Chris (Rothmar2) has been busy again making another stainless steel jigmaster frame using the tooling he developed for his jigmaster project http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=14008.60 (http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=14008.60)
This frame is 1 3/8" wide - 1/4" narrower than a regular 501 jigmaster.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_42_57.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_47_29.jpeg)
The spool started life as a stainless 500 'take apart spool' and Chris used a lathe to shorten the shaft / arbor to match the frame width. He polished the spool as well, it had a brushed finish last time I saw it!
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_48_17.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_49_00.jpeg)
Comparison with a 501 stainless spool
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_49_31.jpeg)
A frame like this deserves the best side plates and internal components available - Cortez Conversions plates by Tom Hrynuik with a Pro Challenger bridge, jack, yoke, gear sleeve and 4.8:1 gearset & Bryan's Ultimate Upgrades 5 stack drag kit
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_50_12.jpeg)
Chris also made a gear sleeve spacer out of stainless with a delrin insert/sleeve where it contacts the sideplate.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_50_46.jpeg)
I like Alan T's delrin grips but wanted one a bit smaller than his 3/0 size so I made a smaller version using white acetyl and attached to a 316 stainless handle I had made. The star is from Adam (Motive Fabrication) and the stainless eccentric lever is one of mine with a white acetyl stop.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_54_45.jpeg)
The 501N
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_55_23.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_56_28.jpeg)
And with a stainless frame 501 & accuplates
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_57_07.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_57_44.jpeg)
Thanks a million Chris!
Mike
I am in awe😳
WOW
Mike
Ah, that looks fantastic! The crank and grip all ties in really well together. Brutal little reel. Glad I could help make your vision a reality.
That's some serious customizing, Chris...another amazing job!
Thanks for sharing it with all of us.
Sal
Very nicely done! Lots of creativity here!
..............Lou
Stunning!
Holy moly, that looks fantastic! Chris knocked another one out of the park!
When I grow up I want to be a machinist.
:o Speechless...
Edit: Now that I've looked at this post a few times, holy cow! This reel is perfect...period. This reel would be a hit here in the Northeast for Tog and Sea Bass. An aluminum spool to save on a little weight would be the bees knees.
Job well done you two, flippin' sweet.
I bet you couldn't twist that thing if you tried...what a bulldog! Chris's work is so inspiring! 8)
The bar is set even higher now! How much does the finished reel weigh?
Wow, reel building at a whole other lever,just incredible
Quote from: sdlehr on March 30, 2017, 03:03:40 PM
Holy moly, that looks fantastic! Chris knocked another one out of the park!
Chris, Sid forgot this is an international web site. ;D The reference above is a baseball term meaning you did a great job. :) In other words you hit a home run. See I did it too. I don't know what the equivalent would be in Tasmania except maybe goooooooooooooaal. Dominick
Very nicely done. Just mention Rothmar and my expectations are high.....Chris always seems to go beyond what the rest of us dare to imagine. Amazing !!
-Ted
Thanks for all the acknowledgement guys. But this was Mike's idea from the start. I just helped him to get there. Mike deserves his Sensei status. The 3, then the 4 dog jiggy, custom stainless steel reel seats for 349's, the extra sqidder dog, are his original ideas that immediately come to mind. I'm sure there are a few others I've missed.
Mike, would love to see a shot of the jigmaster "family" you must have now. Did you ever go a "WEX" frame from Randy?
Brian, I'm certainly no machinist. I think of myself more of a "File-ist" hack. I would love to have the machines, to be able to even think of myself as being a very amateur machinist. Compared to Guys Robert Janssen, Cal Sheets etc, I don't even rate a mention.
Chris, what you do with a file, I can only imagine what you could do with a lathe and mil.
Chris, I made this a well deserved sticky, the big boss is the only one able to promote members to sensei.
Sal
Nice! :o
Quote from: Decker on March 30, 2017, 04:35:34 PM
The bar is set even higher now! How much does the finished reel weigh?
These frames aren't light Joe, the assembled 501N without line comes in at 713 gms or 25.2 oz.
I also weighed a 501 I have with penn sideplates, stainless rings (you guessed it, made by Chris!!) and a stainless stand made from an international stand, Pro Challenger spacers & the same internal components as the 501N - it came in at 638 gms or 22.5 oz.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_58_57.jpeg)
I didn't have a stock 501 to weigh but it would be a fair bit lighter than these.
Mike
Quote from: Rothmar2 on March 30, 2017, 10:45:44 PM
Thanks for all the acknowledgement guys. But this was Mike's idea from the start. I just helped him to get there. ........
Mike, would love to see a shot of the jigmaster "family" you must have now. Did you ever go a "WEX" frame from Randy?
