A Source for Tube spacers (spacer sleeves) on Star drag reels.

[gstours]

Thanks for the information.  Brass is used a lot on reel parts and easy to machine,  butt,  thought this would be better.   Now I am advised.🤦‍♀️
   Haven't made anything yet.   Still may.  With grease and a loose fit on the gear sleeve I,m not anticipating any problems.  The brass star 🌟 is soft.   Thanks again for the comments.

[Ron Jones]

Gary,
I bet it wouldn't take ong to find out if you had an issue. It will work great or it will be jittery. If assembled with the precision I know you'll use, I bet it will make one smooth operating drag.
Ron

[Rivverrat]

Stainless steel galling is not now days an issue. This is a fact.   Unless you build two opposing surfaces of the same grade of stainless. Yes some are worse than others.

How to build properly with stainless with out the galling issues has been common knowledge prior to 1970. We see guns & all manner of things built with extreme impact & tensile stress to bearing surfaces machined from stainless with no issues.

A regular individual will live their life with out ever having the need for extreme high strength, ultra corrosion resistant metals like Inconel or Monel...   Jeff

[Ron Jones]

Don't hate me Jeff.
I guess I'm not a regular person. I work with monel, Inconel and other cupro-nickel fasteners and piping all the time. People always said I'm weird.
Ron

[Rivverrat]

    Oh now.... I've worked with both myself making receivers for rifles.  It's good stuff.

[Three se7ens]

Inconel and Monel suck to machine... 

Stainless galling is only an issue in particular circumstances, particularly high load and friction.  Further, its mainly a (bad) property of the soft 300 series grades.  The harder grades are far less susceptible to galling, like the 400 series when heat treated, PH alloys (15-5, 17-4, 17-7, etc), and so on.  There wouldnt be any more issue with a stainless spacer than a stainless gear sleeve than using a stainless star on the same sleeve. 

Alan, arent your gear sleeves heat treated 400 series stainless?

[Rivverrat]

Inconel and Monel suck to machine... 

It can be a pain to work with.

The surface is hard. It takes an extremely, very rigid,  heavy lathe or mill cutting bigger chips than usual.  All cutting heads were ceramic. The surface can move a bit after heavy machine work. Found it a good idea to let some work that had been heavily worked to sit over night & stabilize.

[oc1]

Don't be hating and denigrating brass/bronze.  It was getting the job done before stainless and monel were invented.  It will still get the job done if you accept it is a little softer and requires the material to be a little thicker.
-steve

[gstours]

  Thanks for the further input on what seems to be a hot topic!    I know you all want to help,  and you have.   I am learning a lot from the wealth of information shared here.  I thank you all.
After thinking more about this galling thing,  Does the tube spacer spin under heavy drag load by picking up rotating friction from the gear washer?  Something tells me that if so thats where the only problem might come from.  If so ?   I have never seen any drag stars with and grooves, heat marks, or other telltale marks on the undersides of them.  Butt these are usually brass (factory).
   I,m not knocking brass parts in any way.  These are easier to work with simple tools.   I have used copper (type M) with ok results as it was all I could find in my out of the way Town.   Brass would be better.  Chromed brass even more so.     Thanks again 

[Rivverrat]

Don't be hating and denigrating brass/bronze.  It was getting the job done before stainless and monel were invented.  It will still get the job done if you accept it is a little softer and requires the material to be a little thicker.
-steve

Brass & Bronze were great & still are. What I like most about them is for small parts they both can be fit & worked with simple hand tools... Jeff

[Ron Jones]

I really think the galling thing is a non-issue. Smarter people than me learned me. Can't wait to see your spacers.
Ron

[Keta]

A regular individual will live their life with out ever having the need for extreme high strength, ultra corrosion resistant metals like Inconel or Monel...   Jeff

I have a Inconel 625 halibut harpoon tip and a Hasteloy rock scallop bar....    The Inconel was tough on the tooling and the Hasteloy had to be shaped on a belt grinder.

Don't be hating and denigrating brass/bronze.  It was getting the job done before stainless and monel were invented.  It will still get the job done if you accept it is a little softer and requires the material to be a little thicker.
-steve

Not all brass alloys are soft and bronze is a very good material.

Does the tube spacer spin under heavy drag load by picking up rotating friction from the gear washer?

The spacer is pinched between the top keyed washer and the star, all 3 spin with the gearsleve.

[Three se7ens]

 Does the tube spacer spin under heavy drag load by picking up rotating friction from the gear washer?  Something tells me that if so thats where the only problem might come from.  If so ?   I have never seen any drag stars with and grooves, heat marks, or other telltale marks on the undersides of them.  Butt these are usually brass (factory).
 

Not if the drag stack is ordered appropriately.  The top drag washer should be keyed to the gear sleeve, so the only motion the spacer sees is when turning the drag star.   When drag is pulled out of the reel, the main gear spins in relation to the gear sleeve.  The gear sleeve is prevented from turning backwards by the dogs, so it, and everthing keyed to the gear sleeve stays stationary.

Brass and bronze are fantastic.  In many cases, they are as strong as, if not stronger than the 300 series of stainless steels.  And they generally machine better, and conduct heat and electricity better.

[gstours]

Thanks for the facts,   I,m learning more stuff everyday here!   Certainly the brass and bronze materials machine and grind saw file easier.   Ive never seen a brass dog or main gear fail, as they are inexpensive, and quite available they can be easily replaced after inspection.   Butt we are talking about the spacer tube here.  The ease of working with brass certainly switches my thinking.  Butt Stainless steel tube can be welded so it can have some other versatility .     Thanks for the info.    The reels, and line we are using are waay better than what we started with before joining this Alan Tani Site.   I am most gratefull for guy stuff infosharing in a very civilized dialog. 

[Rivverrat]

Brass & Bronze can be silver soldered / brazed. As can most all copper based alloys.   They have soldered / brazed  joint strength of 30,000 PSI & up to & above 70,000 PSI. A copper based alloy will give way most times prior to joint failure.

Brass & Bronze are both fantastic metals that will always have a place for us & all others who like to fabricate parts on their own... Jeff