After looking at some of the work a few members here do with brass, i decided to play around and start making one myself. I wanted to build one that was very simple, but fishable.
Spool and foot are donors. (to hard to make just yet.
Spool tension will be controlled by sliding the brass supports in and out and locked with screw through small drilled holes.
More to come as i get the handle shaft supports / gearing in!
My first attempt at soldering a brass reel:
The beginnings are interesting. Next you have to add a Kopf style clutch and a main gear, handle and side plate. What you have done so far is neat. Don't stop.
Thank you sir!
I'm a tad embarrased, but i've never even seen a Kopf or it's inner workings. I'll have to go with what feels right on this one until i'm a bit more educated.
Basically what I mean is that you build a head plate that fits in with what you have already built.
On the outside of the head plate you have a main gear shaft passing through the head plate for handle attachment and one simple lever. You would not need a spool bearing because you have already done that in your frame.
The handle is attached to a main gear that is mounted in a bridge on the inside of the head plate. The bridge has one pivot screw and one eccentric mounted pin tied to the lever that acts as a guide for the slot in the bridge that allows your travel of the main gear to and from the pinion that you have mounted on the spool shaft. That would give your reel a free spool mode.
Or you could always eliminate any gear disengagement and build a constant engaged reel where the handle always spins with the spool, aka Knuckle Buster.
Thank you for the info! Most of those features are far beyond my capabilities. My poor dremel has been getting a workout with all the work i'm giving it. (i need a small lathe i think.
I think i'll go knuckle buster on this one, and try some new stuff as i progress/learn working with brass.
May I suggest plexy is always a good candidate for those sideplates...relatively easy to work, available, and you can see what's going on inside. And since you've used cannabilized parts to date, you can do the same for the drive gear, which is really the difficult part to do, if only armed with a dremel and sharpened screwdriver! Good luck!
Plexiglass is a very neat idea john. I'll keep that In mind for a future project. Ive already fabricated a brass bearing for the handle gear I'm going to use. It will also be attached in much the same fashion as the spool bearing. I'm going to shoot for a skeleton look on this one. As little as I can get away with and still structurally fishable.
