Squidder Projects

Started by Rothmar2, November 11, 2020, 02:12:56 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Rothmar2

 Hi All,

I haven't been posting much over the last couple of years, purely because I have had little to show since the Jigmaster builds. But I have been doing little bits here and there on a couple of projects, and my work situation has changed yet again to where I may be able to get back to doing more custom work due to having access to decent machines again.
The builds in this thread have been in limbo for some time for various reasons, but progress has been made to where I now have one fish-able, and the other I will show as it progresses.
This thread is also a shout out to those who have had influence on me to do reel mods. For those who have been regulars on AT.com for many years, you will spot their legacy as this progresses. Two I would like to mention straight up are Sal and Wallace, who are tragically no longer with us.
I've had a Cortez Conversions Classic Squidder kit for some time (many thanks Tom!) but it took a back seat while I was doing the Jigmasters. What bought this reel forward was the recent release of the Savage Gear 3-D Octopus slow jigs and the potential that I could see to use them on the local striped trumpeters.



People have tried jigging for them on and off over the years with only very limited success, but I felt these new jigs could be game-changers. I had also wanted to chase them on lighter tackle to get a bit more fight out of them. The usual tackle being 50lb braid, 12-24oz sinkers and a spread of hooks on a heavy paternoster rig. This tends to take the sting out of their fight somewhat!
So it was that the low gear ratio of the Squidder, steel gears, SS gear-sleeve upgrade and Tom's kit would make the perfect lightweight package to try something different. I just needed a decent crank and handle.
I had made a panel for the sounder on my little tinny out of a botched polyester/ fibreglass channel section I'd tried to mould a few years ago.



Mike (mhc) had sent me some dyed Kevlar cloths that he wasn't going use a while back from some of his projects, and I laid some blue/black cloth over the channel section to make it a bit more pleasing to the eye (never mind not finish fairing the piece, I do have a lazy streak at times!). The cut-out for the sounder to fit into was perfect stock to make cranks out of, being about 4mm thick. Wallace had made some Carbon fibre cranks which he had shown here years ago, hence the inspiration.
I used an old stock Shimano TLD5 handle as the basis for the crank design, having significantly more leverage than a stock Penn Squidder handle.



I rough cut out the blade and then laid up a layer of Carbon fibre weave over the reverse side from the blue/black Kevlar weave (more on that later). Then I made some SS inserts to fit into the blade where the gear sleeve and handle shafts would mate together. These being high potential wear and stress areas.



These inserts were filed off from being perfectly round and had grooves filed into where they would fit inside the blade, and all surfaces roughed up to provide as much keying as possible for when the inserts were epoxied into the blade. I did not bother with an insert for the blade counterweight, as I figured there would be minimal stress at this end.



The handle shaft, sleeve and bearing was similar to what I have shown in my other build threads. This arrangement has given me no trouble so far. The sleeve end thread is once again 3/8 BSP. The shaft is a M5 SS cap head bolt.





The actual handle is made from a heavy rod blank butt off cut which had an insert epoxied in for the handle sleeve to screw into. The blank ends were build up with a thickened epoxy mix, and allowed to cure, then shaped back to allow for a comfortable (to me) feel in the hand.






Finally the handle blank was sheathed in a thin carbon fibre weave for decoration (!). Using peel ply and tape to hold it all down while the epoxy cures saves on frustration and minimising fairing post cure. Thank you to Marq's epoxy work he shown on threads here. Ideally having a vacuum bag arrangement is the ultimate in laying-up these tricky shaped profiles.



Then it was just a matter of finish fairing and polishing the parts. I didn't bother with the handle however as I like having a bit of weave texture as it helps with grip, and as I've said before, I do get lazy and can't be bothered where I feel it isn't warranted!
So here it is, spooled with 30lb solid core. The bridge has also been fitted with the extra dog as per mhc's thread https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=20257.0





The star is a Titanium one from Motive-fabrication. The clutch lever (Tom's?). Spool is a Newell, which is a dark bronze colour, would ideally like to get it re-anodised black some day. But for now I'll fish it as it is.

I have only been able to fish the reel once and had no luck finding any stripey's to play ball. Could  not catch one on bait either, grrrrrr, even amongst the other blokes onboard. So no fish so far. There was a little knock when turning the handle under load which turned out to be a couple of little burrs on the main gear. This has since been taken care of by bedding the gears with a little lapping paste, cleaning off and re-greasing the main gear and pinion.

