Reel Restoration Tips

Started by mo65, January 07, 2018, 07:28:23 PM

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happyhooker

I, too, am not in the business of gear repair/restoration, and certainly no professional.  I can't justify buying expensive tools, cleaners, etc., unless I can also use them outside of fishing gear work.  So, I look for more common things I can use.  Yes, it probably takes more time, and if I was doing this for a living, I could completely understand the "time is money" mantra.  But, I can expend a little extra time and I feel get pretty good results, and I only have to please myself.  Thanks again, Mike, for your valuable tips & insight.

Frank

JoseCuervo

Kind of along Happyhooker's train of thought, I don't see myself as cheap, more like frugal.. ;) I also hate wasting time running out to buy something I really don't need to spend money on.

Papertowels / toilet paper / Kleenex make cheap and readily available filters.

I filter vinegar and kerosene used to clean parts. They keep a green tint but work fine. Use a single layer of whatever. You can easily make 8 filters from a single Kleenex. I clean greasy gears and stuff with kerosene in an old tuna or catfood tin. I clean rings and chrome in the cut off bottom of a gallon vinegar jug. You can fit a Squidder size spool in half a water bottle, it saves wasted space in case you are low on the fluid needed.

There is funk in the kerosene jar, but that got in there before I figured out to filter it. Once I am down to about a tinful left I will filter that crud out too.

Rob



mo65

Quote from: JoseCuervo on October 19, 2018, 09:04:28 PM
I filter vinegar used to clean parts. They keep a green tint but work fine.

   I have never filtered it, but I do reuse cleaning vinegar, it does take on a lovely green hue. ;D
~YOU CAN TUNA GEETAR...BUT YOU CAN'T TUNA FEESH~


foakes

#48
This is a good post section that you started, Mike.

When needing to filter out some crud or junk from a container to get a few more uses from the batch -- these cheap and readily available coffee filters work great.

Best, Fred
The Official, Un-Authorized Service and Restoration Center for quality vintage spinning reels.

D-A-M Quick, Penn, Mitchell, and ABU/Zebco Cardinals

--------

The first rule of fishing is to fish where the fish are. The second rule of fishing is to never forget the first rule.

"Enjoy the little things in Life — For someday, you may look back — and realize that they were the big things"
                                                     Fred O.

Midway Tommy

After every reel I filter my lacquer thinner jar using 3 squares of toilet paper. TP is really cheap & does a great job. I use one square when I dump it into a different jar. I wipe out the original jar with the two squares and then fold it over so any film is in between the double layered square. Then I pour the lacquer thinner back into the original jar through the doubled square. It works great eliminating grime. The thinner has a little oily residue left to it but it will still clean another or two sets of reel parts. As a notation, I don't use a lot of lacquer thinner in my jar. I use a 3" glass jar with just enough thinner to cover all of the smaller parts and halfway up the bail & main shaft. I'll lose some thinner when I filter so I'll usually add a little more in the next batch if some is needed. After about 3 or 4 reels the thinner will be getting polluted with grease & oil so at that point I pitch it and start anew.     
Love those open face spinning reels! (Especially ABU & ABU/Zebco Cardinals)

Tommy D (ORCA), NE



Favorite Activity? ............... In our boat fishing
RELAXING w/ MY BEST FRIEND (My wife Bonnie)

mo65

   Here is another hot tip, an easy way to clean bearings for folks who don't have a solvent tank or ultrasonic cleaner. I heard Sal mention this stuff so I ordered a can...best move I ever made for cleaning bearings. A few quick squirts of Paslode and a spin is all it takes.  8)



~YOU CAN TUNA GEETAR...BUT YOU CAN'T TUNA FEESH~


Gfish

Looks like good stuff Mo. Better n' Brake or Carb cleaner?

These dental brushes come in three sizes(thick showen) and are great for greasing screw holes, and getting up underneath stuff I 'm too lazy to disassemble. Also they are easy to clean off and last awhile.
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

nelz

So how do y'all dispose of the used solvents?

JoseCuervo

#53
Quote from: nelz on August 13, 2020, 04:05:01 AM
So how do y'all dispose of the used solvents?

My harshest solvent is kerosene so I just filter it and reuse it, no disposal. I keep it in a Ball pint size jar w/ a lid [gently stored] or the original small jug.

If I needed to get rid of it, evaporation seems innocent enough to me. Don't use or buy more than you need (a quart or so at a time) and have a plan for storage and waste management in advance.

I use vinegar for chrome and that can go down the sink drain, so can Simple Green or the purple stuff.

You know, now that I look at it after a few months since the last use, it looks like a..., sample.

Various stuff.. Chrome brassed parts go in a plastic tub of vinegar, size dependent. Use the same thing to fresh water rinse the parts, so space to shake stuff is good, a handle on the vessel is great (one gallon water jug cut up). That cut off 5 gallon jug bottom will hold 16/0 rings and plates. Steel and brass take baths in a not shown cat food or tuna tin of kerosene.

See pic of a lonely fishermans' apartment counter. ::) That round tea bag thingy is great for soaking screws, bearings, springs, etc in either vinegar or kerosene.

The acid brush for grease application beats the toothbrushes which are better for scrubbing.





Dominick

Growing up in a NY tenement we had kerosene heaters.  I cannot stand the smell of the stuff so I won't use it.  Dominick
Leave the gun.  Take the cannolis.

There are two things I don't like about fishing.  Getting up early in the morning and boats.  The rest of it is fun.