Hey all, I have always used standard reel seats and tape or arbors to build up the blank. I want to use exposed blank seats on a few rods but none of them will fit exactly where I want them. Is it better to but the next size smaller and ream it to fit or, buy the next size bigger and tape it? Thanks in advance.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2023 12:31PM by Glenn Tucker.

Hello Glenn.

Given those choices I would go with smaller & ream, I don't like to use tape unless I have no other choices, like arbors and such.

Good Day.

Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

If you tape it there will be a gap showing all the time at the exposed area.

Might try carbon insert next time. They fit great and look nice too.

Thanks for the advice. I didn't want to use tape for that very reason but, I didn't know if reaming would substantially weaken the seat.

Which exposed blank reel are you planning on using? Some are really not exposed blank seats since they require a reel seat insert. For reel seats like the Fuji ECS or ACS I will use one slightly smaller and ream to fit. They ream fairly easily.
Norm

I'm using the Fuji ACSM. I have seen the seats with the inserts but wasn't sure how to size them. Do I just ream the insert to fit the rod and then slide the seat over it?

Depends, a 10 mm seat has lots of material to ream, a 15 mm seat has very little, they are dimensionally identical except for the hole you get when you buy them. However, some seats have ribbing in the threaded area so you don't need and arbor to reinforce this area while some are a 15 mm hollow tube that should be arbored to reinforce them from crushing when nut is tightened on your reel foot.

The ACS seats are pretty easy to use, they are sized throughout their length. So size it slightly smaller than the blank diameter where you want it and ream to fit. The ECS reel seat is sized in the rear half of the seat, so you need to shim the front half of seat. I usually do this by glueing a polyurethane foam arbor into the front half of the seat and then ream to fit the blank.
For reel seats requiring an insert, the installation procedure is different. Most of these type of seats have either an ID of 15 mm or 17mm through out their length to fit the OD of the reel seat insert. Some inserts are built on a foam core, and can be reamed to fit the blank, other are not and need to be arbored or shimmed to fit the blank. For some of these insert requiring reel seats the insert fits into the back half of the reel seat and the front half is sized to fit the blank. So there are some different variables involved depending on the brand of the reel seat. Because reel seat inserts are fairly expensive, I cut them in half and use them only in the rear half where they are needed, and arbor the front half. This allows me to use one insert for two reel seats.
Norm

Thanks very much for the info.

The only time I have needed to ream an ECS reel seat is when I do not have the right size on hand. I think RodBond or similar is enough to fill any gap i since they come in every .5mm size option.

I hadn't even thought of that. I was thin king that they had to fit snug and it never really crossed my mind just to fill the gap with epoxy. If that is ok I will just go that way. Thanks.

Depends on the size of the gap.
Norm

I will fill a gap below the threaded portion with an arbor if the gap is large, but for how the exposed blank portion fits the rod, you should not need to do anything. At least, if I am interpreting this right.