DAM Quick 111 SLS

Started by DougK, December 06, 2021, 09:03:52 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

DougK

The 111 SLS is a budget reel from about the same era as the truly wonderful thousand series 1001 etc. This was Japan-made for budget reasons though still designed by DAM, and presumably quality assurance was still done. The orange Kontrolle sticker on the reel seat suggests a real German had a look at it, though this may just be applied for show.

I have a couple of Abu Cardinal 652 and 752, similarly Japan-made while still Abu-designed, which I rather like. So I was curious to see what DAM had done. Mo65 posted the schematics which piqued that curiosity, thanks Mo..
Those papers are for an 111 XL which I believe was German-made. The SLS is the same reel Japan-made.

This one was in rough shape,
- automatic bail arm trigger sticks and jams the bail somehow
- bail arm catches on drag knob when spool is at the top of its cycle
- feels unusually loose winding
- line guide screw is brutalized and line roller entirely missing. I should have noticed this in the blurry pictures of the auction, fool me.
The other things can be fixed but you can't fix missing..

I was about to mail it back for a refund when I thought to try foakes' library of DAM parts. Fred came through as usual, thank you Fred. See,
https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=28378.0

Greasy bucket'o'parts, ready for washing.



It was running quite dry. Plenty of clean grease on the inside of the main gear where it does no good, none measurable on the pinion shaft or the oscillating control arm for the spool shaft.

Oddly the pinion shaft does not fit tightly into the bearing. This gives the rotor a little bit of play. A bit of stiff grease on the shaft before inserting into the bearing minimises the play and quietens it down. I'm pondering wrapping a bit of tape or similar around the shaft to give a better fit.

The only bit of design I really don't like here is the oscillating control arm and its pin into the spool shaft. This is inherently sloppy with no way to tighten it up. The characteristic behavior is that the spool will twitch at each end of the oscillation stroke, top and bottom, as the force on the spool shaft changes. A bit of stiff grease reduces and quietens it but can't eliminate it.



The lever for the bail trip looked straight and unmolested. The stop on the housing was shiny on top, and slightly rounded on the strike face. Solved this by bending the lever just slightly, enough so that it hits the stop rather than scraping over the top.



Another bend to the bail arm wire, so it clears the drag knob. The wire is nice and stiff which is good except when bending it back to shape..

The pinion is brass, the main gear doesn't give me much confidence. The teeth are shiny and slightly worn. I was expecting this to be another source of the looseness. However once reassembled with light grease on the gear teeth, there is no play at all, most impressive.

My guess is the original line guide roller screw loosened, fell out somewhere, and spilled the line guide and its assembly parts onto the cold unfeeling mud. The brutalized new screw doesn't seem to be the right head. The reel was fished with hard braid until it cut a groove in the roller mount. Fred's new parts saved me and the reel..

The antireverse has 3 settings - off (green), silent (yellow), and ticking (red). This is sort of a gimmick but mildly amusing.



The petticoat spool is double walled, so line can't creep under and wrap around the spool shaft. I wish this had become popular. In my experience skirted spool reels aren't any better than standard ones at preventing this line creep, and the petticoat spool solves it entirely.

It runs quiet and smooth now, with only the tic of the oscillating control arm. Typically this goes away when fishing as there's a bit of load on the spool from the line tension. The drag with its two giant washers is excellent, smooth and with a wide range of adjustment, perfect for a light line reel. Like the Abus I mentioned from that era, the Japan-made 652 and 752, it is decently designed and well made. I'd rather have it than any of the cheaper new reels from the giant Korean factories.



Tricks:
1. the antireverse spring on the main gear shaft has to be in a specific position when gear is dropped in. Last thing I tried was to have it between the spool shaft and the antireverse rocker, that seemed to work.
This bit of design doesn't make me happy, that wicked spring is unique to the reel and if it ever goes the antireverse goes with it. It's common to the Abu reels too, and I have a Zebco PS2 with the design. To be fair there's not a lot of load on the spring, and it's survived on all these well-used reels.
2. elbow bail spring - this tricksy little devil is sided not symmetrical. If the wrong way around, the end of the spring will catch on the plastic disc on the bail arm elbow, and it will stick when the bail arm elbow screw is tightened down.

Playlist for this session, War on Drugs, first Dire Straits album, Frazy Ford..





wailua boy

I'm a fan of the XL series. I believe the early models were made in Germany with the later models manufactured out of Japan. The SLS series were all manufactured in Japan.

foakes

Really good job, Doug —

And thanks for showing everyone so clearly the photos — with solid commentary.  It is a great help to others.

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.

mo65

   It's interesting that your line roller was missing...so was mine...and my reel was boxed/hardly used! I have one on it now but can't remember where I got it. I don't think Fred had those parts at that time. My box says made in Japan/designed in Germany. 8)
~YOU CAN TUNA GEETAR...BUT YOU CAN'T TUNA FEESH~


DougK

it works !

Took off some of the braid and spooled on D.A.M Tectan 5.5lb monofilament, seemed appropriate. Even if it's not the original D.A.M this mono is excellent, thin and strong, handles well.
The little shad that were shallow on the weekend were driven off by a cold snap on Monday. Fished 2 hours with no signs of life except geese honking and owls hooting, this one walleye saved the evening..