Ambidex Mark Nine observations.

[Nobby]

I bought this reel because I wanted to find out how Youngs gave it such a large throw, the spool is twice as wide as early models and substantialy wider than the Delmatic being offered at the same time. I'd hazard a guess the Match was made in the same way... here's the spools:



I suspected the crankshaft had been 'stroked', a way of giving a piston engine a larger capacity by increasing the stroke of the crankshaft. This indeed proved the case and the crankpin is now a separate disc exceeding the outer edge of the crankwebs.




Here's the crankshaft assembly dismantled in the correct order:




The new longer throw means the connecting-rod needs a notch out of it to avoid clouting the side plate mounting screw!




And on the forward stroke the spool collides with the bale arm !



OK, this bale arm is a tiny bit bent, but I doubt it ever cleared the spool before and a little work is in order........


The reel has the all too common rust issues on the bale arm too:



And like many it has lost its black knob from the a/r lever I hadn't realised that this matters, but it does.....the remaining pin can fall inside the reel and gouge the con-rod. If you scroll back up you'll see the damage to mine...and that's after cleaning it up!

Resigned to carving something small and fiddly out of plastic I suddenly had a brainwave....I put a black rubber float band on the lever and filled the space up with 5 minute set epoxy, poking the air bubbles out with a pin as I went. ( yes, of course I missed some )

I now have a soft-touch a/r lever button and the pin can't do any more damage.

I know a few of you have these damaged a/r levers and this is such a simple fix!



If only I had some black rod-makers epoxy but at £15 a pot this'll do. I'll paint it black tomorrow.

The reel has some other issues to try and sort out, but the old line-lay looks spot-on so I shall persevere with this one, it'll cast far better than the other models.

Since it has the desirable swan-necked body I guess the Mark Nine is one of the more dsought-after models, even the Match was offered only in the wedge-shaped body.


One last thing, some later 'proper' bale arm reels have a circlip holding the bale arm on at the spring end. The shaft it clips onto is very prone to breaking here if handled badly and later reels reverted to the screw of earlier models:

[Estaban]

Interesting information Nobby, Thanks, First time I've ever seen a reel that was bored and stroked....and blueprinted by the time your done with it

[The Sweetcorn Kid]

Having issues with mine.....

My blue Ambidex Swan neck lost its bail arm spring at the weekend, and then one of my Delmatics wouldn't stay in backwind with the anti-reverse coming back on on its own!

[Nobby]

Those bale arm springs are fragile. Both reels I've worked on this week have broken theirs on the bench...better there than in another chaps hands, though!

All models use the same spring, but I'm out of spares now.

The swan-necks a/r isn't very good is it? All three versions are too sloppy.

The black teardrop was far better.

Looking inside mine I think earlier advice on another thread about spreading the pivoting rivet to tighten it up is the way forward, but you need help really. A large pin punch in a vice, a pal holding ther side cover over it with the rivet head on the punch's end and you with a hammer and another flat ended punch to gently spread the rivet head and tighten it all up.

Spent most of today turning a little off the spool lip and modifying the body and side cover to allow the use of shims, some Mitchell ones are a perfect fit!



Broke a few bits, raided some scrappers and there's still another days work in it yet!


I'm exhauted!

[Moley]

As an inveterate Ambidex fiddler I am impressed, St Nobby, that you want to completely strip out a 9.

Bail springs are fun on these aren't they?

I usually end up making my own which work okay.

Bail and spool clearance is easily sorted by undoing the small chrome attachment on the side of the bail without the spring and winding said metal attachment up or down the screw thread on the bail arm, until it just clears the spool....trial and error is the only way here.

I totally agree that the tear drop A/R was far better than the other versions, as it just seems more substantial!

I prefer the S/N 6 over the 9 as it seems too 'over engineered' to my mind, as you have discovered, but necessary to accomodate the wider spool. Over engineering always results in a weakness in my experience, such as it is!

Obviously this was done to compete with the Mitchell 300 wide spool, line lay and casting ability.

I also find the 9 a little on the heavy side for most general coarse work and to be truthful a little on the flimsy side for the work it was designed for ie Carp and Pike fishing and heavy Salmon spinning. As for light Sea Work?????

Probably why the Chrome on the Bail is often worn or corroded on this model. Chrome and salt just don't mix very well!

The S/N 9 seems to be popular though with those who want to 'Ape' a certain well known old tackle user after a picture appeared of this character using this model to fish for Barbel on the cover of The Haig Whisky Guide To Coarse Fishing in Britain edited by Colin Dyson, published in 1985!

WHY???

The S/N 6 is the better reel to my mind but photos of my good self fishing have a markedly different effect on the sales of fishing tackle. Also all of my reels have cake crumbs in them for some reason?

As ever,.....


Mole Power!!!

