Shimano BeastMaster 4/0 badge recreation

Started by redsetta, September 30, 2019, 07:52:46 PM

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redsetta

Morning lads,
As you may recall, I recently picked up a Shimano BeastMaster 4/0.

Unfortunately, being from the 1980s and pushing past 30 years of age, it wasn't quite complete.

Doug Landau at www.jdltreasures.com is my 'go to' for BeastMaster parts, and I quickly sorted the 'easy' issues with his help.

The biggest problem was that it was missing the left side-plate badge.



Because the badge is integral to the side-plate, these aren't available separately.

This meant that I'd have to buy a whole new frame to fix the issue - and they're definitely not cheap, despite their age.

So, I started considering other options...

This reel's going to be my deep-drop workhorse, so whatever solution I applied was going to have to be robust, remain corrosion-free and look 'proper'.

The easiest solution would've been to just cut some 1.2mm aluminium plate, paint it black and call it 'job done'.

You probably already know that I'm a huge BeastMaster fan, so that was never going to fly.

The first step was to cut an accurate template...



This gave me measurements of 52mm x 26mm x ~1mm.

I wanted the end result to look like it was 'always there', so I took a photo of the badge on one of my other BeastMasters and resized it to these exact parameters.

I found a photo company that did alloy prints and researched their process to see if it might meet my needs.

As it turns out, it involves 'sublimation', which means the design is printed onto sublimation transfer sheets, then placed on a heat press with the 'substrate' to be sublimated.

Through a combination of time, temperature and pressure, the design becomes effectively 'embedded' into the alloy.

The smallest print I could get was 20cm x 30cm, but that meant I could get 18 badges onto one print - and this was the result:



I then set about cutting a tester out with a rotary tool:



After some very judicious clean-up on a bench-grinder, I got such a nice result that my tester ended up becoming the finished product!



The fit is so nice that it was quite an exercise to get the badge back out after the first test fit.

It's now epoxied in place and looks pretty good I reckon.

Most importantly, it's robust, will never scratch off, will remain corrosion-free and looks 'proper' - like it's always been there.

I've now got 17 extra badges, some of which I'm going to give to a local reel master and mate Jeff Murray for any 4/0s he comes across.

If anyone needs one, flick me a PM and I'll pop one in the post.

Righto, hope that was of some interest.

All the best, Justin
Fortitudine vincimus - By endurance we conquer

alantani

send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

xjchad

Awesome!  Great problem solving and beautiful outcome Justin!
Husband, Father, Fisherman

Crow

There's nothing wrong with a few "F's" on your record....Food, Fun, Flowers, Fishing, Friends, and Fun....to name just a few !

Hardy Boy

Wow , great job !! I could use those for the TLD line .................. I get a bunch with the plate gone. I just glue in a rubber piece usually.Those are sweet.


Cheers:

Todd
Todd

redsetta

Cheers lads - much appreciated.
It's not perfect, but it does the trick ;)
Fortitudine vincimus - By endurance we conquer

Dominick

Heck it looks perfect to me.  Good job Justin.  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.

redsetta

Thanks Dominick - hope all's well with you and yours!
Cheers mate, Justin
Fortitudine vincimus - By endurance we conquer

foakes

#8
Excellent work, Justin!!

This certainly opens up a lot of possibilities and applications.

Thanks!

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.

mhc

It can't be too difficult - a lot of people do it.

thorhammer

Holy crap, Justin, nice work! And even better to see you back up and it! It's like I say about my boats- if you are too good to sit on that cooler and criticize my gear while I taxi you to the Gulf Stream, you are free to enjoy golf :)


redsetta

Quote... sublime!
:D ;D
Cheers lads.
All the best
Fortitudine vincimus - By endurance we conquer

Rothmar2

Great save, and fitting repair, that's probably better than original. I imagine a fair bit of time went into researching how and where to get this done. Worth the effort!

redsetta

Thanks Chris.
You're spot on - the rumination and research took much longer than the actual work.
I like to think anticipation is four-fifths of satisfaction   ;) ;D
Cheers mate
Fortitudine vincimus - By endurance we conquer

oc1

I agree with the others.... Wow.  What sort of machine do you need to print on sublimation transfer paper?
-steve