113h 4:1 Gears from Ebay- I see a problem

[Makule]

Steel sparks orange, SS white.

Yeah, but why?

I believe it has to do with carbon burning (sparks).  SS has much less carbon so it doesn't spark.  Hardenable SSs do spark, however.

[Irish Jigger]

I guess these gears are made in Taiwan by an "injector manufacturer"

I would not fit Chinese/Taiwanese ball bearings to my reels nor would I fit their gears either. Lack of QC leads to premature failure.
Would be interested to see what the eBay seller has to say about these gears. Without a  guarantee/warranty its money down the drain..

"Pay peanuts get a monkey"

[Alto Mare]

There has to be a reason why that pinion has been plated and it doesn't look good .
When I was checking these gears out, I noticed that the pinion was a little heavier than the accurate pinion, the main gear was spot on.
Is plain steel  heavier than ss .

I guess these gears are made in Taiwan by an "injector manufacturer"

I would not fit Chinese/Taiwanese ball bearings to my reels nor would I fit their gears either. Lack of QC leads to premature failure.
Would be interested to see what the eBay seller has to say about these gears. Without a  guarantee/warranty its money down the drain..

"Pay peanuts get a monkey"

That might be the case Tom, but i feel bad for the seller that got involved. Fortunately for us, we are protected...."IF" the pinion isn't stainless steel.

[Irish Jigger]

Plated ss pinions?

[Keta]

Is plain steel  heavier than ss .

SS is usualy slightly heavier.

[Alto Mare]

Plated ss pinions?

Tom, not related to this pinion, but yes ss can be plated. There are some that have more money than they know what to do with it. Those are the ones that are looking for a flawless mirror finish on their ss parts. They can't get it out of ss, so they get them plated. I'm sure it's not cheap.
From what i've learned, there aren't many shops that do it, but there are some.

[Black Pearl]

All I can hear is blah, blah.... when a person is talking about something is bad when it is made in China or Taiwan.

Even AVET is made in the USA, some parts inside are made in China.... AVET's CNC machines are made in China, so I guess people should not buy AVET.....

It is a fact that a lot of things are made in China this day, you just need to deal with it.

[Alto Mare]

Play nice fellas  .

[Irish Jigger]

Play nice fellas  .

x2

[Wael]

Hi there, I can tell you how to a simple way to make sure whether the gears are made of SS or alloy steel. Just use a magnet if it is SS it would never stick to the gears. If Alloy Steel or even Chrome Steel they will be moved to the magnet.
If you had this reel here in Egypt, we could have figured out a solution for both gears for less than you paid in epay. Try to find someone specialist in making cogs and pinions. they may change both of them and ask him to use a case hardening Steel for both cogs. This is as far as I know.Many Thanks for all of you.   

[Keta]

400 series SS is magnetic.

[Alto Mare]

Penn anniversary ss gears stick to magnets, never seen  rust on those
penn baja special ss gears stick to magnets, can't tell you if they rust...never used them, but  I wouldn't think so
newell ss gears stick to magnets, seen lots of rust on those
accurate ss gears don't stick to magnets, never seen rust on those

[Makule]

Penn anniversary ss gears stick to magnets, never seen  rust on those
penn baja special ss gears stick to magnets, can't tell you if they rust...never used them, but  I wouldn't think so
newell ss gears stick to magnets, seen lots of rust on those
accurate ss gears don't stick to magnets, never seen rust on those

As Lee points out, the 400 series SSs do rust and it's because of the high carbon content in the alloy.  This also makes the steel hardenable, and capable of being quite a bit harder than other SSs, especially those in the 300 series.  The 440, for example, is often used in making knife blades by even some top end companies.  None of those companies would think of using a 300 series SS for knives (although some of the real cheapie kitchen and utility knives made by others probably are), and while the application is different, the factors for considering them do have similarities (wear resistance, ability to hold an "edge", toughness, resistance to corrosion, etc).

Essentially, all SS have a trait known as "work hardening".  That is, as the surface is worn it becomes hard.  For example:  You try to cut SS with a dull blade and give up after 1/2 hour because you're getting nowhere.  You see the groove, but it's taking you so long to make any progress that you know there's something wrong. This is the result of "work hardening".  What makes this trait a good things in fishing reel gears is that those gears will take longer to wear under normal circumstances (e.g., reeling up bait, cranking in lures, bringing in small fish, etc).

The advantage a 300 series SS has over the 400 is that the 300 has better corrosion resistance.  The 400s, with the higher carbon content, will rust more.  This is not to say that it will rust like non-SS.

The advantage the 400 series SS has over the 300 is that it can be harder and tougher.  Consequently, there is less chance that the gears will get stripped or too severely worn on (a) very large fish being fought with very tight drag.  Even though all SS will work harden, this only happens to the surface of the metal, and if the pressure is too great, the whole tooth will fatigue/fail at whatever the rated strength is.  You will see this either as the tooth breaking (usually not with SS but with other hardened steels), or severely smashed up against the next tooth.  If you see a tooth really messed up against the next, and if there was no manufacturing defect involved, that would suggest that the material the gear was made with was inappropriate for the anticipated load.

The final point, on the overly long post, is the answer to why aren't all fishing reel gears made with SS and, specifically, 400 series SS.  It's the same answer as why they are not all made with brass/bronze, aluminum alloy, or plastic:  First, SS costs more, regardless of whether it's 300 of 400.  Second, machining SS is more difficult that bronze/brass.  Third, machining hardened SS (the 400 series kind) is even more difficult (the smaller the part, the more difficult).  Yes, the 400 SS can be had in the annealed (softened) state and be easy to machine.  However, that would require another step of then hardening and tempering the steel to the proper hardness after machining, involving more time and cost.

Contrary to what we might hope or want to believe, reel manufacturers do not make reels for a select few (unless maybe you're like Everol).  They design and make reels for the majority of user who will encounter the majority of fish.  Those on this Forum likely are not part of that "majority" but, rather, a smaller group of people who want and expect much more performance from their reels than what comes out of the box.  That being the case, the components also cannot be made from the same materials as what is suitable "for the majority".  The components must be made of better materials and must be made better.  Guess what, you get what you pay for.  If you see "imperfections" on the gears (as has been pointed out), and if they fall short in terms of performance (at least the noise, as has also been pointed out), you did get what you paid for.

Maybe paying $100 for a good set is sounding more reasonable?

[Joel.B]

I would like somebody to work these gears and then report back

i'd like to think that this set is from a bad run, and that good gears can be had for $60


I dont want to buy some for myself and have them shred while I am in Baja

[Alto Mare]

I would like somebody to work these gears and then report back
i'd like to think that this set is from a bad run, and that good gears can be had for $60
I dont want to buy some for myself and have them shred while I am in Baja

Neither does anyone else