p.s.
BIG Thanx to Gowge of St.Augustine Fla for the inspiration and thoughtfull work and help hes done on the penn mag setup too.

* please note i have been working the cycolac conversion now for quite some time,take what you need for yourself here,info should be free and if you use this info on your sight please remember where it came from,many thanx.

1st we will discuss abus round and low profile baitcasters,qauntum baitcasters magnet additions.
2nd will be penns with cycolac spool conversions and the latest pennadjustable mags modification !
3rd abu pawl tips for ultra fast hooksets.

I found some  rare earth magnets at radio shak that are a direct drop in fit and stronger than the factory 3 mags in the reel itself.

what i did was too add these to fill holes in the mag carrier on two reels from abu garcia's black max series, and abu round reels and quantum low profiles using less tension and more mag control.

in some cases the magnets when staggered north -south will creating a braking effect on the spool by causing an eddy current that would be better than one stack in some apps.

i use more mags and less brake to get a farther cast out of the reel with less to no lash.also see the improvements link on the main page for abu reel tips,

the rare earth neodium magnet part # 64-1895 at radio shack is the replacement for abu and quantum reels at 1\16 x 3\16 "

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note the pics before and after the neodium rare earth mags
are installed , abu gives you 3 for ten slots and quantum adds in 5. i fill all the slots with the new mags and a drop of
superglue works fine to hold them in place, the mags must be staggered north and south in order to get the most of the created eddy currents,on the abu's you can cut a flat half moon out of a refridgerater magnet for a backing plate easily behind the abu mag carrier  this adds more mag power slightly and gives you a flat backing , note also abu does not sell single mags just carrier assemblys with 3 mags installed,this is why i use the radio shack mags in here..><)))))))}'>

now for the abu round reels below .............

note that the large washer under plastic gear was taken out and replaced with two of eqaul thickness just smaller so mags can sit in the spool recess between gear and lip.

also the bar makes use of the mounting posts for guides for the bar itself,the ends must be trimmed and rounded close too the slightly over 1\8th " holes to have clearance between cover walls and give it freedom of movement also the holes on the bar when trimmed to fit can be marked from inside the cap so accurate placement is achieved and then the adjuster screw hole can be drilled at same time insuring good alignment.

also the springs provide adeqaute tension to keep the bar even and not tilt towards the shaft ! I use the 1 stack of 3 1\16 x 3\8ths " for the 5500c abu shown here now as 2 stacks was way too much mag power,

after adjusting the mags with no spool tension and minute side to side play i got excellent casts ,no backlash at all unless i really pushed the cast way to hard,always adjust for the lure or bait on the first few casts for optimum performance !!!

NOW FOR THE PENN CYCOLACS !!!

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*NOTE ANY CYCOLAC OR GRAPHITE SPOOLED REEL CAN BE MAGGED USING THE ADD ON
PLATE METHOD AS SHOWN AND DESCRIBED BELOW!!!!!!!!!

for converting a cycolac spooled penn reel you have to cut a perfect round disc of aluminum slightly thicker than 1/32" sheet will do nicely or 1\16th" even better eddy currents are reached,fit it to the spool so it sits in flush to the bottom,also it needs a hole in the middle to slip over the klicker gear.

i have converted a few reels now,takedown style's being 2 squidder 140's, 2 200's and a 500 and a 350 level line as well this way with cycolac spools and aluminum spools as back ups,the neo mags work well with the thick sheet disc creating the eddy current needed to make it lash proof.

i used one magnet stack on the #200 surfmaster consisting of 1 3\8" sqaure x1/10" and 1 7/16" x 1/16" neomags BUT i have been experimenting  and an alternative can be 3 3\8ths x 1\16th" mags,

this gives me 2-4 seconds at the very most with a fast thumbing on the spool testing it !.i feel i can just take one circle mag out of the 3 packed stack still and get the same results but with a minute amount of line lifting tho as long as a washer is placed under neath to raise the mag hieght within 1/32" to the plate face with a slight spool knock.

i also have used the magnet cups and regular rod/circle mags too.use a good grade 2 part epoxy to install the mags with if not using the cups and you want a fixed mag setup for 3 oz and over tines or jigs or bait rigs.

use the epoxy on the installation of the spools disc as well,note the c clamp and sockets in the pic so that the disc is absolutely flat glued to the ribs on the spool.the sockets protect the spool end shafts from getting bent or offset and do the job well.

i just simply cut the disc with heavy scissors out of a sheet,punched a hole in the middle and put it on a carraige bolt with 2 fender washers and a nut and trued it round some with a file in a drill before i opened up the hole for the klicker gear,i then took the flash off the edges,opened up the hole in the middle some more with a dremel tool and sanding drum.

