Ok I've built enough rods that I no longer consider me a beginner. Maybe a novice (are those synonyms?). Anyways, on every build I've done, one thing continually frustrates me. When I try to ream out a grip, the ends get sized before the middle. Then I get left trying to ream out the middle without letting the reamer touch the ends of the grip. This works, but is super tedious and frustrating. Are there any secret methods anyone has to help out with this? I have various sizes of blank pieces with grit epoxied on and I have the Alps power reamers that I can chuck in the drill.

This seems silly, but are you certain you've gotten all the cork dust out before dry fitting?

Are you frequently clearing the cork dust while reaming?

How fast are you running the drill or lathe when reaming?

How are you supporting the grip while reaming?

Are you giving the grip a 90 to 180 turn frequently while reaming?

Reamer tapers rarely perfectly match the blank in hand taper, so it's not uncommon for the butt or tip end to ream to size a bit before the other end.

Seems that the only way that could happen is if you reamed from both ends. The reamers are tapered, can't be smaller in the middle if you run the reamer all the way through from one end to the other.

Donald, I turn it constantly in my hand. I am reaming EVA, and it's to clear dust every 20 seconds or so. I'm running a cheap battery drill at full speed, which isn't very fast. I don't have an exact number. I am hand holdin, which is my best guess as to why this is happening. I guess another thing to mention is that (at least in this case) the reamer is well under the thickness of the blank (heavy offshore style). So it is not evenly contacting the circumference of the hole. Maybe there's just not a good way to do this with such a large blank.

best way to ream is to start with the right size foam and to not ream. COmmon sense, isn't aslways so common.

With EVA, it also has a great deal to do with where you hold the grip while reaming. The area in your hand will ream faster/greater due to pressure there, while unsupported areas tend to move away from the cutting surface of your reamer. With either cork or EVA, I highly recommend you use something like the Flex Coat reverse taper bits to get the bore close to the right size. It's faster and easier than reaming. On cork, you can then hand ream a tad to get things even closer, but do the bulk of the work with the cutting bits.

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

Randy,
After I got into large scale production, I decided that I needed to stream line and increase my production speed.
So, I now do the following.
I use a caliper to determine the size of the blank at the back of the butt and the caliper to determine the size of the blank at the front of the grip.
Then, I use a tapered circular steel file spinning backward to ream the back two inches of the blank to the correct size, and the same or a different file to ream the front two inches of the grip to the correct size.

Then, I use a series of various sizes of aircraft extension bits to drill out the remainder of the grip. i.e. I use the larger bits when drilling from the butt of the rod and smaller bits when drilling from the front of the grip.
Normally, I only have to use 1 or 2 different sized bits to accomplish this task.

I normally use 3 or 4 corded drills, each with a different file or bit in the drill to drill and or ream quickly without having to change bits. I typically spend about 2-3 minutes per grip to ream and drill out a grip to the correct size.

---
Also, you mentioned that your reamer is well under the thickness of the blank. Fix that issue.
You need reamer to be equal to or even larger than the blank that you are reaming so that you can quickly get to the correct size and still have a centered hole. If you are trying to keep a smaller reamer centered in a hole that you are trying to enlarge to a size larger than the reamer - you are having "an impossible dream".

Good luck

Billy Vivona Wrote:
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> best way to ream is to start with the right size
> foam and to not ream. COmmon sense, isn't aslways
> so common.


Billy always to the rescue with condescending advice. I emailed you to see if you had the billy blocks I wanted (this was a while back). Your reply was they aren't in stock and you don't know when they will be in stock. So I went with MudHole on their 24 inch round EVA. I got the largest size I could, but this is a heavy blank, and still required reaming. Plus the guy I'm building for likes the grain look of what I got. In any case being a dick isn't necessarily required. As we say in the Cobra community...technique, not procedure.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2017 11:45AM by Randy Weakley.

Tom Kirkman Wrote:
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> With EVA, it also has a great deal to do with
> where you hold the grip while reaming. The area in
> your hand will ream faster/greater due to pressure
> there, while unsupported areas tend to move away
> from the cutting surface of your reamer. With
> either cork or EVA, I highly recommend you use
> something like the Flex Coat reverse taper bits to
> get the bore close to the right size. It's faster
> and easier than reaming. On cork, you can then
> hand ream a tad to get things even closer, but do
> the bulk of the work with the cutting bits.
>
> ..............

Tom, thanks. I actually read about these, and then forgot about them. Isn't there an issue of RodMaker that teaches how to make your own?

