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Original Upgrades and Improvements |
The drag components (cork on
Teflon) and basic mechanical concepts of the reel
are the
same or close to the former Harris Solitude. The
outside appearance of the reel has stayed relatively
the same.
What have changed are the internal parts themselves
including the machining quality, design and
sturdiness of the parts. These changes have produced
a much more solid, smoother feeling reel that
performs more consistently than the previous reel
and we feel distinguishes the two.
Probably the most significant changes have been made
with the clutch housing and bearing. The clutch
housing, which the bearing is press-fit into, has
been re-designed to allow for easy conversion of the
retrieve. This is significant because previously,
the reel had to be sent back to the factory to have
this done. The housing is now machined from aluminum
round bar instead of an aluminum extrusion.
Extrusions are bars that are formed into specific
patterns like a hex for example. They are used to
produce parts that will have some dimension similar
to the shape of the bar. This saves machining time
but can make holding very tight tolerances
difficult. The shape and dimensions of our housing
are completely machined in order to hold tolerances
in the order of +/- .0002". Holding such tight
tolerances has significantly reduced wobble in the
spool. The clutch housing, being a bearing surface
with the spool, is hard anodized type III. The one
way clutch bearing is now a stainless steel bearing.
All components used in the reel are now completely
saltwater safe. That is, they are either made of
stainless steel or anodized aluminum.
The frames have been re-enforced with more material
through the center axis
of the reel which has reduced flex in the reel. The
size and strength of the spindle has been increased
to provide a stronger support for the spool. These
changes have resulted in a much
stronger and sturdier reel.
The spring system, located just under the drag
knob, has been changed to a stainless steel
crest-to-crest wave spring with a working load of 8
lbs. Changing from wave washers to this style spring
has increased the range in the drag and provided a
smoother, more consistent delivery of pressure to
the drag components throughout the range. An
aluminum nut was designed that compresses the spring
while the drag knob is being turned without the drag
knob itself shifting inward or outward. This
allows the rubber o-ring fitted at the base of the
drag knob to remain in line and in contact with the
frame to prevent water from coming through. Our drag
system, including this nut, are designed to allow
for the spring only having to be compressed half way
in order to achieve the full range of drag in the
reel. This will increase the life time of the spring
significantly.
Previously, the reel utilized a click pawl system
that provided a clicking noise while line was being
pulled out. The pawl could be observed when the
spool was removed. It was fixed to the frame by a
pin with part of the pawl itself sticking outside
the drag area and part of it in. A thin aluminum
plate covering the drag area was then secured on to
the frame with screws. This system required a large
opening to exist in the drag area exposing the drag
components to significant amounts of moisture. We
felt that completely encapsulating the drag area and
strengthening the plate would be very important to
increasing the performance of the reel and
protecting the drag components.
The plate, which covers the drag components and acts
as a drag surface itself, was re-designed as a
threaded cap which now screws on to the frame as
opposed to using separate screws. It has also been
reinforced to eliminate distortion during
compression of the drag. The reel's drag is still
not completely sealed but the amount of moisture
that is exposed to the drag components is minimal.
Because of these modifications we have eliminated
the "click pawl system”.
Substantial time and effort has been invested to
increase the quality of the finish on the reel.
From better machining to long hours of tumbling and
polishing we feel that the reel's already
aesthetically pleasing look has been improved. When
compared to the former reel up close and side by
side, a significant difference can be seen.
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| Reel
Upgrades as of March 1, 2009 |
The locking button system has
been upgraded significantly.
If you look inside the hub on the upgraded spool you
will notice that the stainless washer now has flat
sides and sits in a special black Delrin insert (you
can only see the edges surrounding the flats on the
washer). The length, or what would be the OD of the
washer, was increased. The Delrin insert cradles and
supports the washer from underneath. The increase in
the OD of the washer was done so that it does not
slip back and forth. The more snug fit of the
washer, in conjunction with it being supported from
all sides, removed slop and play (i.e. the spool
being able to move laterally in and out) in this
area tremendously.
The old system was paramount to taking a pencil and
holding one end of it with your thumb and index
finger. The pencil would represent the washer and
where your fingers are would represent the button
location. The end of the pencil, with nothing
supporting it underneath, flops back and forth. That
is why Harris reels have this horizontal play in the
spool.
The locking button has now been machined by us. We
are no longer using the buttons that we had in
inventory from the Harris company. We have been able
to reduce the variance in the shape of the buttons
by machining them ourselves and have we have added a
radius to the lip of the button so that engaging the
spool to the housing is much easier. You no longer
have to tighten the drag as tight to engage the
spool.
We now have a stainless bearing that is pressed into
a new clutch housing. The clutch housing no longer
utilizes the black rubber o-rings to secure a
snugger fit. The machining and anodizing tolerances
have been improved.
Also, the rotor sleeve (the part that slides over
the spindle and is the bearing surface for the
bearing itself) and spindles are now heat treated
prior to machining. The significance of this is that
before we heat treated the parts after being
machined. Subsequently we had to polish both parts
which was not ideal. When stainless is heat treated
there is thin layer of oxidation that is left over.
We would polish this layer off but it was difficult
to get all areas perfectly and some times there
where high spots as well as areas that could
potentially be hot spots for corrosion.
Now the stainless bars are heat treated before being
machined. The parts are machined perfectly smooth
with no areas that could potentially corrode or
cause galling.
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