.next lay it flat on some true flat steel piece and cover it with a flat piece of plexiglass or steel and pound it flat as you can with a hammer in between the 2 pieces to make it absolutely as flat as possible for the spool.this eliminates high spots and when gluing it down the large socket and clamp insure its dead flat so you can get the mags close as possible with a slight spool knock freeplay for the most mag eddy current.you can add or subtract mags to your desired tuning of your rod with rig and jig or bait n 8 ,whatever you use,you can tune it

this is in case you want to adjust the height of the magnet if you are starting with one mag at a time to just get it right in terms of casting without lash,or you can use 2 mags and have a gap in between them and the spool,what i found was 2 mag stacks of 3 flat 3/8 x 1/16mags slowed my spool so much i couldnt get past 110 yards or so.

i then removed one stack and it was reaching way out theyre with a 4 oz kastmaster lure or lead weight.see the pic's for the views of the discs and where i located the mag stack.its a nice way to prove to people whothink that these old reels belong on boat rods and bust your cookies by saying that old reel cant cast.

i showed them at the dock this summer past of 2000 when i took theyre 20 bucks by casting a good 170 yards onto the river bank on the other side with a lead weight on my 11foot surfrod with no lash on a jigmaster stoked with mags and 17lb test

now me and my old penns get respect when we go fishing for stripers.if you are fishing with a light lure dont expect much.use at least a  2-3-4 oz tin/ plastic finesse fish or eel or heavy plug/jig of your choice.

for  smilin bills,bucktails of all shapes and silvered heavy jigs like deadly dicks ,kastmasters etc this setup its the cats meow for an all day fish on one rod or for chunking heavy leads and bait i cant ask for anything better in terms of getting distance
p.s
thanx to gowge of st.augustine fla for the inspiration and thoughtfull work and help hes done on the penn mag setup too. pics below of my work.....><)))))))}'>

*note the allen screw in the epoxied bushing on the 200 in the lower left pic.
*also note the half moon mag on the penn 350 levelwind to the right!

NEW LATEST MAG ADJUSTER TRICK FOR PENNS !!

ok guys on my usual application if the aluminum disc i went strat to a piece of 1/16" sheet for the disc to glue to the
spool with a new and improved add on,you can see the above allen screw acts as an adjuster for the mags!,

an allen screw in a threaded bushing thru the side plate for adjustment is well worth it i feel,to the screw is superglued 3 3\8ths x 1\16th round neo mags.

the spool spins at 1 second and stops when i hand spin it with just a little spool play side to side with adjuster screw all the way in,all the way out i get about just 3 seconds of spool spin when i hand thumb spin it.success is finally achieved.

i got the bushings in the lamp parts drawer at the hardware store along with the 1x28 allen cap screw.i did however take the threads off the outside of the bushing itself to a smooth fit by doing it on a screw with a jam nut and a file after i chucked it in a drill and superglued it in place after also trimming the part that sticks up into the plate area flush to the inner plate surface for the extra mag.

with the screw backed out all the way (about 3\32") i get 3 seconds worth of spin on the spool.i now feel confident in the reel at going from lures to chunking bait with no lash and a turn on the screw adjusts it instead of pulling a mag out of the inside for it risking sand dirt etc getting in.

total cost was a buck for the sheetmetal at the junkyard.34 cents for the screw and 72 cents for the bushing and just a little time.i like the extra mag instead of just two.when drilling the side plate start with a 1\16th bit in a dremel and step up slowly in size to fit the bushing

then after that trim it to fit flush on the inside and just superglue or epoxy it down.if my casts seem too short later on ill pull the 3rd mag out and see how she handles then.as it sits this is the formula from now on in.1\16th aluminum is the key.the slightly thinner 1/32 sheet will work ok but you need to use 1/16" plate or one more mag to achieve the same eddy effect.in this case less mags,thicker aluminum disc,thin plates use an extra mag.

MORE ON THE 350,200 and 140's

1st up is a Penn 350 levelwind,these are getting hard to find and a very decent reel that holds about 300 yards of 30lb mono line.the spool will also fit a penn 200 surfmaster as well.

On the last page i showed how to use aluminum sheet to make  a cycolac spool work just fine with a magnet addition .you may use that method or an aluminum spooled reel with these mods.

In this pic you see the 350's bridge plate with what has a crescent shaped magnet glued to it.this is 1,.5" x 5,8" wide and one32' thick..this one mag i had pulled from a hard drive from a computer but i have seen other neodium crescent shaped magnets on the net,just do a search for surplus neodium magnets and start surfing sites to
match this one up.i did find one sight that has them but they were 0,80" thick and i am unsure if it will work for this job as i never measured the gap between inner spool and bridge plate with clay.

http://www.wondermagnet.com/dev/magnets.html is one who has this style but may be too thick and the have the round and sqaure mags shown in below pix.

i had used 2 part epoxy on the mag,one dot on the center and one to either side on the mag itself,install it and let it cure up good.make sure to alcohol degrease the surfaces well first before epoxying it up.here is a pic of a worn yet still mechanically perfect penn 350 that is now backlash free.this mag shown lets the spool spin 3-5 seconds
tops when i spin it by hand.

