Boss 665H Magnum drag cam post rounded off

[mhc]

A friend asked if I could have a look at his early Boss 665 Magnum - the drag lever was stuck on strike but the reel didn't have any drag. I stripped it today and found the hex post that supports the drag tension cam assembly was rounded off -



I did a lot of searching on here and found a few threads that all concluded a new plate was the solution and this old thread where Robert Janssen weaves his magic and whip up a prototype fix http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=4975.0 Robert's solution would work of course, but I think the plate would need to be recessed so the base of the post sits flush with the plate - that's probably doable, the plate is around 4 mm thick where the post sits.

I've got a couple of questions before I tackle a repair on this;
- Has anyone else come up with a solution for this?
- How does this happen? I'm guessing misuse somehow or it would have been raised a lot more.
- Alternatively - has anyone got a side plate they are willing to part with?

Thanks
Mike

[Robert Janssen]

Yes, i remember that. It just sort of bugged me in a designy engineery kind of way. I don't know why it happens, only that it sometìmes does.

I'm sure there are other ways to go about fixing it. You can maybe find a threaded standoff you could put in there with some loctite or something, or sculpt it with JB Weld maybe... idunno, it is up to you.

If you want me to make a new part for it or send it to me, that is no problem.

.

[nelz]

So it's not just the Saltiga that can fail like this. Surprised to see this on such high end pricey reels.

[mhc]

Yes, i remember that. It just sort of bugged me in a designy engineery kind of way. I don't know why it happens, only that it sometìmes does.

I'm sure there are other ways to go about fixing it. You can maybe find a threaded standoff you could put in there with some loctite or something, or sculpt it with JB Weld maybe... idunno, it is up to you.

If you want me to make a new part for it or send it to me, that is no problem.
.

Thanks Robert, I'll kick it around for a while and see what I come up with - the threaded standoff sounds like a good place to start.
I'd hate to throw out an otherwise perfect side plate because of one relatively small fault. Sort of like discarding a television because a $2 capacitor has blown.

So it's not just the Saltiga that can fail like this. Surprised to see this on such high end pricey reels.

Yeah, and disappointing.

Mike

[alantani]

An Asian copy used a stainless steel insert to fix that issue. Very clever.

[MarkT]

I think I saw a 665h like that at the customer appreciation sale at the Longfin yesterday. The Accurate service guy said that if it needed a new sideplate it would be ~$150. I just had them clean/service my dx2-400 that sometimes has the 2-speed button not go into low. Now I know how it works and what to clean if it happens again.

I remember Alan's video of the sald50ld2 with the bad sideplate. I have the narrower sald40ld2 and don't know how someone would do that.  Max out the drag and force the lever to full?

[mhc]

I think 'we' have repaired the post - thanks to solid Swedish engineering by Mr Robert Janssen. After a bit of thought and lot of searching for something I could adapt to replace the post, I sent Doc the dimensions of the existing post and he generously agreed to machine the part needed. My part in this repair was to drill a hole in the correct location and tap it with a M9 x 1 tap that Doc had loaned me and then simply screw the part in - what could go wrong with that!

I thought I would post a few photos of the process I used but I strongly recommend getting a machinist to do it if you ever need to install one - I got lucky this time after a bit of remedial work.
The first step was to clamp the plate to the table on my drill press and use a carbide bit to remove the old post so it didn't interfere with drilling the hole for the new post;



I used a close fitting brass rod to align the drill with the existing hole in the plate;



I then tapped the hole and test fitted the part - the threaded section was a close to 1 mm long, I had measured the plate thickness at 4 mm and it was actually around 3.6 mm plus Doc had allowed a little length for fine tuning. To remove the excess thread I tapped a piece of scrap angle iron to hold the part and used a belt sander;



I took it slowly and checked often until it was slightly below the internal surface of the plate;



Everything was going to plan until I actually tested it - the threaded hole was off by around 0.3 mm or so and the spool shaft was contacting the post and not moving freely. I began the painful process of slowly filing the internal bore with a 3/16 round file mounted in the stationary drill chuck - sort of like a slow (very slow) motion filing machine - checking the fit regularly as I went, more out of hope than caution  . When it started to move freely, I sanded the bore with 240 grit emery cloth glued around a 4 mm rod;

 

The hole now measures 5.15 mm instead of 4.9 mm and the drag seems to be working well. It didn't move during half an hour of testing without loctite, so I'm hopeful it will say in place with a bit of 263 'red' loctite.

The installed post;



Thanks again Rob, it's a privilege to be involved with your solution.

Mike

[Frank]

I'm constantly in awe of the skill level of the contributors on this board.

[Rothmar2]

What Frank said Mike. It's nice to see this process posted in its completeness.
Recommending to getting a machinist to do this is sort of precision remedial work is a good idea!
That rules me out then!!!

[Robert Janssen]

Bravo Mike, well done. Good job, remedial or not! Looks excellent; great pictures too.
Doc.

.

[redsetta]

Terrific result Mike - and great to see Doc's solution so successfully applied.
Thanks for sharing the process.
Cheers, Justin

[STRIPER LOU]

Nice work Mike, and Doc too. Better than new plus saving the cost of a new plate.

..............Lou