Rebuilding a VERY Golden Oldie..

A forum to show any of your restored or built traditional fishing reels.
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Bumble
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Re: Rebuilding a VERY Golden Oldie..

Post by Bumble »

Just wonderful

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Marc
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Re: Rebuilding a VERY Golden Oldie..

Post by Marc »

I barely understood most of the technical jargon and was baffled by the rest, however I'm always enthralled by your work, WM. Can't wait for the second instalment.
Marc. (Prince of Durham)

“A life that partakes even a little of friendship, love, irony, humor, parenthood, literature, and music, and the chance to take part in battles for the liberation of others cannot be called 'meaningless'...”

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Mick
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Re: Rebuilding a VERY Golden Oldie..

Post by Mick »

Wonderful stuff WM+. I am no engineer, but I can't wait for the next installment!

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Pb845
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Re: Rebuilding a VERY Golden Oldie..

Post by Pb845 »

Nice one Mr W Mole. I am an Engineer and I did understand it all. And I am also looking forward to the next gripping episode. Very interesting !!

Cheers Will

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Nobby
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Re: Rebuilding a VERY Golden Oldie..

Post by Nobby »

Ha ha, you'll notice how Wm+ was kind enough to constantly refer to 'us and 'we'......in truth, when all this genius was going on I was 200 miles away in Surrey.
It's not just that he has the mechanical knowledge and skill to do these things it's also that he has the further skill and knowledge to make up his own tools and arbours, jigs and conversions.

You should see his lathe......a rusty wreck made good again and even Myford didn't think of half his ideas! They should definitely be patented and maybe marketed too.....?

After visiting and finally meeting my internet friend after all these years he took me out to the workshop. Four hours later my eyebrows finally settled back down on the drive home........every now and then I remember something else from that workshop and up they go again!

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Watermole+
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Re: Rebuilding a VERY Golden Oldie..

Post by Watermole+ »

Part 2.

With the stub axle now true and parallel again, the main body shell was now ready for building up. There were one-or two little dents on the faces of both the shell and sideplate and these were gently smoothed off by carefully lapping against a piece of oil-soaked 600 grit paper on the surface plate. If you are doing this yourself, a small piece of glass will normally be flat enough, but be careful that none of the metal apart from the dents, is removed, otherwise the reel may not go together properly. Don't forget to thoroughly wash off in spirit and clean afterwards.

The next task was to do something about the worn-out rotor bearing and also make the means of preventing the known Mitchell problem of ingress of water and line trapping behind the rotor itself.
Taking the rotor first, this was very carefully positioned up in the lathe 4-jaw chuck and clocked dead true on the outside of the gear. It was then bored out to 8.30mm diameter and then lapped in with the stub axle until absolute minimum clearance was obtained for a running fit. It would need additional running in later, but this was good enough for now.. A very tiny amount was taken off the gear diameter also to ensure that both bore and gear were exactly concentric. A very light facing cut was also taken off the inner face to guarantee smooth running.

Image

The next thing was to make all the various oversize shims needed, including a special one made from black Delrin. This is a precise press-on fit against the bronze insert, the diameter being 22mm, the same as the body shell front and with a thickness so that there is only 0.05mm clearance with the inside front face of the rotor. This virtually guarantees that even the finest line will never trap. the clearance between the rotor gear and the insert bronze bush is also minimal to stop water getting in.
I have to say that doing this tried the patience sorely! The first thing was to omit the delrin washer and get the right mesh between the rotor-and drive bevel gears, by constantly making and trying various shims-down to 0.1mm thickness-behind the rotor and drive gear, until optimum smooth transition between gears was obtained..not easy because the rotor gear was rather worn. Only when this was done could the right thickness for the delrin washer could be determined.

Here you can see the stub axle and rotor gear reconditioned, plus some of non-standard special shims. The 0.3mm deep recess in the delrin washer snaps on to the bronze insert bush (have a look at the last photo in the first post).

Image

Image

The two thin shims go behind the rotor and the larger, 14mm diameter shim with the larger bore goes in front. The other two thin shims are then added and the 14mm shim with the smaller bore goes on top. This one only locates on the thread. The reason for making the 14mm shims is to give maximum bearing area and support against the rotor front face. When the baffle plate, washer and nut have been added and all torqued down, there is almost zero end float on the rotor and good mesh with the drive gear.
As you see here, the gear is perfectly housed and supported. You can just see the end of the insert bush between the gear and casing and how the two thin shims make the gear stand off from the back of the casing..

Image

...and that despite addition of the anti-foul, delrin washer, the exterior appearance has not altered at all, except for a thin line of paint removed from the front of the body shell..

Image


This completes the most difficult job and the next one will be to remove and replace the sideplate, drive gear bush and drive gear itself, both of which are totally worn out. It would seem that no-one has done this before now, but in the event, it turned out to be a very straightforward task.

Nobby has most kindly supplied a replacement drive gear..an upgrade to level-wind, which was offered by Mitchell, so we are not really changing anything here, apart from a new bush replacement...

..but that must be for next time!

wm+

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? Yet one of them shall not fall without your Father knoweth" ..Jesus of Nazareth, King James AV

Paul D

Re: Rebuilding a VERY Golden Oldie..

Post by Paul D »

Wonderful Sir, lovely work, I used to hate making up thin shims, such a pain to ensure they remain burr free . :Hat:

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Swythyn Troutbeck
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Re: Rebuilding a VERY Golden Oldie..

Post by Swythyn Troutbeck »

Oh wow....

Troutbeck :clap: :Hat:
When I'm not fishin' I'm fettlin'

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Nobby
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Re: Rebuilding a VERY Golden Oldie..

Post by Nobby »

I can't even imagine how you go about making shims, .... let alone how you make them burr-free!

This was the most worn-out reel I have ever held....a scrapper really. But because it is such an early reel....far earlier than any other 'leftie' ever found it was quite an 'important' reel from a collectors point of view. Remember...the Mitchel Reel Museum doesn't even mention leftie half bails and most folk thought they didn't exist, but I always felt there might have been some offered as the very first Mitchells ever made clearly had design elements incorporated to enable machining for right hand wind reels.

The reel was actually discovered in the USA and a UK collector bought it, had it shipped over and was then kind enough to let me have it so that I might pass it on to Watermole+.


That it is now mechanically perfect inside again, but still bears the clear evidence of so much use ( and a little abuse!) on the outside, pleases me enormously.

I doubt there are more than a handful of engineers of the required calibre in the UK to have done it. Some collectors might have preferred that the reel be left as it was internally, but it was simply un-useable ..it really was .... and it would have been sad to just leave it on a shelf as proof of early leftie reels. Instead it's now not just better than new, but also addresses some of the inherent problems of an otherwise superb design.

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Crucian
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Re: Rebuilding a VERY Golden Oldie..

Post by Crucian »

Excellent work, waiting for the next installment :Hat:

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