My Grouper Special

[Alto Mare]

Did you change the bearings or modify the spool shaft to get the narrow 113H spool to work?

I modified the spool shaft

The shaft on the right was as the one on the left. I also needed to do the ratchet side

I tried with all the cutters that I had available in different combination and nothing worked, that stainless steel is tough

I was able to get it done by using the dremel with the lathe, both spinning at the same time


here is the finished side


and the ratchet side

if you look closer you will see the aluminum extension block that I had to install on the lathe, so it would clear the spool, that was over $100, but it came with a nice cutting tool holder.
I thought this lathe was good enough for me, but looks like I need to get rid of it. It's great on brass, but worthless on stainless steel. I realize that I'm new at this, but if I could make some neat parts with brass, I should be able to do the same with stainless steel. this lathe is just too small.
Sal

[Keta]

I don't believe that will do it lee, you will be 1/16 too short.

I had to use different bearings, I'll look and see what I did tomorrow.

[George4741]

NICE!  The ULTIMATE Grouper Special.  Thanks for sharing, Sal.

[Bryan Young]

Simply amazing Sal. Your learning curve is steep. I am in awe.

[Shark Hunter]

Good work Sal! The Dremel is a miracle. What would we do without them?

[Alto Mare]

I just tested the reel and was disappointed to find that the spool locked up on me at 30lbs, I probably went out of square when milling, or maybe the shaft got weak from grinding it down .
Looks like I wasted a $70 spool   oh well...
I took it apart just to make sure it wasn't the gears and reassembled as a standard size


Took 32lbs to lift (6) bricks in a bucket

This reel has the 5-149 main gear and the 13-113H pinion, the ratio is 2.5:1.
I like the gears upgrade much better than the stock 2.1:1.
The drag stack is the 1+5  kit from Bryan.
Bryan, I'm impressed, I also did a rolling test and the reel is nice and smooth. If any of you ladies and gentlemen want to make this reel a little faster, go for it, the swapped gears are working flawlessly.

This is a great reel and it will have its place.

The aluminum narrow spool is not available for this reel, so if anyone is interested, Gregg (Chowderpuff) will try to make a special run for us as a Narrow Kit. The cost would be as the 113h Narrow (T4N).
We will need at least 50 orders to get it going, please post here if interested and maybe we'll get it done.

Thanks! Sal....I'm definitely in for one

[john2244]

Hello Sal,

As always, nice work.  Too bad the spool did not work out for you.  I don't know how you came up with the 149 main and 113H pinion combination but I am glad you did.  I just checked and I have a 149 main gear so I am going to convert one of my grouper specials to the 2.5:1 gear ratio.  Since I had all of the parts I got carried away with this reel and made 4 of them using the Penn 66 spool with  Tiburon topless narrow frames.  The Penn 66 stainless steel spool works well.  I don't have any of Brian's 5 stack kits so I will use the 3 stack.  Too bad the 149 main is not as tall as the 66 main.  I think this will be a great gear ratio for this reel.  I will need to find some more 149 mains.

Thanks again Sal for your work and sharing it with all of us.

John

[Alto Mare]

Hey John, the 5-149 & 13-113H are a perfect match, the only problem, you will need to grind about a 1/16" for the main gear to fit, but only at the bottom part, which it makes it very easy to do.
The side wall on the 5-149 is .65mm thicker than the 5-66, the opening is a little larger, but Bryan's ears fit to perfection, maybe that's what we need to make the drags smoother, a little extra room.
On the pull I got 40lbs, lifting 32lbs, my back started to hurt so I gave up.
Lee's insert will bring you to the same height, but if you use Bryans kit, you will need a jigmaster's spacer.
It is also a good idea to replace the gear sleeve with the jigmaster's sleeve, that one has a better ratchet, just make sure you get the stainless from Alan.
When you're done, you will be surprised on how smooth the reel feels.
Let me know if you need anything, I have the steel gears that I believe are Moly coated. These are very strong gears, Let me know and I'll put it in the mail

[Shark Hunter]

That Sucks about the spool Sal. Isn't there a frame out there so you could just use a stock 4/0 chrome spool? Or am I just missing the point of being Narrow Minded.

[Alto Mare]

Yes, I'm showing one above your comment .
I knew that there was a good chance I would damage the spool, I'm ok with that, besides, I'm not done with that spool just yet.
I really like this reel, George had a good idea when he did his and I always wanted to make one for myself.
Scotts has the stainless steel spool that would go with that narrow frame, but I really like the look of the aluminum spool, you need to see this reel live, pictures don't do it justice.
I will be making myself  the narrow, standard and wide, I need to have all three , I already have three sets of new plate and gears. This started with a new set of 113 plates for $6, but I know I will be paying for it. Remember, its not about the money

[Shark Hunter]

I mean a Tib frame you can just slap on a stock 4/0 Black without any other mods.

[Alto Mare]

I mean a Tib frame you can just slap on a stock 4/0 Black without any other mods.

Yes, as mentioned earlier there are options for the narrow, standard and wide. Tiburon has the frames for all three options.
Scotts has the spools, but the narrow aluminum is not available from Tiburon or Scotts.

The Longbeach 66-67 and 68 will give you the narrow-standard and wide.

[Bryan Young]

Sal, when you said that the spool locked up, can you explain?  Are you saying that the spool contacted the sideplate or frame? 

[Alto Mare]

Sal, when you said that the spool locked up, can you explain?  Are you saying that the spool contacted the sideplate or frame?  

Yes, but not the side, the outer edge. Here is a shot of the spool. you could see the rub mark.


It is related to my grinding of the spool shaft, the right side is bent a little. Not much, but it doesn't take much.

[Ron Jones]

Sal,
What we did with the reels a couple years ago is switch to the 66 bridge in order to use the 66 gear set of 2.5:1 ratio. This sometimes mean you have to dremel out the sideplate a little to make it fit. I have to say that your system is really nice.
Ron