Adding a bearing to a Penn Fathom 40 NLD2 2-speed

[Geno66]

Hi all,

First post ever!  I hope this is the correct category.

My plan is to replace the bushing on the right side cover with an angular contact ball bearing.  It's going to require a bit of machining but it should be a fun project.

I know, I should just buy a Torque 40 but I already have a Fathom and I just can't help myself!

I'll document the process so we can all learn from my mistakes.

I'll catch you all up to where I am so far.

I disassembled and cleaned the right side case and turned a short piece of aluminum to aid in knocking out the bronze bushing.



It turns out that the space behind the bushing is has a slight taper.  The area under the red circle.



I needed a way to hold the bushing so made an expanding mandrel.  Below is the mandrel, slug and finished tapered bushing.


Yesterday I used some green Loctite 638 to glue the bushing into the right side case.
It's hard to see but the bushing is recessed from the bearing seating surface to allow for a bit of clearance.


I also needed a way to hold the case when I cut it down and bore the bushing to size so I made the fixture from some scrap aluminum plate.  The case looks surprised.
 




I'm going to turn the bearing adapter now.  See drawing below.


Wish me luck! 

[boon]

Very cool project, and you clearly have skills!

Interested to know why you're opting for an angular contact bearing; I could be mistaken but the bearing in that position should never experience any axial loading?

[Swami805]

Well, heck of a first post, you'll get along just fine here

[redsetta]

I agree - that's a heck of an intro Geno!
Also wondered if you meant clutch bearing rather than angular contact, though the space in the adapter indicates the latter.
Thanks for posting - looking forward to the next steps!
Good luck, Justin

[Bill B]

   Welcome Geno.  Keep this stuff up and we will have to up your pay grade. Bill

[Geno66]

Thanks for the replies.

Let me start off by saying that I am neither an engineer nor am I a machinist so some of my choices may not be correct.  I'm happy to listen to any feedback as I view this as a learning experience.

That being said, I chose an angular contact bearing because the original bronze bushing was flanged and the e-clip that secures the assembly to the gear stud rides against the flange.
I do agree that there should be minimal axial loading but I'll be the first to admit that I don't always have the best form when grinding on a big fish.
 

I just finished machining the adapter. 

I still need to turn the cap that covers the bearing.  Then I can polish both of them and give anodizing a try.  That should be interesting as I've never anodized anything before.

[steelfish]

Yay!! Nice way to introduce yourself with the ohana, looking forward the next step

[oldmanjoe]

Let me start off by saying that I am neither an engineer nor am I a machinist .   

    Welcome to the forum !    " My dad was a TV repairman also and has a nice tool kit that I play with ".     Looking forward to see your modification .     

[JasonGotaProblem]

I think this fella is gonna do just fine here. Welcome aboard.

Do you have an actual lathe or do you also just abuse a drill like me and Joe?

[Gfish]

Genoooooooo66!
Welcome to the Forum. I wish I had machining skills like that. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

[jurelometer]

Welcome!  We are all learning from each other here.  You'll fit right in.

Thanks for the replies.

Let me start off by saying that I am neither an engineer nor am I a machinist so some of my choices may not be correct.  I'm happy to listen to any feedback as I view this as a learning experience.

That being said, I chose an angular contact bearing because the original bronze bushing was flanged and the e-clip that secures the assembly to the gear stud rides against the flange.
I do agree that there should be minimal axial loading but I'll be the first to admit that I don't always have the best form when grinding on a big fish.
 

I just finished machining the adapter. 

I still need to turn the cap that covers the bearing.  Then I can polish both of them and give anodizing a try.  That should be interesting as I've never anodized anything before.

Just a hobby reel parts maker myself, but here is what I learned so far on this  topic.  My apologies if you already know some of this stuff:

Boon is right. Axial load when winding on the shaft is a minimal issue.  When we wind hard, the down and (especially) the up part of the motion causes angular load, levering the shaft out of alignment. Depending on the design, this can lead to unaligned gears shredding and/or wear on the shaft to bearing junction.

The primary load challenge for the main gear shaft design is to keep it aligned with the spool shaft.  The best way to do this is to put bearings of some kind on both ends of the main shaft. The common lever drag design does not support the shaft on the spool side, so this is compensated by supporting a longer section of the shaft on the handle side, and keeping the shaft as short as possible. The smarter lever drag designs also put the anti-reverse mechanism on the the spool shaft, so that the drag is not loading the gears and main shaft.

Plain bearings (AKA bushings) have the advantage of holding the alignment straight.  That is one reason why they use plain bearings on things like motor crankshafts.  The longer the plain bearing, the better it can do the alignment part of its job.  Depending on the how tight the fit is, the shaft can wear the bearing in the direction of imbalance or stonger load, but this is harder to do as the bearing length increases.  The other advantages for this particular use case is that wear is rarely catastrophic due to the low RPMs (I have seen some pretty trashed plain bearings), and that plain bearings can be highly corrosion resistant in a location that tends to get saltwater intrusion.

Ball bearings will tend to have less resistance when the shaft is not aligned as the balls can roll up on the sides of the track a little. This means that they are not as good at keeping alignment as a plain bearing, but better at dealing with it when misalignment is present. 

The stainless alloy used in ball bearings is not very saltwater corrosion resistant.

Angular contact bearings are basically the same as standard deep groove ball bearings, but with the track shifted to go up on one side of the bearing more and less on the other side.  This decreases the ability to compensate for alignment issues and increases rolling resistance, but increases the axial load in one direction (decreasing it in the other.  Deep groove ball bearings do handle a decent amount of axial load, so if you want to go with ball bearings (I wouldn't), you might want to shock the specs and see if a standard bearing will get the job done.

The challenge for your solution is that it might decrease the type of support that keeps the main shaft aligned.  Also removing material from the housing will decrease the strength of thinner cast Al walls, but this is probably secondary.

Angular contract bearings have been tried on the spool shaft here by some members with varying success.  The lever drag  does create significant axial load on the spool shaft bearings, but manufacturers that have tried to address this have tended to go with a combination of standard ball bearings and thrust bearings.


No failures in science!  Just more useful knowledge.  There are other reel models (mostly star drags) that can benefit from the type of modification that you are doing as well. 

Please let us know how it goes.

-J

[Donnyboat]

Very interesting Geno, are you using a lathe, or an endmill, cirtainly gaining some interest, thanks for your post, we are all learning from the comments, and welcome from Sunny Western Australia, cheers Don.

[Rocket Dog]

I was impressed with the expanding mandrel you made. The rest is icing... welcome

[thorhammer]

Oh I'd say you're both engineer and machinist....

[Geno66]

I finally got a chance to work on the Fathom 40.

Thank you all for the warm welcome and kind words.

Not sure why the pictures were all reposted at the end.  I'll have to look into that.

To answer some questions –
I turned all of the round parts but I did use a mill to cross drill and slot cut the mandrel.

Boon and jurelometer
The plain bushing that I'm replacing is close to 9mm or roughly twice as wide as the ball bearing (5mm).  The thing that is interesting is that the bore that the bushing is pressed into is only about 4mm long.  My guess is that the bushing will still provide additional support and the short bore that it is pressed into makes alignment with the inner ball bearing easier.  Perhaps someone who knows more can chime in.




I finally manned up and bored and trimmed the case.



That section of the case is actually pretty thick



The bearing adapter fits better than expected.



The company that I work for is moving to a new location so I'll have no life for the next week.


I still have to finish the gear shield.  Then I can do a functional test to make sure the gears work, polish and anodize and then final assembly.


Getting closer!