Hardy Altex no.1 mk IV mechanical bail/ complete teardown and restore

[Woodbilly]

Been working on polishing up the brightwork on the Altex. There is a bunch!

After polishing, I am 100% sure my no.1 was leaded and not painted. The residual " color", I was seeing was decades worth of grime and oxidation.
I took some Nevr Dull magic polishing wadding and gave the body parts a good shine. This is a gauze type wadding impregnated with polishing compound. You cut pieces off according to job. Polish item vigorously with it until black residue forms and then wipe clean with cloth. I use a large piece of elk hide, as the suede makes a killer buff/ shine. Use the wadding until blackened, then cut new piece.
All this is done by hand. No Dremels, drills, buffers, etc. I like to feel and hold the items Im working on. When you take the time to appreciate these works of art down deep, you see things like original tooling marks and such, you may not see as a casual observer. Plus, I feel like I'm in Edward Broadfoot's shoes for a moment.
I will be moving onto the small parts next. Lots of brass and aluminum to shine!
I know purists may be against patina removal, but this reel was not working properly and was doing nothing and had bad oxidation.
I will be using this reel, so I want it to look and function at its best. I have many original finish reels, I use, and many I have redone. Point is, I'm using them for what they were designed.
Nothing against cabinet queens, but not for me. I display vintage reels at the butt end of a pole, not on a shelf. That's just my thing.

"Do what thou will"

Peace!

[Woodbilly]

A few more pictures

[Woodbilly]

The little bits all shined up! All parts will get hit with compressed air to remove any dust or suede "fuzz" from polishing, before assembly.

Note oil channel on non rotating shaft. Cool!

That's why I love this stuff!

[Woodbilly]

More parts shining like new!

[Woodbilly]

Jeremy, I simply assumed all TFF chaps sipped a flute of Louis Roederer whilst inspecting an Altex, well, that or a mug of builders brew with 7 sugars!

Pabst Blue Ribbon. I did it my way... lol

[Woodbilly]

Knocked out the flier and mechanical bail arm assembly.

Since these parts are exposed to the elements, all metal/ metal pivot and fasten points got a bit of grease vs. oil.

Also included a picture of my hack for holding micro screws, in order to get them in place. A bit of tack putty on the screw head and that holds it onto jewelers screwdriver tip for easy placement.

She's looking awfully shiny!

[Woodbilly]

More pictures

[Rockape]

Coming on nicely there Woodbilly.

A good education for those of us not so confident with these reels, thank you.

[Woodbilly]

Coming on nicely there Woodbilly.

A good education for those of us not so confident with these reels, thank you.

Thanks. I have a spring bail no.2 that's up next on the restore list. A bit fewer parts, but basically, the same.

[Woodbilly]

More progress and a few things learned along the way...

Attached dust cover and installed flier assembly to reel body.

After attaching the dust cover and test fitting flier, I noticed when rotating the flier, it was making contact with something.. After careful examination, I noticed the dust cover screws were dome head and interfering with rotation of flier. I checked my other micro screws and they were all dome head or had a step shoulder, so none of those.
I checked parts installed on the completed flier for misplaced screws and, "bingo!", there were the flat top screws I was looking for! I had mistakenly used them on the bail arm drive gear cover. Same threads, different head shape.
The flat top screws sit flush with the dust cover, when snugged down, and cause for clean rotation. In my previous pictures of flier assembly, you can see misplaced flat top screws on external gear cover picture. Oops!


Next learn as you go lesson.

Setting the mechanical bail arm trip gear, so it properly trips the bail during retrieval. If this gear is not "timed" correctly with the bail arm external drive gear, nothing works at all. Gears just snag up and reel is useless.
It took several tries removing trip gear and re positioning it to mesh it differently with the drive gear, in order to get the bail to close correctly and flier to continue to rotate.
I included pictures of trip gear at its different stages through mechanical bail trip.

Just for those who might be gun shy because of the notorious flier bearing assembly, fear not! It's really not that bad. Just micro. I used tiny tweezers to place bearings in ball cage washer. I also used minimal grease on the hard steel "sandwich" washers. This helped to keep the tiny bearings in place. Once the stack is assembled, the flier is inserted into body and infamous collet is snugged down.
Internals next!!

That's why I love doing this. The mental challenges defeated!

Peace!!