Microsurgery

Don Champion · Post by **Don Champion** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 7:41 pm

I bought a Hendrick reel at the ORCA National this year. It was one of the offerings at the silent auction. Knowing it had a problem I bid on it anyway. What the heck, it was for a good cause.
The pinon gear was missing a tooth. (See arrow in photo).

The gear is about 1/4" in diameter and 1/8" thick. The silver object in the photo is the head of an ordinary straight pin. There is a small "D" shaped piece soldered in the bottom of the gear. The pivot on which it rests has a flat filed on it that lines up with the soldered piece.
I filed the rest of the broken tooth away to get a smooth flat surface, then tinned it with solder. Next I filed a .050" X .060" rectangle on the end of a piece of 1/8" round brass and tinned one side of that. (See photo below).

The new tooth blank was cut off and soldered in place. Then came the careful work of filing the new tooth to shape. The results are shown in the last photo. The reel now runs smooth.

Post by **john elder** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 8:02 pm

very impressive rescue job, Don! I would have been looking for a parts reel or making that one same...you've given us hope that we can bring those parts back ot life!

Rick H · Post by **Rick H** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 8:06 pm

Nice job Don. I was wondering what that silver round object was in the 1st pic and about then you pointed out that it was the head of a pin. That's when the micro-surgery title, struck home! Wow!

Rick H · Post by **Rick H** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 8:07 pm

Nice job Don. I was wondering what that silver round object was in the 1st pic and about then you pointed out that it was the head of a pin. That's when the micro-surgery title, struck home! Wow!

Jason · Post by **Jason** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:38 pm

Nice job. That's an interesting pinion. What does the rest of the reel look like?

Don Champion · Post by **Don Champion** » Fri Nov 26, 2010 3:41 pm

Jason - OK let me see what I can do. Here are a couple of photos of the outside.

Please note the spool brake button and the rivet on the front. We will get back to those in a minute.

The foot is forged or cast with grooves machined in the top. The pillers are soldered in those grooves.

Inside the front cover you will see the brake spring on the left side. It is riveted at the bottom. The button has a round head brass screw that fits inside a hole when in the "rest" position. The brake is applied when the button is slid toward the rivet. Unfortunately the spring being the harder of the two metals, cuts a groove around the screw head and makes it almost impossible to move. The gear is two piece and soldered together. The spool is also soldered together as Andrew B. Hendryx did his. This is the first reel made by Augustus B. Hendrick that I have seen where he solders the spool.