making a 505 into a 500.

[jigmaster501]

I was thinking about this for awhile when I put a 500 spool into the pinion of a squidder last night and it fit.

If someone were to have a 505 and replace the spool spindle with a full size squidder spool spindle and replace the gears with 500 gears, would you then have a ball bearing jigmaster without the negative attributes of the spool spindle shredding?

I was thinking the same thing could be done with a 506 and a squidder jr spool spindle.

Did I reinvent the wheel or was I just dreaming too much last night?

Thanks.

[Alto Mare]

Would be nice, too bad the diameter of the spools don't match

[jigmaster501]

If we left the same spools and just changed the spindles, wouldn't we avoid that problem?

[Alto Mare]

I don't fully understand what you're trying to do, first off, keep the Squidder away from the Jigmasters, they don't match.
If I read you correctly, you're trying to have a Jigmaster 500 with bearings instead of bushings. You already have that option with the 505/506. If an additional 3/4 of a turn per crank is too much for you (4:1 vs 4.75:1) you could replace the 505/506 gears with the Jigmaster 500 gears. The pinion would be a little loose but will work, if fish it where it's intended to be fished at, I wouldn't worry about damaging the pinion.
This is the easiest solution. Another option would be to find Accurate plates.
Sal