it into the reel seat it would fall out the other end. A size 17 is too big so I would need to shave it down. The problem for me is I always have trouble evenly shaving down those arbors perfectly so sometimes one end of the arbor is super snug in the seat where as another end might be too small and not snug at all.

With a fit as described above with a size 16 arbor, would any of you just roll with that? I have no doubt that epoxy would fill whatever gap is causing it to not be a tight snug fit. I can’t even see gaps when it’s in the seat resting on a table. Should I arbor the arbor with something to make it tighter?

Al,
That is entirely normal.
What to do:

Spiral wind a size C or D thread wrapping thread twice (back and forth) over the arbor.

If it's not snug enough - use fly line backing with one spiral. Two if not snug enough.
BTW - best if you epoxy the arbor onto the blank first.
If it's one piece - cut it into 4 equal pieces. Reaming is much more accurate vis-a-vis blanks taper that way.
Then do the thread thing.
Contact me if you have questions or concerns.
Herb
CTS Rep

The reason that nearly all such arbors are supplied about 1/2mm undersize is so less than perfect reaming to the blank won't affect getting the seat on. If you use a good gel type epoxy you'll be fine.

..........

To get the BEST concentric fit - best to ream the arbor in 4 pieces.
If you don't get concentricity - the ported cork grip - if it's pre-made or made on an arbor - will not fit correctly.
Herb

Can't remember, is Rod Bond a gel or a paste?

Folks mount reel seats without an arbor by rolling layers of dry wall or masking tape on to the blank to fit the reel seat.

Treat the arbor as a blank and wrap the the ends and center of the arbor with wry wall or masking tape to fit the reel seat, in this case 2 or 3 turns may be sufficient.

At this point you can bond the arbor to the reel seat and then fit the reel seat to the blank, OR you can fit and bond the arbor to the blank and then fit the reel seat over the taped arbor..

Wrapping the arbor with thread mentioned by Herb is another good option.

Any of the mentioned options will work fine. Choose what ever method is most comfortable for you.

Have fun

Lohn

Rod Bond is a gel. The Paste types are PC7 etc. Very thick and sticky. Not really much good for rod building purposes.

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

Al,
Don't over think this issue.

The solution is quick, trivial and works very very well.

Whenever using a foam arbor, I always have the arbor fit perfectly.

Sometimes a size 16 arbor fits nicely into a size 16 reel seat. Same is true for a 17 fitting a size 17 reel seat, etc.

However, if the fit is loose, no need to use tape, thread or any other esoteric method for a nice fit.

Rather, just simply use a larger arbor. It may be a little larger or a lot larger.

Then, simply take a variable speed drill that is reversible. Then, take a tapered file to simply screw into the arbor. If you wish, you can use a tapered spinning file turning backwards that is smaller than the rod blank to enlarge the hole in the arbor enough to have a nice fitting file to fit tightly into the arbor center hole.

Once, this is set, simply hold the spinning arbor against a stationary or a spinning piece of sand paper in the form of a belt or disk sander. I use my 42 inch long 1 inch side belt sander with fairly fine grit paper on it like 150 or 220 grit paper. Have the arbor spinning in the direction opposite from the movement of the belt sander. The process only takes a few seconds to perfectly size the arbor. Use a light tough and have the reel seat handy to frequently check the fit. Stop before you sand too far.

I will then, use 5 minute epoxy to glue the arbor into the reel seat and do the final reaming of the inside of the arbor to fit the rod blank at its mounting position on the rod blank. Arbors are inexpensive, so keep a bag handy and if you happen to make a mistake, put it into the mistake bag to possibly use on a reel seat that is smaller than the one you are then currently doing.

This is a picture of the circular files that I have accumulate and modified to fit into a drill and have also sharpened the tip to allow the file to effectively drill into a soft material like cork or foam to use when shaping an arbor for example:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

This picture illustrates the 1x30 inch belt sander that I use to prep guides - as shown - but also works very well to shape and reduce the size of an oversized foam arbor.:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

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If you don't happen to have a file to use as a holder for the arbor when shaping one can use a drill bit that is sized to be a tight fit on the inside of the arbor. But, I will have the fit of the arbor over the drill bit, so that the arbor can be used with a tight fit on the non drill part of the bit, so that the shaping process does not get the arbor spinning on the cutting portion of the drill bit that would enlarge the center hole - that you don't want to do at this stage of the build.

Best wishes

When the gap is not visible, you do not need to do do any further shimming. Epoxy like rod bond will adequately fill it and make a good bond.

Phil,
The odds are that the arbor will not be concentric to the seat unless you shim the seat/arbor with 4 toothpicks stuck in each end to keep the arbor centered.
Herb

As he states in the initial post it "barely fits, no visible gap!