The article for making reverse pilot bits i in RM 9 - 5, pg 18. They work very well on cork grips and less so on EVA because of its softness and tendency to stretch. You will need to shim the drill bit's stem to fit the existing hole in the grip. Use high speed and a slow draw, go to the halfway point in the grip then reverse to the other end . Helps to keep the bit from drifting, also let the grip turn in your hand from time to time to help keep things centered. Do not force it! Could use a reamer with a large diameter but is much easier with the appropriate sized reverse pilot bit.
Norm

what I have done in the past is to size the blank where the top of the grip will be and the bottom and work from the bottom first and top last if necessary and ream with power till they are free and not cutting and then place it on a flat surface and use a hollow rasp file from stanley same as the flat rasp ones like the cooks use for zesting fruit skins and roll it on the surface with my hand or a piece of 1/2 inch plywood pushing it all the way up to the rasp handle and pressing down and drawing it out and roll it a bit and push it back in clearing it as I go along it takes a bit of time but it keeps it concentric it s about 10 inches long and works the best for me and the grips fit well not to tight or loose but then again I have never had a blank that was more than 1 3/8 at the very butt of the blank and got it done in about 10 min or so doing it the way I described above.
not to tick you off but there trials and errors that you will have in building from time to time no one of us is that perfect to be able to just slap it together and it is perfect you read about the grips splitting once on the rod lol and other things like it tears out a section where it was to loose etc. We are to learn and teach as well.
here is a link as to what I tried to describe to you it is a life savor for reaming eva ,hapalon ,or foam cores
[www.walmart.com]
take care you will get it and it will all work out

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

Why don't you just use the largest ID EVA you can find and install l it using the rubber cement method? Why anyone would ream EVA is beyond me. You simply don't have to.

Grant Darby Wrote:
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> Why don't you just use the largest ID EVA you can
> find and install l it using the rubber cement
> method? Why anyone would ream EVA is beyond me.
> You simply don't have to.
You have a point there but after a few months or a year of hard use it will split and then you have to repair it and that is just a pain that can be avoided by taking the extra step of doing a little reaming. ROD BUILDING should never be rushed or a race to geter dun!!

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

Grant Darby Wrote:
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> Why don't you just use the largest ID EVA you can
> find and install l it using the rubber cement
> method? Why anyone would ream EVA is beyond me.
> You simply don't have to.

Once I had it down to within 12 inches of where it needed to be, I used rubber cement. Worked like a charm, and I don't have to worry about splitting like the previous post was talking about. I tried going completely without reaming once, and I had to really force it on there. It was about two feet from the bottom I think (it was a while ago). So I now like get it to within a foot or so of where it will rest before lubing and gluing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2017 01:26AM by Randy Weakley.

reaming with a rat tale file , if you want to in large the center of the grip an not the other parts you can use shrink wrap tubing ,
[ electric cable type] to cover part of the file so it don't touch the grip as you ream a little "" fen nest "" will do a lot for you ,
PS this will work for most rod type reamers GO SLOW AS IT IS EASY ER to take off than put back on ,
most electronic supply shops, stock a lot of sizes, an thickness, then cut off after the job is complete, no mess

William Sidney
AK

reaming with a rat tale file , if you want to in large the center of the grip an not the other parts you can use shrink wrap tubing ,
[ electric cable type] to cover part of the file so it don't touch the grip as you ream a little "" fen nest "" will do a lot for you ,
PS this will work for most rod type reamers GO SLOW AS IT IS EASY ER to take off than put back on ,
most electronic supply shops, stock a lot of sizes, an thickness, then cut off after the job is complete, no mess

William Sidney
AK

Norman Miller Wrote:
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> The article for making reverse pilot bits i in RM
> 9 - 5, pg 18. They work very well on cork grips
> and less so on EVA because of its softness and
> tendency to stretch. You will need to shim the
> drill bit's stem to fit the existing hole in the
> grip. Use high speed and a slow draw, go to the
> halfway point in the grip then reverse to the
> other end . Helps to keep the bit from drifting,
> also let the grip turn in your hand from time to
> time to help keep things centered. Do not force
> it! Could use a reamer with a large diameter but
> is much easier with the appropriate sized reverse
> pilot bit.
> Norm


Norman is right about them not working as well in EVA due to the stretch of the material. But if you upsize the bit by one over your intended ID, it will end up at about the right place.

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

It has been over 5 years since my last build due to having to go through back operations, but the last 4 Spey rods that I built, I used those reverse pilot bits in different sizes to do the foregrips and they worked awesome! I would put a couple of heat shrink tubes over the grip and then mark the shaft with tape so I would know how far to pull each size through. Then I would do a quick clean up to get a smooth taper with some sand paper on a blank. Saved me a bunch of time and they never chipped the cork. Mud hole puts them out now but back then they were made by a smaller company. Hope this helps you out.

The rubber cement trick has been used for years without failure, I've used it for several years without failure, on well used off shore rods. This is a method that works and works well. Like every other step in the brain surgery world of rodbuilding, someone (JT!) came up with a great time and effort saving idea. It works and works well, but don't use it if don't want to.