Here is a 140 penn squidder with rod mags and cup washers......

This one has been modified using Lee Vallys rod magnets and cup washers.the magnets are 1/4"x1/4" in the cups which are glued in place as you see here shown.with very light machine oil in the bearings and 4 mags arranged n-s-n-s i am getting 4-5 seconds of spin time when i spin the spool.a bit thicker oil such as 3-1 or hoppes gun oil would slow it even more to 2-3 seconds spin time or you could variate the polarity on the mags to increase the spin time but then backlash lift on the line might occur but still be minimal.i like to cast thumb free off the spool tho with 2 to 6 ounce jigs,bait rigs and plugs.you can get theyre mags here, http://www.leevalley.com/ they also have short1/4" x1/16" mags and cups if you want for doing the penn 350,155 and 200 casting reels this style of addition to fine tune it.you can take a piece of clay and make a ball and then install the spool on the frame and measure it and add a small washer or shim under the mag cup for the most spool braking of the eddy current as its
generated when spinning.just leave enough room so that when you adjust the spool tensioner you have a very slight side to side play knock for complete spool freespool,remember the mags will be doing the work from now on,not the tensioner.remember to degrease the inner side plate before gluing in the mags!.

A different 200 penn surfmaster approach.
here all i did was take one round and one sqaure magnet,glue them together and then glued them in place on the sideplate as shown with no shim.this setup when i spin the spool gets me 2 to 3 seconds of spin time with a hard spin on the spool.no shim just an aluminum spool with less than 1/32" freespace between spool and magnet.note that the larger round magnet is offset and pushed over the copper clicker spring,this is to provide room for the spool and make a nice large eddy current to slow it down when the spool is spinning.the mags are 1/2" x 1/16 round and the sqaure one is 3/8" x 1/8".these are from magnet folks http://www.wondermagnet.com/dev/magnets.html here you may also use the shorter 1/4"x1/16" mags and washer cups for adjusting the reel here as well in a series of 6 to 8 mags and cups loacated around the clicker spring
if wanted or use the adjuster screw bushing method i described on the other page with 3 round 3/8" x 1/16" mags...

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NOW FOR THE ABU PAWL HOOKSET TRICK.
for greasing the gear shafts just use the same method in the conventional reel section, just grease gear teeth on large and small cogs,and drags while they're open as shown on right and then reassemble sides again,

also keep flip lever up as well to engage its pin properly ,also make sure that catch pawl is set on the gear face right too ,that way when you do a hook set it will stop cold.

Note that one pic is of an over greased gear and crankshaft All that is needed is a light film on the dragwashers and on the gear teeth and just a little between fingers rubbed on the lower catch gear under the main gear,note the pic that has one cleaned and a light greasing applied, never add more than a drop of oil to the pawl shaft thats one spot you over grease and wonder why it doesnt engage the catch on the gear tooth,i spread the 2 copper tines apart so it travels freely with out alot of pressure .

i just want enough pressure on the lower catch gear sides so that the pawl rides above the teeth with no contact,thats that clikkety clikkety sound we hear sometimes!and has enough pressure to pull down on a hookset or a stop,

remember too tight the pawl wont move back or catch,too loose it flies above the teeth bouncing off the gear and wearing out faster a light oiling on the pin will let it fly above the teeth with out bouncing off them too.

note how excess grease has been cleaned off too.this is so grease doesnt clog the bearings on the spool or fill the pawl tines up with grease preventing it from working properly,also if you are very carefull a little bent head steel wire or block can be added to the pawl so it will stop over travel and as well increasing hookset speed and pawl overtravel without missing a tooth neat trick eh?!.

for this you want to use a heatsink so not to retemper the tines and use a hard solder,i use silver solder or non lead solder,its a sliughtly higher melt temp for a 200 watt iron and has about 400 psi holding power.

if you use a pin wire you can bend it exacly to fit and take all the slack out as well where as a stop out of brass sheet may take time fitting to get rid of all over play,

note that when you measure the distance for the pin to have the pawl riding just over the teeth with no contact to eliminate error,from theyre you can fine tune it very easy by bending the wire,1 /32 spring wire or a small ladys flat hair thingy works real well.

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note pawl is cleaned on right.the cog underneath very light greased.the one on the left is obviously over greased and filthed to the max which caused drag probs,hookset probs on the pawl as well and the clikker plate over the drags was so packed with filth one could not hear it when a fish was on hauling line on the sand spike with the drags back off a touch !

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