[Nobby]

I shall return to the bale issue whan I have sufficiently recovered from two and a half days working on one reel so much so that i forgot to have lunch ( and that hardly ever happened in the last 45 years )


Suffice to say, two and a half threads in the bale and pivot is not sufficient to resist being forced over a spool and clutch mechanism that is too big!


The mini blow torch comes out later today!


Despite two attempts there is still only just enough clearance for the bale arm to work properly, I've machined the spool lip twice and both back and front of the spool body and I just got away with it. I had hoped that awful threaded thingy on the bale arm would do it and perhaps it did once, but a slightly bent bale arm had caused the threads there to be damaged so a previous owner wound it up to better threads and let it clout the clutch.


That's not all he did, he also put the small end pin in the wrong place and bent the side cover as he screwed it home, not once, but at least three times judging by the little round imprssions pressed into the small-end channel on the side cover.


The bent side cover caused all sorts of problems and despite being straightened ( ish )continues to do so.


Lining up the bearings was fun...bit cheeky calling it ambidextrous when you only put a bush in the left hand side.........


More to follow when I recover......

[Nobby]

A little more of what is turning into a sage....as Ambidexes so often do.

Here is a shot of the inside of the side cover:



I have machined away the inner face to make room for a shim washer. You can see the Dremel tool I used on the left. Somewhere in the West Country Watermole+ just shivered

You can see the shim I intend to use...just the right size...from a Mitchell of course.


If you look to the right you can see the slot the end of the small-end traverses back and forth in. See how the slot has had to be extended rearwards, beyond the supporting casting, to accomodate the new longer throw.


If you look closer still, you can see the cause of some of the fun and games I have had:



Some little tinker has in the past put the little-end in the wrong way, leaving it proud and then attempted to close the reel up by tightening the side cover screws. There were at least three distinct dents left by the small end, just the one deeper one remains now and I have ascertained there is clearance once more with plasticine and a dry assembly.

I couldn't get anough clearance for the bale arm as mentioned and the threads at maximum extension were poor, so they have been augmented with a bit of solder:



Even then, as mentioned in reply to Moley, I had to remove metal from the front and back of the spool and re-profile the spool lip in the lathe to get bale arm to spool and clutch clearance. It's hard to believe that any Mark Nine or Match for that case...ever has sufficient clearance here!


Lastly, for today, the rotor was a little tight, so the surface the circlip bears upon behind the rear bearing, has been dressed down to give a little more clearance.




Oh, one more thing, a wheeze to replace the clicker that always rots off the back of the grey plastic spools .....cut a Cotton Bud stem longways so you have a semi-circular stem, flatten one end and lift the remaining metal on the spool to insert the flattened end in. Trim it to just short of the round hole containing the brass hexagon and you should have a new clicker again. You might have to trim it a bit, but it's do-able.



This was a little stiff and noisy so the stem was cut at an angle to give a thinner clicker end and make it more flexible.


The metal and its rivet have been trimmed down because the brass spool centre has been lowered for other reasons mentioned elsewhere, not needed on other reels.



The re-profiled spool lip:



This is more complicated than it looks; looking at this image you'd imagine I'd need clearance at 3 and 9 o'clock, I though that anyway .... but because of the reducing arc of a closing bale arm I actually needed it at 2 and 10 o'clock...or 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock and that required a different shape to that which I first thought.

Also note a hand-cut white washer of the type I make for Mitchells...I can just get it in between clutch and spool to smooth out the action.


Lastly, before re-assembly, I've come to the conclusion that this strange screw on the bale arm end is supposed to be tamperproof:



I think the idea might be that the nylon washer below it acts as a lock-washer and the weird screw is supposed only to be tightened up enough to let the line roller turn at a pre-set torque. What that torque is I don't know but it was loose enough to allow a pair of pliers to dismantle it without causing damage...




Lastly, a shot of another reel.



This is actually a Delmatic...see how it has a circlip and not a dome-headed screw to hold the bale arm on?



This is what happens if you get clumsy with that circlip when you try to remove it:



The aluminium post shears at the groove scrapping the spool. ..yes it was me

[SeanM]

Yup that happened to me when I was stripping one of mine

Stu, If you give the rivet which acts as the pivot for the anti reverse lever a gentle squeeze with a pair of pliers (or a tap with a punch) you'll cure the problem with the anti reverse. They appear to rely on a bit of friction to keep them disengaged.

[Nobby]

Yeah, great engineering that...a bit of friction to overcome a light spring. Not!


When all is said and done we have the last variant Ambidexes and various offerings from Ken Morrits.

Whilst over in Europe Mitchell and DAM were out-engineering and out-selling our once great reel makers.

It reminds me so much of our car and mototcycle industries......


You've got to have an Ambidex or two, but I know what I'd rather actually fish with....

[Marc]

I'll second that Nobby. It's exhausting reeling in a no 1, i blame the short handle. I use them, but only for short sessions. Give me a 304 and day of the week.