Ocean Star No. 36 (Amateur Deep Clean)

[swill88]

Very nice breakdown FlipFlopRepairShoppe, thanks.

My only comment is, have you thought of upgrading the drag washers with carbon fiber and drag grease?

Hope to hear how it fishes.

Steve

[FlipFlopRepairShoppe]

I don't know the first thing about drag upgrades, sir.  This whole project is something that I'm doing very inexpensively, and very low tech.  I'm pairing this reel with a 10 foot Sea Striker SS1000, with 25 lb monofilament.  I am also making all of my own topwater lures to fish with this rig.  When all is said and done, I might have $100 in a complete rod and reel with half a dozen or eight different plugs and poppers.   How much would drag upgrades like the ones that you mentioned run?

[thorhammer]

Probably less than ten bucks. Measure what you have and let us know; someone will know what the equivalent modern part would be. This would let you get smooth easy performance and maximize that solid reel.

Nothing better than catching on stuff you built.

[Tiddlerbasher]

FlipFlop - The drag washers - measure the o.d. and i.d. and thickness. Let me know how many you need - I'll cut them for you foc. Chris.

[FlipFlopRepairShoppe]

Gentleman, thank you so much for your help. 

Tiddlerbasher, I will take measurements now and post them here, as well as PM them to you.  Thank you incredibly sir!  Please let me know if there is a way that I can repay the favor. 

[FlipFlopRepairShoppe]

Tiddlerbasher,

The O.D. is 21mm.  The I.D. is 7mm.  The thickness is 1mm.  I measured these with my calipers, but they're a very inexpensive model.  Please let me know if you think these are off.  When I measured the O.D. it actually hit at 20.5 mm but there's clearance for up to 21mm.  I don't know what normal clearance would be.

After I get better at making topwater lures I will send one of your choice to you.  I'm just now getting into the art of making them, and love it as much as fishing!

[swill88]

You're doing great FFRS.

Another way I check the drag stack is measure the thickness of the entire stack together then just the metal washers together. Just subtract the metal from the total then you get a total for all the carbon fiber washers.

Flattening and then polishing the metal washers with very fine grits on flat glass can only help. I use 800 , 1500, 2000, because that's what I have. Others may chime in. I'm an amateur like you.

I like your plan to keep your costs down. Save the money to go fishing!

Steve

[sdlehr]

I use 800 , 1500, 2000, because that's what I have.

Depending on how flat the washers start out, I wouldn't hesitate to start at 320 grit on a flat piece of glass and move my way up - 800 is pretty fine and doesn't take much off. The flatter and shinier you can make those drag washers, the smoother the drag will be.

Sid

[FlipFlopRepairShoppe]

The learning is beginning.....I had no idea that a drag was so sensitive.  It shows my amateur status.  I thought that you just cranked that puppy down and it compressed.  I now see that I have zero idea of what makes a good drag.

So, I should take the metal washers out of the drag and sand them down on a flat piece of glass, starting at 320 or higher grit?  I have grits up to 1000 in the workshop.  Is my end goal as close to a mirror finish as I can get them?

[FlipFlopRepairShoppe]

I just took the drag stack out of the spool and it measures at 6mm with washers and then 4mm without washers.  So a total of two washers, each at 1mm. 

Tiddlerbasher, I tried sending you a PM but I'm not certain if it went through.

[thorhammer]

Send a pic of your poppers. I may have something for you.

[foakes]

Very nice clean and service --

Great job!

Best,

Fred

[FlipFlopRepairShoppe]

Thorhammer, here are pictures of the plugs that I spent yesterday working on.  I'm happy with the shaping, especially considering that these are some of the first lures that I've ever made.

The paint job however..........horrible.  It's my fault entirely.  I'm horrible with a brush.  I'm also limited to the paints that I have at home, all of which are soft acrylic paints.  They were finished with a simple polyurethane dip.  The polyurethane came out well, but the soft paint underneath picked up all kinds of transfer from everything in my work area.  A total rush job, from start to finish, because I need the paint to bleed as much of it's scent out before my trip later this week.  I would never send anything this rough to anyone, ever.  Once I have my paints locked down, I'm confident that the shapes will attract fish.  I grew up using similar lures.

As I progress in this craft I will pick up better paints, but I like to keep things simple. My budget is limited, and I pride myself on being an average joe.  My motto is "If I can do it, so can you. Probably with things you have lying around."

I have faith that these will catch fish, and I can only improve from here.

[FlipFlopRepairShoppe]

Here's a picture of the Ocean Star on my 10' Sea Striker.  I love the retro look of the reel paired with the old school yellow and blue on white wrap on the rod.  My plugs are also purposely old school.  I want to get back to how my grandfather was catching fish in the 1960s.  He fished the world while he was in the Air Force as a radar tech.

[Shark Hunter]

This is a great post.
Thanks for taking us along.
You will be surprised the difference that just two carbon fiber drag discs make.
I want to see a fish on those plugs.