Hello folks, and during a snowy winter I got to thinking "what if " a person was to mill the hex into a stock gear. since the eared gears are very much the same start, but theres where we quit, it seemed to work ok so we were happy with the eared gear idea, as we got huge improvements in max drag potential.......soooooo I thought maybe just mill a strait line between the ears so to speak and that would be a hex.......but was afraid to try,,,,,,,,so I did it anyway....a stock sst 3.30 113h gear was used, so I milled an hexigon with as strait of sides that i could, here is my first try ....
(http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/p660/gst6814/033_zps681daf7e.jpg) (http://s1344.photobucket.com/user/gst6814/media/033_zps681daf7e.jpg.html)
next the 1.4mm cf washers were cut and fit as tight as possible
(http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/p660/gst6814/030_zps44bcdfdc.jpg) (http://s1344.photobucket.com/user/gst6814/media/030_zps44bcdfdc.jpg.html)
measuring the inside of gear shows the thickness of the new drag sandwich
(http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/p660/gst6814/035_zps6c02a6ec.jpg) (http://s1344.photobucket.com/user/gst6814/media/035_zps6c02a6ec.jpg.html) (http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/p660/gst6814/032_zpsfb3ed57b.jpg) (http://s1344.photobucket.com/user/gst6814/media/032_zpsfb3ed57b.jpg.html)(http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/p660/gst6814/007_zps589913ea.jpg) (http://s1344.photobucket.com/user/gst6814/media/007_zps589913ea.jpg.html) This last picture show the new sst hex drag willing to hold 35pounds of lead and still not totally tightened as the star could do more. the reel used has a sst gearsleeve and sst double dogs,
In conclusion it was a what if idea, and altho the gearwalls are thin, they are very strong, thats the beauty of sst. and I too was sceptical as the milling didn,t seem strait between the outer points in the gear..... but when you look at the fitted washers they are as strait as a Baha, and fairly easy to cut and fit. I used sst .020 heat treated keyed washers from Brian Young. this allowwed another cf washer......to help out....... as a doit your self project, I plan on fishing this drag package this summer and trying a reeeel test one on one with some big fish.......So stay tuned. gstours
(http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/p660/gst6814/009_zps6dd95d50.jpg) (http://s1344.photobucket.com/user/gst6814/media/009_zps6dd95d50.jpg.html) this las picture is before I got into this forum, and was using avets then.....hmmmm.
I'm very impressed by its performance!
Once again Gary, you've come up with a great milling job. Very nice!
Nice job and very nice halibuts.