Supertuning: TD-SOL

1

Just something to share.

At first glance, from far it looks somewhat like the Banax Zest 3BB Version (Orange). Holding it, nothing else to say. Its very well build, designed for finese fishing but I would rate it as very powerful reel for its class. Ultimately its about the same as the Alphas.

Brought it back with me from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore and once I have cleared my work, its party time!

Loaded the reel with 10lb Fireline for a dry test cast with mini pink colour deep diver lure (S$2.00 Daiso) at a big grass patch. Out of the box its not bad. Went home immediately and got down to work on the TD-SOL.

It is my usual habit to do a complete disassembly of the reel when brand new. Firstly, I can’t be too sure how long has the grease been in there. Secondly, the reel had been handled by others.

Materials Used:

  1. Copper Grease
  2. Silicone Based Grease
  3. Meguair’s Gold Class Shampoo with Paint Conditioner
  4. Dishwashing Detergent
  5. Degreaser (Paint Safe)
  6. Industrial Grade Aerospace Teflon Coating
  7. 50% Pure Carnauba Wax (Approved factory wax for use on Rolls Royce)
  8. 3000 grit sandpaper
  9. Automotive Extra Fine Rubbing compound
  10. 5W-30 Rating SM Grade 100% Synthetic Engine Oil
  11. Yellow Rocket Fuel
  12. Terry Cloth @ 100% Cotton
  13. Artificial Vinegar
  14. Toothbrush (Free from Hotel)
  15. Cotton Buds (Free From Hotel)
  16. Body lotion with Tea Tree Oil (Free From Hotel)
    17, Tissue Papers (Complimentary from Hotel)
  17. Acetone/Alcohol
  18. Canned drinks x 1 (Require the can)

Step ONE: Complete Knock Down
The dismantling of this reel is rather simple. Remember to have the exploded view drawing in hand.


Note the original grease that came with the reel.

Step TWO: Bathing the Reel
Upon dismantling, the parts were all degreased with degreaser. The drags were put aside untouched. Bearings are left aside too.

Washing procedures are as follows:
a. Degrease the parts (Flush with Warm Water)
b. Wash with dish washing detergent (Flush with Warm Water)
c. Final Wash with Meguair’s Gold Class Shampoo with Paint Conditioner. (Flush with Warm Water)
d. Totally rinse the parts clean with no traces of soap.

Step THREE: Protection
As my intent is to use the reel for both salt and freshwater. Proper protection is very important.

All the external parts are painstakingly coated with Industrial Grade Aerospace Teflon. Each external part had been coated with 7 layers of coatings. Each coat is allowed to have about 30 mins drying time.

The mag control side cover, crank case covers (painted) and the frame are coated with additional 3 layers of 50% Pure Carnauba Wax. Each layer with 10 mins drying time (Optimum for Carnauba Wax) before buffing off. Thereafter leaving out in the sun for about 2-3 hours for baking, to allow the Carnauba to draw the colour out giving the reel a very deep shine.

Step FOUR: Details
The brass gears are cleaned and immersed into a large bowl filled with Vinegar. This will bring the shine out of the brass gears and allow imperfection to show immediately. Burrs from the gear cut process are filed off by hand. Other imperfections are removed wherever possible.

Step FIVE: SuperTuning the Pinion Gear

The pinion gear is immersed in acetone/alcohol to remove whatever is within the groves. Notice the black stuff in the small dish. All that came off never did anyone realised that there are all these particles in there right? Oh well … use it any longer it might mean premature failure/wear of the gears. Mind you, I had only done dry cast on grass patch. How did those things get in there? I don’t know either.

Now these are the places that you must get a mirror finish:


The right hand side of the Pinion, cylindrical flat surface after the end of the slanting gear.


The other end of the Pinion, thinnest diameter portion of the Pignon.


The end of the Pinion that connects to the spindle pin must be polished to a mirror finish as well. Look at the example in the picture.

For this operation, I use the 3000 grit sandpaper and Extra Fine Rubbing Compound. If you cannot find these, AUTOSOL is fine too. But get the real stuff, not the “Inspired By the Original” stuffs. The Pinion was rinsed through warm water a couple of times to check on the finishing.

By polishing these parts, the retrieve will be even smoother. During gear engagement after a cast the action is very smooth as well.

Step SIX: SuperTuning Bearing
The bearings are split into two groups.
a. Casting
b. Retrieve

Under the Casting Group, as the performance of the bearings will affect the casting distance, it is considered the more critical group. So slightly more money had to be spent on this group of bearings. (Actually just 2 pieces).

Under the Retrieve Group, the key issue is the smoothness. We need smoothness but don’t need the bearings to handle the rotational speed of the casting groups.