Now for the blue/black Kevlar weave. I purchased one of the XN Tiburon Squidder kits from Randy at Vintage Offshore Tackle close to 2 years ago now, in Black/Cobalt. This should mate up nicely with the crank stock from the sounder cut-out.



I also ordered a set of Tom's recently released Squidder plates in black. Today they arrived!







Needless to say, the plate kits are absolute first class! Thank you also Tom for the extras bits you threw into the package.

To anyone reading; Who has built a XN Squidder, and has anyone fished one yet? Keen to hear anyone's thoughts about them, and what they are using them for?

Will show more as this progresses.

David Hall

Nice work as always.  I look forward to your projects.  Makes for a very pleasant distraction from everything else.

oc1

That's a beautiful reel and crank Rothmar.  I think the tape and peel ply may have been safer and preferable to vacuum bagging.  I miss Marq's composite work.  He did some good stuff too.
-steve

mo65

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


mhc

Good to see you back in the reel world Chris and picking up right where you left off - building spectacular reels with your personal touch. The crank and handle turned out great. I'm looking forward to the XN build.

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

Tiddlerbasher

Lovely work, as always Chris :)

Donnyboat

Yes Chris, your a tallented man with great forsight, thanks for taking us along, cheers Don.
Don, or donnyboat

Rothmar2

So these Squidder projects are almost finished.

I thought I would show how I make the acrylic swirl handles to finish this thread off.

This is about 1 1/2" stock that I bought from Duck Calls USA off the big Auction site. There are other vendors that do stock as well.

It just fits into my mini-lathe chuck. Carefully mount and true it up by eye, and put a slight centre drill into each end for the live tailstock centre.



Start trimming the stock down to the desired diameter



Reverse the blank to trim the other end to diameter



I have made a jig for clamping the blank while drilling the hole for the threaded sleeve to be embedded into the blank



Set the jig onto the drill press, I tilt the table about 7-10 degrees, and then drill a pilot hole



Next drill the final hole that will be slightly larger than the insert sleeve, check the hole is deep enough to contain the sleeve. I machine the handle and shaft sleeves before-hand when making the handle/crank assemblies. I use 3/8 BSP for the thread



Remount the drilled blank onto the lathe, and start machining the tapers for the final shape



Once the first taper is cut, tape the end to protect the blank from marks from the lathe chuck, and remount to taper the other end



I had also made a mounting chuck for rounding off and finishing the ends, its a tube with a series of cuts along its length, which can be clamped inwards to grip the blank. There is a piece of threaded bar that goes through the lathe spindle, that acts as a draw bar for the chuck. I tightly wrap masking tape around the blank as a packing, so that its a snug fit, then tighten the clamps down to get a good grip on the blank. It usually needs a little knocking to get it running reasonably true. I just cycle through a few grades of sandpaper to shape the ends



And polish the blank at one end, then remove and re-tape to reverse the blank to shape and polish the other end



Once the blank has been finish shaped and polished, make preparations to embed the sleeve. The bore is roughed up with course sandpaper, and I also use this Dremel bit to drill some angled holes to really make some extra hold



Rough up and file a few grooves into the sleeve for extra hold. Thoroughly clean all surfaces with a little acetone before mixing epoxy as the glue.



Mask off around the bore to protect the blank from over-spill.



Cover the bore and sleeve surfaces with epoxy, and embed into the bore. I use a high strength, slow setting epoxy for this. I let the epoxy have a couple of days to go off.



Carefully wipe away any excess until there it just the slightest fillet around the sleeve. Once the epoxy has fully cured, peel away the masking tape, sometimes you need a scalpel to assist with this.

I also shaped an extra rest for the thumb at the top end of the blank. I covered this in the Jigmaster project.

Then it can be attached to the crank shaft and sleeve. In this case this is the result





I was also not happy with the first carbon fibre wrapped handle I'd made for the Silver Cortez Classic kit, so I made another out of acrylic. These two rigs are fast becoming my favourite bits of kit



They have been really nice to use slow-pitch jigging or dropping baits in 20-300' of water. The rods are Acid wrapped Samurai blanks for PE 2 and 3.

About the only thing left to do with the Black and Blue Cortez/Tiburon reel, is to make a composite Stainless/delrin spacer sleeve and either find a suitable drag star, or maybe make one.

There ya go John (Thorhammer) fully flushed out!






thorhammer

Well, as always...spectacular work! Somewhere in the to-do list is build matching sticks for my pimped Squidders...agree, they really are a couple of my favorites and Ted's blade, for me, is just the right length between stock Penn and and Penn power handle holes on Squidders and 501 / 5's. Keep it coming!