Sleeving my Penn 50sw

[Cowbass]

Ok I have a new question. Is there any specific measurement that I can cut the sleeve to or is each reel a custom size? You can still get replacement spools from Penn for these. Are they all machined the same size?what are the variables involved? Thanks again

[Nemo]

I checked the schematic at Pennparts, and did not see one for the SW.  I did use one from Pennparts on my TW, but I think it is too long.  With the bellevilles in stock configuration ()(), I had no freespool.  Shortening the stack to (()) increased drag, and gave the sleeve enough room to help.  Freespool definitely increased, but I think it is still a little too long.  If you tilt it to the right while spinning in freespool, it stops very quickly.  Here is Alan's post on making a sleeve in case you can't find one:

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=138.0

[JGB]

Sleeving is the spacing of the bearings so there is no binding as a result of bearing tilt, bearing tolerances and the pressure applied to engage the drag. Trial and error has produced a sleeve freedom of 0.004"-0.006" to produce maximum freespool drag and still allow for the best freespool performance.

Now for some reality:  The tolerances of the spools vary quite a bit between manufacturing runs. Reels produce from the same run generaly can be sleeved with the same sleeve spacing. anything else needs to be remeasured and a custom sleeve produced. This is why Cal Sheets needs the spool for blue printing.

Proceedure Per A. Tani - get a rough measurment of the length of the space between the spool bearing bores and cut a piece of tubing that is longer than needed. Trial fit the bearings with the sleeve and see how much the bearings slide back and forth. Remove some sleeve length and retest again. When you reach a point where you can barely see the bearings shift but can still feel it you are done. The more bearing shift there is the less free spool drag you will be able to get. A little bit can  make the difference between getting 22 # instead of 25# of drag.
Proceedure per J. Nomura - use calipers and measure the space between the bearing bores. Take this measurement and add 0.004" and cut a piece of brass tubing and finish to this length (I use a lathe to do this). Test fit the sleeve and bearings and confirm there is barely visible bearing play but you can still feel it. Your sleeve is ready to go.

Yes if the sleeve is too long the spool will slide side to side a little - this is ok for the 50SW as the spool with the sleeve is now not part of engaging the drag. What does matter is that the total length of all spacers, Sleeve, 2 bearings and the bellvills are correct and allows the full range of adjustment for the drag preset. Too long and you may not be able to back off the preset enough and get free spool. Too short and you may not be able to get maximum drag. Generally if you can adjust the preset to just loose free spool and still be able to back off the preset and  get you minimum desirable  strike drag you will be good to go.

final note: excessive sleeve length may allow the spool to move around enough to offset the spool. In practice this rarely happens.

Jim N

[Cowbass]

Thanks guys for all the great info!! This site has already helped me a ton. I'm sure my reels will perform much better than before. I'm gonna give the sleeve a shot. Worst case is I can't get it right and wasted $2.50 on the brass tubing. Thanks.

Ps figures with my luck that I choose to join this site and Alan is off fishing. Lol

[alantani]

i think it is worth pointing out that jim is an engineer and i'm a pharmacist.  hell, he even caught more fish than i did on this last trip!