Posts tagged: reel

Lost Reel

By , 27 May, 2010 09:57

ABU Mag EliteAt some stage last Sunday 23.5, I stupidly left my old and trusted green ABU 6500 mag elite on the wall at Brighton Marina, East arm around bay 28. In a vain hope of recovery, I’m asking if anyone saw it or knows of anyone who has found it to let me know please.

I’ve tried the Tackle box and marina security with no luck.

Many thanks

Whoops

By , 12 May, 2010 14:08

I’ve been going over the pages on this site after my dearly beloved FPO commented that “There are a few typos on your blog” shortly after she’d been reading through. Now of course, I have all the time in the world to go back and do all these corrections but that would prevent me from doing something really useful during my down time – fishing! However, I will get around it at some stage. Anyway I digress.

During my checking, I realised that all the photographs that I had laid out for the article on reel balancing were missing for some unknown reason. I have just found them and they are back in place to supplement the article and show what I am trying to say. So if you’re like me and prefer pictures to words or you like pictures and words, the article is now as it should be.

Multiplier Reel Balancing

Again, I thank Neil Mackellow for allowing the use of his photos in this article.

Multiplier Reel Balancing

By , 4 November, 2009 14:33

Multiplier reel balancing

It is the first yards of line lay that set the balance on multiplier reels, yet many do not consider this when filling up with new line. An unbalanced spool can lead to poor performance and noisy operation when casting. By following these simple steps when re-filling, the spool will be balanced and improved, quieter casting gained. Although these pictures relate to the Penn 525 reel, the technique applies to all reels.

If this doesn’t balance the spool, unfortunately, it means stripping and re-doing until its right. This really can be a matter trial and error.

Many thanks to Neil Mackellow for allowing the use of his pictures here

First, wind on the line to form a hump in the centre of the
spool about 3-4mm high and about 5-8mm wide (depending on spool width)

Next do the same on the left side of the spool

…Followed by right side

Now fill the ‘dip’ on the right

Then on the left

Once any dips are filled, continue to wind on making sure to
keep and even spread across the spool.

Now wind on as normal keeping an even spread……

…until you reach the required depth of line on the spool.
(and no, I don’t know why Neil used different coloured lines here).

Even if your reel is equipped with a level wind, you can still balance it.
To start:
1. Thread new line through the level wind as normal and tie onto spool in the centre.
2. Before winding on, remove the screw cap from below the levelwind, the little pawl or ‘tooth’ can then come out.
2.The levelwind can now slide freely across spool without being engaged in the worm drive.
3. Follow the instructions and pictures above.
4. When the line is evenly spread across, pop the pawl back in, do up the screw.
5. Continue to wind on until you have your required line depth.

Broken Penn

By , 13 September, 2009 01:55

Crack in penn 525 cage I went to clean and service my Penn 525 Supermag xtra the other week and found that the graphite cage had cracked on the left side at the top. This crack was all the way through and the only thing holding it together was the outer ring, once this was removed, it would allow the crack to open up more. When the outer ring was removed I noticed that there was a small screw hole there with nothing in it. Now I had not noticed this crack prior to cleaning and I know for a fact that the reel hadn’t been dropped or abused and I know that there never was any screw in this hole. So what’s the story?

It appears that this is not an uncommon problem amongst 525 series owners and I have read a few reports of this happening, some due to dropping or other mishap, some for no apparent reason. You can read a few reports of it in this thread here at Whitby Sea Anglers website forums. There was also the question about the screw hole; should there be a screw or not? The answer came from none other than Neil Mackellow, who stated that the screw had never been fitted, as it was “deemed unnecessary by the Penn engineer” and this was also why the screw doesn’t appear on the reel schematic (which I hadn’t noticed).

Anyway, the upshot of this was, rather than wait for however long it was going to take to get this resolved through returning the reel, I decided on getting a replacement cage and doing it myself. At least I knew it wouldn’t take too long. I ordered the new cage from Ewen Hill, a former Penn service technician and within two days, the new cage arrived and I assembled it all the same day, so I now have one perfectly sorted non-cracked reel. I’ll see if the damaged cage can be repaired with epoxy type glues to at least a standard where it could become a backup – just in case!

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