Down to work:
The two spindle bearings are the only support during casting. Daiwa’s Free Floating Spool as they call it. The bearings were completely immersed in Acetone/Alcohol for about 30mins. Scrub it gently with soft bristle brush to remove grease or particles every 15mins and poking it thru the tip of a wooden pencil and rotating the bearing in the Acetone/Alcohol. (WARNING ! NO SMOKING or OPEN FIRE DURING THIS PROCESS) This step is to remove all grease or lubricant the bearing might have in there.

After cleaning the bearings, it is set aside for drying. (Mean time, prepare the Retrieve Group Bearings the same way as mentioned above.

For Casting Group:
After drying out the bearings, Yellow Rocket Fuel is poured into the halved drink can. Enough to cover the 2 bearings. Put the can over the stove bringing the oil to a boil, holding it with a pair of tongs or pliers as it is very hot.

You will notice that there are bubbles coming out from within the bearings. Not to worry, it is just the air bubbles coming out from the bearing while the Yellow Rocket Fuel goes in. It will stop when the bearing is fully pumped up with rocket fuel.

Use a pair of tweezers to get the bearing out of the can and try to spin it a little. Thereafter leave it between thick layers of tissue paper for the excessive Rocket Fuel to drain out.

The bearing is ready for use !

For Retrieve Group:
Do the same as for the casting group. Except for this case, I choose to use 5W-30 Rating SM Grade 100% Synthetic Engine Oil (Heart pain to use Yellow Rocket fuel on all. Moreover, theoretically my hands will break even before I need to change the oil in the bearings again. Continental cars can travel about 10,000km to 15,000km before they need to change engine oil).

All the bearings are now ready for fitting again!

For grease, basically my general rule of thumb is that:

  1. If it is gears, I’ll use Copper Grease.
  2. Clips and linkages, I’ll use Silicone Grease.

It has worked so far with no problems at all.

After assembling everything together, I did a comparison on free spool spinning at mag setting Minimum. Previous recorded figure was about 8secs spinning. After SuperTuning, it is about 10secs spinning. Does it work? I think so. It is quite a breeze to cast as well and I needed help from the mag setting as I am still not very familiar with the reel.

The linkages can be tuned as well, but I’ll leave it to the next time. Enjoy your tuning. :goodluck: By the way, Do Not Remove too much materials.

Cheers,

Tere

Addendum A
Forgotten to mention about the spindle. As the spindle shaft is in contact with the cast control, the end that is near the cast control knob should be highly polished. But please note that it should not be flattened in anyway.

2

Very detail description. Thanks for sharing.

PS: can do mine for me or not? Old calcucatta 50, it needs an overhaul actually [:D]

3

:smiley: Calcutta is a different set of tuning. There are other items that needs to be tuned as well for the Cal 50

4

Nice and detail there bro.

With all due respect,dont take this as critics ok???Just want to share with you and other fellow friends.

As far as i am concern,most daiwa stock spool bearing is a shielded bearing.To clean them is easy.Use a needle to take off the retainer bearing and you can pop out both shield on both bearing.It will make it easier for you to clean and degrease them…u can use acetone or any other degreaser/solvent as long as it wont leave any residue and harm the bearing,but i bet most ordinary guys will use a zippo oil.Btw i found it work fine either using acetone,alcohol or the oil.The bearing can be laid down on the tissue paper to dry.
As per rocket oil you only need a drop or two for the spool bearing.The shield now can be put back together with the retainer.Be care full when dismantling and putting back the bearing shield as most of the time the retainer clip will tend to jump to never found land.

Thats why i think that u only manage to get only a 10 sec spin after the service.Its should be more specially when using yellow rocket oil.I can get more than 1 min after service.The more u put oil(even a thin visc)the heavier for the bearing to spin.Thats why u dont soak the bearing and only use a drop or two.Cheeeerrrrsss…

5

Actually, IMHO, a long spin or a short one also depends alot on the weight of the spool (rotational innertia). Since the SOl is supposed to be a light/finnese reel meant for tossing out light lures, it should have a very light spool, therefore a short spin time. But then again, the spin time can be greatly enhanced with the right viscosity grease!


Earth is NOT inherited from our ancestors BUT borrowed from our children!

6

Very detail and good write-up bravo!

There is a average spin duration for all spools..
Check it out here http://www.japantackle.com/Topics/Maintain_fix_reels.htm

7

Yeah bro with empty spool its quite hard to get the spool to spin longer…but with a loaded spool i got a nice decent spin with it.Btw i dont think its necessary to boil your bearing in hot oil.Theres too many consequences,the oil properties will may be change,bearing have tight tolerance,i dont think its a good idea to expose it to heat and the property of the metal itself can change expose to heat.The best way to do it i think is just pop out the bearing shield,clean it with proper cleaner and lube it,than put back the shield.If u just boil it how do u know that stock lubricant in the the stock bearing is not there anymore after boiling(even with immersing it in acetone before without taken off the shield), …i would say the stock lubricant is still there and will mix with the rocket oil…i afraid that the contamination will happen in future.different oil and grease dont mix well together .I oil the spool bearing and grease(even stuff it with grease) the side plate and gear bearing.Here a few nice articles on bearing.Cheeerrrsss…
http://www.tackletour.com/menumaintenance.html

8

Hi mates,

Thanks for your comments. :slight_smile: I really appriciate it :slight_smile: and sorry for the late reply as yesterday was one hell of a day.

