Screwdrivers

[Scattergun2570]

What is a good screwdriver set to buy for reel maintenance?

[ReelClean]

What is a good screwdriver set to buy for reel maintenance?

Japanese or US reels?

[PacRat]

I like this brand: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/223597/wheeler-engineering-72-piece-professional-gunsmithing-screwdriver-set
They sell larger and smaller sets. If you're in So Cal, Turners has them on sale often. The link is from Midway.
Mike

[Tiddlerbasher]

My goto makes are Wiha and Wera - good quality tools and not particularly expensive. Brownells have some fine screwdrivers as well - they are a bit pricey in the UK. For slotted screws make sure the screwdriver is hollow or parallel ground.

[Scattergun2570]

What is a good screwdriver set to buy for reel maintenance?

Japanese or US reels?

both

[foakes]

With all of the screwdrivers out there today -- after you eliminate about 90% of the junk -- you still have many to choose from.

It is personal choice...

For me, I like Brownell's fixed screwdrivers for firearms -- tried them on reels -- but seem like a little overkill to me.  So those stay in the outer shop just for guns.

For reels, I really like Wiha.

Only had one break in 20 years -- tossed it in a drawer and forgot about it.  When I was ordering a few more from Wiha directly, I asked for their service manager -- he just sent me a new one in place of the broken one at no charge.

No receipt, no nothing -- just good service and standing behind their products.  (It was my fault the screwdriver broke, not theirs though).

Make sure they are hollow ground on the blade tip -- and that all are hardened.

These are not expensive -- and very good values.

These small sets in this youtube are likely all you will need to start -- not expensive.

I personally like this style -- because any pressure can be brought to bear with the heel of your hand -- while the hex portion at the shank allows easy two fingered rotation when my hands are greasy.

Well thought out -- and a solid company.  German craftsmanship at decently fair prices.

Best,

Fred

[ReelClean]

What is a good screwdriver set to buy for reel maintenance?

Japanese or US reels?

both

Get a set of JIS cross head (like phillips, except they're not) screwdrivers for your Jap  reels and you will not mung up as many screws.  I buy Vessel.
Cheers
Steve

[Tiddlerbasher]

x2 on what Realclean said - identify JIS as opposed to PH. You will save loads of screw heads. I found this out back in the sixties working on Japanese motorbikes. On larger screw heads there is some times a little punched 'dot':

https://www.peterverdone.com/jis-cross-head-screws-and-drivers/

But not so on small head screws. If it's Japanese assume it's JIS - Vessel screwdivers/bits are your best bet - some of the Wiha/Wera range also work.
If it's a cross head screw on a Japanese reel I will 'almost' guarantee it's a JIS. IMHO buy some Vessel bits/screwdivers - they are guaranteed to fit
Regular Phillips will cam out!

[Donnyboat]

make sure you select a good screw driver for every job, must be a good snug fit, then it wont slide off and scratch your reels, a good snug fit will work the best without damaging the screw, as well, as Fred said hollow grinde then as well, cheers Don.

[sdlehr]

If you do a lot of reel work on a variety of reels you'll find a set of screwdrivers with replaceable tips allows you to buy replacement tips and grind them to match whatever screw you are matched up against. When I confined my collection to Penn and Pflueger (and a few Ocean City) I needed only two screwdriver sizes. Now that I've expanded to older reels, some of which do not have standard screws (or threads) it becomes much more important to select (or grind) the right size bit. It's much easier to spend the time grinding a screwdriver to the perfect fit with a screw than it is to find (or make) a replacement screw after a poorly-fitting screwdriver messes it up. The screwdriver head should match the slot in the screw snugly, should reach all the way to the bottom of the slot, be parallel to the sides of the slot, and should be the same width as the screw head. Don't forget to use penetrating oil, and sometimes even a properly-fitting screwdriver won't work until the part has been heated and cooled a few times. The game is to try not to identify the screws that will break by breaking them first

Sid

[festus]

Couldn't pass up these cheapies.  The red box was 3 bucks, the others were a buck apiece.

[Tiddlerbasher]

Guys- seriously - don't go cheap on screw drivers - you will regret it. Vessel bits are a must for Japanese/Asian reels. Brownells/Wiha/Wera drivers for anything else

[akfish]

I get most of my screwdrivers online from Chapman Manufacturing. They are high quality and reasonably priced. I always order several of my most popular bits and keep pretty much every size on hand.

[Scattergun2570]

Guys- seriously - don't go cheap on screw drivers - you will regret it. Vessel bits are a must for Japanese/Asian reels. Brownells/Wiha/Wera drivers for anything else

How bout a link on a set to get me started?

[Tiddlerbasher]

https://www.vesseltools.com/industrial-bits
http://www-us.wera.de/
http://www.wihatoolsus.com/