I don't want to say you are wrong Chris, but I think you are over estimating the 'idea' part and under valuing the 'doing' part. You started making your frames before I thought a narrow 501 would be good.
I'll take a jigmaster family portrait over the weekend - your work features in a few of them & yes I did think about Randy's wide kits but no I didn't get one - I prefer narrow reels.
Mike
Quote from: Rothmar2
... think of myself as being a very amateur machinist. Compared to Robert Janssen, Cal Sheets etc, I don't even rate a mention....
Thanks, but no... not true. You have a skill set, feel and tenacity far beyond that of many machinists. Machinists are just lazy filers who depend on their machines to do the work, and sometimes limit their own capacity to that of their machine. You on the other hand do it all with will. That is truly appreciable and admirable.
Don't get me wrong; I have filed a frame or two in my time too. But I don't do it anymore. What you do makes everything I do look easy.
.
yikes you guys are incredible ;D It's very close to building a reel from scratch, regardless of it being a Penn clone. Has anyone thought of actually designing an "Alan Tani" reel and building it? All the weak spots of the classic Penn design have basically been overcome through all the contributions on this website, pretty impressive stuff
Quote from: Rothmar2 on March 30, 2017, 10:45:44 PM
Mike, would love to see a shot of the jigmaster "family" you must have now.
Here's my jigmaster 'family' portrait;
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_6_59_49.jpeg)
The middle 501 and 99 at back right have Rothmar SS rings & the front 501 and 501N have Rothmar SS frames.
Good point Chris, I don't think I need anymore jigmasters. ;D
Mike
all look good, but the two with the white knobs look the best! :)
There's top shelf and then there's Chris' work. He and you amaze me with your persistence on this project. You guys have it nailed down and have come up with one of the coolest reels ever made in my opinion.
Great work Chris and Mike!
Thanks for showing us how it's done,
Dom
Thanks Sal, I agree they are the stand out reels, I feel privileged to be custodian of those two frames. I can't wait to fish them, the 501 is ready to go, spooled with 50 lb braid and I'll spool the 501N with 40 lb.
Dom, thanks for including me but I'm a spectator with a few comments from the sideline.
Back to the 501N project. Chris made two narrow spools, I asked him to make a back-up spool for the 501N frame, it's unlikely it will be needed but custom width spools aren't available (normally) and the frame would be useless without a spool if the original was somehow damaged. I thought what better place to store a spare spool than in a reel and made a basic 501N frame by grinding/sanding a 30-20T stand to 1 3/8" and grinding four 349 frame posts to 1 3/8". The original mounting holes in the 30-20T stand had been filled in using a TIG.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_7_00_59.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_7_01_52.jpeg)
Holes were drilled in the sides of the stand and tapped with 5-40 to accept the side plate screws.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_7_02_41.jpeg)
And assembled with penn jigmaster side plates
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_7_05_17.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_7_06_50.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_7_07_32.jpeg)
Or, for the senator fans - a 0.5/0 Senator (They're all Penn parts, it's just that some of them have been altered a bit) ;D
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_7_08_17.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/17/7995_07_07_17_7_09_01.jpeg)
Mike
Good thought on having a spare made, or the reel would be useless as you said if a damage occurred to the spool.
Love your storage unit ;)
Dom
So cool. So very cool.
That 502 looks crazy, I'm jealous!
I mean 501N :)
Awesome collection!
Must admit, that 0.5/0 Senator looks super nice. There's something about the 4 ring look that just spells "classic piece".
Hi, the reel looks nice, but I have a question, why would you want to make a reel that weight's as much as a Penn 4/0 ? Does it make the reel fish better, does it make flylining a bait easier, can you cast a bait or jig as far as a standard reel ? I'll bet $$ you can't flyline a chovy worth a damn with that heavy spool.
Maybe it would work with a big Mackeral , maybe I'm mentally disabled but I just don't get it, I understand using SS for gears where you need the strength & maybe a few other small parts. I understand the need for custom parts for reels where certain parts are no longer available or strength is needed, or parts that make reel lighter. That being said my arms would be very tired if I used that reel all day long, as you probably guessed I'm a old school kinda guy, I like to keep my tackle as light & as simple as I can. Just my 2 cents. Ed
Thanks Ed, I'm not going to try to justify building the reel, you got me on a practicality ;D - it is heavy for it's size but works fine for bottom bashing in small boats using rod holders. A big advantage of stainless is it doesn't need to be anodized, chromed or painted to protect it from corrosion, titanium doesn't either but is expensive, particularly in thicker sections. Obviously the practical solution is to just buy a reel that suits your needs.
Mike
Wow, now that's hot!... except for the white handle.
Very impressive Mike. That 0.5/0 senator is killer, thanks for sharing your creations. Love em all !!