I think its my bad english for saying “to boil it”, I can’t possibly use the words “poached the bearings”, I suppose too. In actual fact it was to heat up the oil till air from within the bearing to be purged. I did this due to the fact that I didn’t want to remove the retaining pins from the bearing as I’m rather clumsy with these small items. This is by utilizing the thermal expansion of air. :smiley: Short cut.

Pertaining to the tight tolerance issue, I do not agree with that. Yes, you can say that for the instance whereby it is heated, metal expands. But following that during the cooling down period, contracts linearly. Well if it really increases the size of the bearing if its heated, it should work for other metals as well. I’ll try heat up 1kg Gold Bar and I get more/bigger block than before. You’ll see me heating up Gold Bars every day. Heheheh :smiley: (Just kidding, no offence)

With reference to the “poached bearing” issue. When carrying this out I am fully aware of the consequences. In my humble opinion, when I was planning for the process, it had came across to my goodself that the process that I was to carry out is something very similar to annealing of materials. After giving it a careful thought. My conclusion was that, though the process is rather similar to annealing, the temperature of the oil should not exceed 260 Deg C as it would have shown signs of bubbling and vapourization, aluminium drink cans were used as Alu gains heat and lose heat fast. The bearings were not taken out immediately thus subjected to a period of probably (quite linear temperature drop). The bearings were not taken out immediately and immersed in water or oil at room temperature (Not Quenched), thus there should not be a case to worry that the bearings may crack due the problem of to outer surface cooling down faster than the bearing core. The possibility of pitting is probably zero as well.

Yes it is correct to say that I cannot be sure that all the original bearing grease had been removed. But large percentage of the grease inside the bearing should have been removed, else there wouldn’t be much bubble coming out within the gaps when heated. (Just my educated guess)

Theoretically, the grease used in high speed bearing should be of high temperature rating of up to 270 Deg C. Currently what I have done was to replace the grease within the bearing and in turn provide a full film lubrication for all the bearings. Lets look at it in a simple way, for conventional reel for surfcasting, one drop or two of rocket oil is dripped onto the bearing. If it is really a case of lubricant cross contamination, wouldn’t the competitive surfcasters be one of the first to know of such problems and to create a big din out of the whole issue to the manufacturer of the lubricant? :slight_smile:

I will like to apologize if I have caused some misintepretation. At least there are members looking into the credibility of the post. Really glad to know that. If I had in anyway caused any inconvinience or upset to anyone with the post or my reply, I hope that my sincere apologies will be accepted.

Cheers,

Tere

9
quote:
Originally posted by rapalajoe
Nice and detail there bro.

With all due respect,dont take this as critics ok???Just want to share with you and other fellow friends.

As far as i am concern,most daiwa</font id=“red”> stock spool bearing is a shielded bearing.To clean them is easy.Use a needle to take off the retainer bearing and you can pop out both shield on both bearing.It will make it easier for you to clean and degrease them…u can use acetone or any other degreaser/solvent as long as it wont leave any residue and harm the bearing,but i bet most ordinary guys will use a zippo oil.Btw i found it work fine either using acetone,alcohol or the oil.The bearing can be laid down on the tissue paper to dry.
As per rocket oil you only need a drop or two for the spool bearing.The shield now can be put back together with the retainer.Be care full when dismantling and putting back the bearing shield as most of the time the retainer clip will tend to jump to never found land.

Thats why i think that u only manage to get only a 10 sec spin after the service.Its should be more specially when using yellow rocket oil.I can get more than 1 min after service.The more u put oil(even a thin visc)the heavier for the bearing to spin.Thats why u dont soak the bearing and only use a drop or two.Cheeeerrrrsss…

TD SOL is daiwa’s ? as i’ve asked some fishing store about this and he said it is not

and seriously when TD sol was out, i thought it look alot like TeamDaiwa, but i realised the TD character is different.

can anyones clarify?

..::: Mancing Ikut Musim :::…
Barang cukup? ada kaki? air cantek ? jom!</font id=“green”>[img=right]http://lh3.google.com/image/macaruda/RgDHNrGcBrI/AAAAAAAAAFc/9W2xmVkoKso/s144/rangka.jpg[/img=right]