at the moment I was kindly asked to service the old 1958/59 DAM Quick Finessa 280 reel of a lady member. What could I say?
Now the reel is back in perfect order it is just the spool and drag system that had an issue.
As you certainly know and you even have one or two of these troublemakers at home - a bit annoying. There must be that old thread somewhere about Altex spools and the difficult way to solve that.
So I had a look to this specific spool and found that it rotated not in a plane but had a bit of a wobble. Certainly the reason for the drag not working properly.
The base of the spool was a bit uneven but not from wear and tear. There was still the paint on so it must have been a factory "defect" to the spool base. So I thought I should give it a go with the little watch makers lathe...
Step one already done. Now a nice even surface for the fibretex washer of the DAM's. Not working a lot better but I found that also the inner pocket had an uneven surface that got caught on rotation. So another go on the lathe:
Before
And after
Now that issue is almost 90% gone. The rest 10% (and I compare to modern reels) is due to the aluminum spool itself. But if a lighter line is used it will work a treat.
Now the unpleasant part:
I lost the chenille on the lathe due to centrifugal force and age of the chenille. Such a pity as it is the first DAM Quick spool having that feature.
Now the question: Chenille is absolutely NOT to get here in Germany. Is there someone in here who could help?