Ted
A quick update on the 501N.
I had wanted to replace the chromed brass counterweight on my stainless framed 501 handle and Chris kindly offered to make one and when 'it' arrived there were three weights, two matching and a third slightly larger one. I thought just about every part of the 501N is custom made by someone on this site so I decided to replace the 'store bought' accurate weight on the 501N handle as well and have matching handles for my two 'Rothmar2' stainless jigmaster frames;
(http://alantani.com/gallery/22/7995_28_10_17_3_17_29.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/22/7995_28_10_17_2_34_52.jpeg)
There was also a piece of 6mm thick stainless in the parcel Chris sent, with a recess machined in one end, a hole drilled in the middle of the recess with a circle of centre-pop marks around the hole. The other end had a 5-40 threaded hole and a couple of pieces of round delrin with 5-40 screws set in the centre and it took me a little while, and a subtle hint from Chris, to realise what I had - a blank for a wide/thick eccentric lever.
I didn't think to take a photo until after I had filed the key to fit the eccentric cam and started to cut the rough shape;
(http://alantani.com/gallery/22/7995_28_10_17_2_38_05.jpeg)
I changed my mind a few times between a straight design something like the levers Ted makes or a curved design to match the curved stars Adam makes, and ended up going with a curved shape. The next photos are after a bit of work on the bench grinder, belt sander, and filing;
(http://alantani.com/gallery/22/7995_20_10_17_9_54_26.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/22/7995_20_10_17_9_55_09.jpeg)
And after a bit more sanding and polishing;
(http://alantani.com/gallery/22/7995_28_10_17_2_40_18.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/22/7995_28_10_17_2_41_09.jpeg)
And mounted on the 501N;
(http://alantani.com/gallery/22/7995_28_10_17_2_42_06.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/22/7995_28_10_17_2_43_21.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/22/7995_28_10_17_5_02_28.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/22/7995_28_10_17_2_44_30.jpeg)
Thanks again Chris, after seeing (hearing) what you put your mates 501 through on your last work adventure, I reckon these two reels would handle most fish I'm likely to run into around here.
Mike
This is amazing... the best looking reel to date!
Mike and Chris, quit your day job and get cranking, making us some custom parts :)
Lots of talent here, thanks for sharing guys.
Sal
That came out really nice! Have to agree with Sal, the "N" looks complete now with that lever. Going to have to pull finger and get mine made. Big tip of the hat to Ted for the inspiration for this.
Wow, that is one sweet custom reel. Hard to imagine how many hours you've put in to make it happen, but well worth it IMO. Love that shift lever too !!
-Ted
Chris - definitely a SIX no need for a video referral ;D
Quote from: Alto Mare on October 28, 2017, 12:38:33 PM
This is amazing... the best looking reel to date!
Mike and Chris, quit your day job and get cranking, making us some custom parts :)
Lots of talent here, thanks for sharing guys.
Sal
Yeah Sal,
You should sell that Jigmaster sideplates you have to Mike..... LOL
Quote from: Black Pearl on October 28, 2017, 10:55:52 PM
Quote from: Alto Mare on October 28, 2017, 12:38:33 PM
This is amazing... the best looking reel to date!
Mike and Chris, quit your day job and get cranking, making us some custom parts :)
Lots of talent here, thanks for sharing guys.
Sal
Yeah Sal,
You should sell that Jigmaster sideplates you have to Mike..... LOL
That's actually a good idea, but I wouldn't sell it to him, I would probably let him have it for free.
No Sal, you hang on to those puppies! One of a kind doesn't get passed around, unless of course it's the tank. ;D
The Cortez Conversion plates look great enough to help Mike show off his talent.
Quote from: Alto Mare on October 28, 2017, 11:37:24 PM
Quote from: Black Pearl on October 28, 2017, 10:55:52 PM
Quote from: Alto Mare on October 28, 2017, 12:38:33 PM
This is amazing... the best looking reel to date!
Mike and Chris, quit your day job and get cranking, making us some custom parts :)
Lots of talent here, thanks for sharing guys.
Sal
Yeah Sal,
You should sell that Jigmaster sideplates you have to Mike..... LOL
That's actually a good idea, but I wouldn't sell it to him, I would probably let him have it for free.
I agree it's a great idea :D but I don't think it should happen. Those plates have an interesting history and belong in Sal's collection, where they were originally conceived.
Quote from: Tiddlerbasher on October 28, 2017, 10:49:23 PM
Chris - definitely a SIX no need for a video referral ;D
Haha - nice reference to Dominick's earlier explanation of Sid's baseball term - for non cricketing readers, six is a good thing.
Mike
Yup!!! Really nice and I dig the white handle 8)
Marc..