I was wondering if there are other methods that members use other than wood or metal lathes to turn wooden reel seat inserts? Another website describes using a router table with a straight bit in conjunction with a threaded rod and patio door wheels with the wood blank in the center. Has anybody successfully tried this approach? I have a router, table saw, drill press and various other woodworking tools, but not a lathe. It just doesn’t seem cost effective for me to purchase a lathe, chucks, turning tools etc. at an expense of approximately $400 to turn an occasional cork grip and wooden insert. Thanks in advance.
Never used this for a reel seat, but have used it for furniture projects–
Use a round-over router bit on each of the 4 corners of your long piece of square stock. If the result is not perfect, thread a screw into the center, spin it in a drill press, and use a sanding block to make it perfectly round.
DAN
Or buy one from REC?
LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL
Various rod componet sellers have stands for your drill that will effectively turn it in to a lathe. I think the sert up costs between 50 and 100 bucks.
That being said, I understand your thinking on the expense of a lathe, but now that I have one, I wonder why it took me so long to dive in. The initial expense is rough, but I think it’s money well spent. You don’t have to start off with an expensive chuck and tools. The big tool clearing houses have cheap stuff that will get you started, and serve you well.
Swamp
The only problem with using a drill motor for a lathe is that they usually lack torque. they will do just fine if you want to do a lot of sanding to achieve the finished product. If you make your own inserts, be sure to really do a good job in finishing them…inside and out. Otherwise when they get wet you may have a little swelling on your hands that make removal of the reel difficult sometimes.
A drill motor works fine for turning cork grips. Here’s the setup I use [url=http://www.peninsulaflyfishers.org/Tackle/cork_lathe/cork_lathe.html:6de94]http://www.peninsulaflyfishers.org/Tackle/cork_lathe/cork_lathe.html[/url:6de94]
Once everything is chucked up I can do a cork grip in about 15 minutes.
Mike
Mike,
Where do you find the “rod ends”, what section of the hardware store?
Complete instructions for using the drill instead of a lathe are here: [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/begin/graphite/part5.html:9d128]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/begin/graphite/part5.html[/url:9d128]
LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL
If it’s only an occasional seat or grip why not just ask one of the members on this board to do it for you. When I make a seat for a rod I usually make a few extra just because I’ve got everything set up. If you have a special piece of wood I’m sure it could be turned into a seat with minimal work etc.
taoski, the “rod ends” Mike is using are tie rod ends. You can find them(or something else that’ll work) in the same section of the hardware store as the bearings and such. Or any auto parts store will have them if the hardware store doesn’t.
Is anyone actually using a drill motor to make reel seats? I know many people use them for grips but turning cork is a lot easier than turning a hardwood reel seat. that would take one heck of a lot of sanding because I dont think you would have enough torque to cut or machine with a drill motor.
I am going to try the router method that is mentioned on other websites whenever there is some free time from work and family obligations. It only requires me to purchase a threaded rod and some small wheels at an expense of less than five dollars. Also, I contacted a company that sells a drill press lathe for approximately $28 shipped, and they said it would be able to be utilized to turn a reel seat insert without any problem.
I attempted to turn a reel seat utilizing the router method, but the results were less than satisfactory. It ultimately ended up being a waste of my time. I purchased a rather informative instructional DVD called The Wood Lathe in Rodbulding that explains how to turn a reel seat, grip, etc. Maybe, there will be a Jet Mini or PSI Turncrafter Pro being bought in my very near future because that seems to be the only way to really produce a quality end result.
[This message has been edited by RJD31 (edited 04 June 2006).]