Reel Repair by Alan Tani

I have an International 80STW I bought on Ebay. The seller disclosed to me that it came with a broken screw without a head stuck inside the handle. I got it for a good price so I decided that I was up for challencge. Aside from that, the reel is close to perfect.

I would like to attempt to rethread the hole. Any tips before I attempt this? I've never done this before. This screw is somewhat important because it holds the locking plate in. Plus I want to cover up that nasty corrosion.

Do I need a drill press to do this correctly? I only have a hand drill. I watched a few videos on Youtube.

Can anyone recommend a good drill and tap kit?

Tip one. Don't buy a drill bit set or tap set unless you want to spend hundreds of dollars on sizes few people will ever actually use.

A hand drill will do, but good drill bits and taps make the difference between the process going smoothly or you fighting with it and breaking taps.

If it's aluminum, you want the drill bit sized for 75% thread engagement. If it's steel or stainless, 60% is just as strong, and greatly reduces the tapping effort, and the risk of breaking taps.

What size screw is it?

All good advice from Adam. You will want to make sure the re drill is on center and although not entirely necessary I would use a center drill if you have one.
Good luck,  ..  Lou

The handle looks like it is aluminum. Is that right?  Drilling out the screw by hand without having the bit jump to the aluminum sounds daunting. I know I couldn't do it and would think about rotating the handle locking plate and just drilling a new hole.  A stainless screw with a slightly coarser thread would probably be self tapping, but if you can find the right tap it will not be too expensive.
-steve

I have done several of these, as this can be somewhat common on older Internationals.  Drilling out any small stainless screw from aluminum with a hand drill can be challenging.  I find grinding it flat wirh a dremel, them using a centerpunch to create a spot for tye bit to grab, then using a smaller bit works best.  A reverse tap is iseful for removing the last remnanents if the SS screw (especially on a non-though hole like the clicker ratchet plate, or drag plate screws), before retaping with a proper sized tap.  In this case you can likely just use the tap itself to remove the last bits of the screw.  If there is limited alum left for retaping(and replacing te part/such as a spool, is cost-prohibitive), you can either go to a larger screw, greater pitch, and/or use a bonding agent to help secure the screw.

Take your time.  The smaller screws are actually easier then the longer ones.. so there's that.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info guys. Three se7ens, I just found your write up that you posted. I'm reading it now.

I will hold off on ordering a tap set. I didn't realize they are expensive.

I have a second 80STW that I can pull the screw from and look at. I will confirm the screw type, size, thread count.

The handle is aluminum.

If you get the old stainless screw out, the corroded threads on the aluminum handle may crumble.  It's possible a replacement stock screw (110-50) would not do you any good and you would have to use the next size up.  Don't know until you do it.  You can buy taps a la carte for a few bucks.  You don't really need a kit or even a handle for one that small.
-steve