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mangrovejack
6th Jun 2006, 01:42 PM
Hi,

I have a question for you. I'm building a fishing rod at the moment and due to the size of the butt area, I have a fishing reel seat with an internal diameter of about 34mm. The largest seat I can get is 32mm. There is plenty of aluminium to bore out (I think its at least 3mm thick the tubing used to make the aluminium reel seat).

My question is, would it be possible to increase the internal diameter of the reel seata by about 2mm? If so how would this be done? I don't have any mills, lathes, CNC machines etc, so I'd most likely have to take it to a shop to do.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to where I should get this work done? (I'm in Brisbane). And most importantly, how much would I be charged for this? (I'll be needing two of them done).

Thanks.

PS, This is the reel seat I'll be getting: http://www.therodworks.com.au/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=3642&category_id=236&option=com_phpshop&Itemid=1

And if you look at this photo you can see the wall thickness: http://www.therodworks.com.au/components/com_phpshop/shop_image/product/45cc07b51b9913cf8d5f75d65611edf4.jpg

Schtoo
7th Jun 2006, 02:34 AM
Bicycle shop.

Not kidding.

Any decent bike shop worth their salt should have a large adjustable reamer that should (might?) be able to ream that out to a good fit.

As an example, the seat 'hole' on my bike is 31.2mm, the post is 31.8mm. 5 minutes with the reamer and everything is perfect.

No guarantee that they will have it as big as you need it, but it's the first thought that came to mind.

I gotta wonder though, why does the rod not fit the seat? I woulda thunk that it should fit, simply because that's where it's supposed to live.

mangrovejack
7th Jun 2006, 08:38 AM
Thanks for the reply Schtoo, I appreciate it.

I never would have thought a bike shop. I'll give that a try. Do you know how much they can ream? I measured it properly and I think I only need about 33mm ID, therefore only need to take out 1mm max. I assume that it would take multiple passes with the reamer to get the job done. Do you know how much they charge for this?

The reason the seat doesn't fit is that the rod blank I'm using has a fairly large diameter for a fishing rod and not many manufacturers make a reel seat in that large a size. This rod will be built for an alvey reel to be used in the surf, so the reel seat is mounted fairly low on the blank, which is where the problem starts (if I made the rod to use a standard egg-beater or spinning reel, I wouldn't have had this problem because the reel seat is a lot higher up on the blank).

mangrovejack
7th Jun 2006, 09:56 AM
Would an engine reconditioning shop be able to do this you think? It may be cheaper also? If so, anyone have recommendations for a brisbane (preferably south side) shop that can do this?

Fossil
7th Jun 2006, 10:52 AM
You may as well just go anywhere that can chuck it in a lathe. One pass with a sharp boring bar and it is done.

If you want to send it to me clearly marked up with exactly what you want, I'll do it for post cost only.

Schtoo
8th Jun 2006, 01:25 AM
True, it would be easier to throw it in a lathe, but try finding one when you need it. ;)

Jack, I'd take Fossil there up on his offer. No mess, no fuss and you get what you want without any fooling around.

An engine reco shop might be able to do it, especially if they have a lathe in house. Not all/many do these days as they farm out any machining work they need done.

How much at a bike shop? I have no idea, but they shouldn't charge you very much if you go that route. Might cost you a pizza or or some beer or something like that. But ask first how much they want for it. Goes for anywhere really.
Pretty hard to write up a receipt for this kinda thing. ;)

HammaHed
20th Nov 2009, 02:43 AM
Easy and fast way... lathe - decent metal working bench lathe is a worthwhile investment.

Reamer / big drill / boring bar / lathe at engineers shop.

0.5mm radius increase in ID.....not HUGE removal = careful filing and or scraping.

Use wood drill on low speed ?

Triangular files can be "tip ground" into low or tight radius to make (bearing) scrapers.