Hey guys!
Back again with a trifecta of Italian made mid 1950's CarGem Mignon 33 ultralight spin reels
Gold badge 33
Toothed gear badge 33
UL badge 33
All 3 getting a full stripdown, cleaning, and fresh oil throughout.
All 3 similar, but different.
UL badged 33 has the rare handle sleeve oil port with knurled plug!
Have not seen many of these.
UL and toothed gear badged reels both have tiny rubber bumper on bail lever mounting arm, to provide for a quieter bail closing.
Gold badged 33 has blue spool, others black.
I think the blue spools were what you got when purchasing extra spool. IDK for sure, though.
Toothed gear badge had black knurled handle tightening nut and Gold badge/ UL have chromed one.
They all look to have agate line rollers, UL badged one is cracked and most likely, the pieces held together by grime and non use, so we'll see if it's salvageable.
If not, I have a trove of parts reel rollers and will find a sutiable replacement.
Pumped to get these 3 micro ultralight reels and put them to use.
I am shocked at the tiny size of these.
I thought the Hardy Altex no.1 and Alcedo were small. Ha!
I added a picture of a Altex no.1 spool next to the CarGem spool.
Stripdown of the UL badged CarGem went smoothly.
I was correct that the agate roller was not salvageable, as it crumbled into 3 pieces upon disassembly. Come to find out, a 1970's Zebco Cardinal 3 roller is exact match! Fixed that!
The loose ball bearings were the worst part of it. I'm not afraid to work on them, as all Altex reels, also have loose bearings, just not 36 of them!
My washer, used to hold the bearings, looks like a tiny brass monkey!
Also discovered that Altex bearings are exact match, as well. Ask me how I know! Lol
Two bearing races on this reel, as seen.
20 bearings on the inner race and 15 on the outer race.
Inner bearings set first and worm gear must be in place with bevel washer beforehand.
To accomplish this, I just taped the dust cover to prevent gear shaft from falling into place, keeping it elevated to expose race.
Handset 20 micro bearings into race and then drop worm gear into place, locking bearings into race via bevel washer on shaft.
Next firmly holding shaft, apply tape to inner worm gear,to hold it in place while outer bearings are set.
Handset 16 outer bearings and then place bevel washer, copper washer, and finally reverse thread holding nut, to secure entire assembly in place.
Rest of assembly pretty straightforward.
I shined up all brightwork and touched up paint on cover plate, flier and spool only.
They had tiny paint loss and it was easy to touch up these small spots.
I left body shell as is, due to more sufficient paint loss and minor touch up would not do it, so I left it alone.
Gave bearing races a grease with plumbers valve grease. All I use, if using any grease, at all. I then hit entire reel with light sewing machine oil to fully lubricate everything.
Reel working very nicely now and A/R and drag both have a great click to them.
I'm going to give the other CarGem's a strip next, but not disassemble the roller on the toothed gear 33 due to a crack in its agate roller.
I hit it with some high strength clear glue on the crack and think it will be fine, now.
The gold badged 33's roller looks intact.
These have to be the tiniest ultralight reels I have ever seen.
The foot on 2 of them is only about 2" long! They will not even mount on a modern reel seat due to the tiny size. Only a vintage rod with sliding rings or an Eagle Claw style with sliding foot sleeve and twin thread3d lock rings.
These micro girls will definitely be seeing some crappie fishing action!
5.6 oz
5.25:1 ratio
Peace!!
More pictures
Final pictures
Well done Billy! Those loose balls can be a real tedious PITA if a guy hasn't dealt with them before. I never had good luck using tweezers, the balls always had a tendency to pop out and go flying into nowhere land. :o >:( I have a tiny magnetized straight screwdriver that I use to put them into their place.
Those Cargem 33s are cool little reels!
Haha! How do think I figured out that the Altex bearings were the same?
Finished the strips on the other two and can't wait to get them into rotation for the crappie catching!
Hello Billy,
Do you ever repaint any of the reels you restore?
Coffee
Quote from: Coffee on September 06, 2025, 03:18:02 PMHello Billy,
Do you ever repaint any of the reels you restore?
Coffee
Yes. If I have two or if reel is beyond original finish to look good.
If you scroll this beginner board, I have posted many stripdown posts with several involving repaints.
Took my custom Italian Gold Badge CarGem Mignon 33 out yesterday.
Paired with my 1970's 5' Eagle Claw Denco Super II
This tiny microlight really gave the feisty crappies a run for it!
5.6 oz!
Funny, caught 33 on the 33 for 13 keepers!
Old school'n!!
Lake of the Ozarks Missourii
Beautiful job on the 33 reel and 33 crappies. I enjoy reading your posts and seeing your work.
Quote from: MACflyer on September 14, 2025, 01:48:23 PMBeautiful job on the 33 reel and 33 crappies. I enjoy reading your posts and seeing your work.
Thank you! Glad you enjoy!
What MACflyer said and thinking about crappie is making me hungry!
Quote from: PrivateIdaho on September 15, 2025, 04:15:15 AMWhat MACflyer said and thinking about crappie is making me hungry!
Thanks!
Here's some more eye candy with a side of mac n cheese! Lol
Looks good! The reels AND the meals!
Quote from: Woodbilly on September 15, 2025, 04:42:17 PMQuote from: PrivateIdaho on September 15, 2025, 04:15:15 AMWhat MACflyer said and thinking about crappie is making me hungry!
Thanks!
Here's some more eye candy with a side of mac n cheese! Lol
Now that is doing it right! I'll trade you some kokanee fillets
Quote from: PrivateIdaho on September 16, 2025, 09:09:12 PMQuote from: Woodbilly on September 15, 2025, 04:42:17 PMQuote from: PrivateIdaho on September 15, 2025, 04:15:15 AMWhat MACflyer said and thinking about crappie is making me hungry!
Thanks!
Here's some more eye candy with a side of mac n cheese! Lol
Now that is doing it right! I'll trade you some kokanee fillets
Those look amazing! I bet they would be even better on open heat, like I do my salmon. Those red meat filets look scrumptious!
Crappie are white filets and much more delicate, so I love to eat different fish species for the textures and flavors.
Took my, recently stripped and restored, 2nd gold badge CarGem Mignon 33 microlite today for some crappie action.
Paired again with one of my vintage 5' Denco Super 2 ultralight rods
Who knows how long since she's caught a fish, but she fell in line like a seasoned veteran, today!
Caught 36 for 6 keepers. Not a haul, but dinner!!
Love these tiny Italian workhorses!!
Peace!
As an addendum to this thread, here is a pdf file containing the CarGem Mignon 33 Ultralight Spinning Reel Instructions and Spare Parts List document.