tools of the trade

[alantani]

a few people have asked about the tools i use for working on fishing reels. i shot a few photos a while back and thought i'd post them. if you like to tinker with reels, you might find something here that might help you out.

first the lubes. i use shimano drag grease on all the carbon fiber drag washers. i'm finally running out and may switch over to cal's grease. it's half the price. corrosion x is the lube i use on all the bearings, level wind assemblys and reel handles. and lastly, there's yamaha engine grease. that goes into all the screw holes and all the other non-exposed metal surfaces. it stays blue forever. i can open up a reel and know immediately if i've worked on it before or not.





here's my tool rack. i found some hard blue styrofoam at work, don't remember where the box came from, drew a 1 inch grid and started punching holes. it forces me to be neat.



flat, phillips and allen heads.



deep standard and metric sockets, precision screw drivers.



my little handy dandy bearing puller.



6 inch calipers. i use this alot!!!!!!



specialty shimano and penn spool wrenches.



a working inventory of all the penn ht-100 drag washers made. i order all my penn stuff from pennparts.com. i'm their biggest non-business account!



bearings from bocabearings.com. they like me alot as well.



boxes of screws. mostly stuff that i've accumulated over the years.



this little dremmel comes in handy! seems that i'm always grinding away at something.



more boxes of stuff.





i'd have carpal tunnel syndrome without this little baby! it's a little electric screwdriver from milwaulke. they're about $100, i have two, finally busted one and i need to replace it.



now for the grease gun. this is another little item that i could not do with out. here's the grease.



here's the gun. home depot has these. note the position of the nozzle.



home depot has these as well. it's a blowgun kit.



take the inflator needle and cut off the tip with the cutting wheel of the dremmel, the screw it into the adaptor.





screw in the adaptor, load up a grease cartridge and you're all set. this is another "must have" item.





and lastly, my favorite. 7-8 years ago i found this wrench in a tackle shop for $20. i put it next to a standard penn wrench so you could see the difference. i bought two, lost one, and just had a machine shop buddy make a bunch more.



i also have a small compressor, a bench grinder, a drill press and a half gallon ultrasonic cleaner loaded with green soap. the only thing i still need is a small bench lathe. i want to start cutting sleeves to blueprint lever drag reels. yes, it's taken over my garage....

[skiper]

WOW ITS LIKE IN SMALL FACTORY..YOU CAN DISMANTLE,REFURBISHED,
AND YOU ALSO CAN REBUILD AND MODIFIED MANY REELS.
BUT I WONDER HOW DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DO ALL THIS?
YOU LEARNT FROM SOMEONE OR ITS COME FROM YOUR CREATIVITY?

[tater]

looks like you know what your doing. very nice set up you got there

[clt_capt]

Sounds a lot like what Cal Sheets did for the San Diego Longrange fleet.

Great setup - How many reels do you service a year?

[Green Machine]

Thanks so much again Alantani... I was also about to ask you this question!

That is an awesome shop you have there.

[alantani]

much of it i figured out on my own. and because i advocated greased carbon fiber drag washers, i've become something of a pariah among manufacturers. right now, i'm up to a thousand reels a year.

[Finesse]

Alan
I like your grease gun modification !!

here's the gun. note the position of the nozzle

Why ? the position of the nozzle in relation to the grease chamber itself ?

also do you use the lithium grease on the reels at all ... or do you use nothing but the yamaha grease in the gun?

[alantani]

as compared to this one, which will not work. i use only yamaha grease. i'm thinking of asking cal sheets to start putting his grease is this size cartridge.

[skiper]

im sure not all of us know how to maintain their own reel.most of the time
we send our reels to shop for repair...if you dont mind can you give basic
advise.how to choose bearing,how to modified washer,what to do,what
to avoid,how to open.

for sure a lot of us want to know.i hope you can help us.

[Sensei]

Have you ever modifyed Shimano Tiagra 80s to get a higher drag pull, 80 plus pounds? I been told their is a drag modification. thanks for any help.