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Another Round Reel
Post 24 Feb 2021, 21:42 • #1 
Guide
Joined: 06/21/20
Posts: 141
This time it's an Abu Garcia Black Max 1600 from the early 90s. This is a very small, narrow spool reel. Others in that series were 3600, 5600, 6600 sizes. The 1600s seem to be sleepers, selling for fairly low prices these days. Stock, they come with two spool bearings and an anti-reverse bearing. I took this one, tore it down, cleaned and lubed everything. I also did some bearing work.



Replaced the original spool bearings with hybrid ceramics.




Changed the brakes to the smaller blue ones.



Changed out the worm gear bushing for bearings.





The ultra-cast spool design (the spool and spool shaft are separate pieces, only the spool spins) allows the spool to spin and spin.



Watch it spin!
http://amfone.net/misc/blackmax1600_spin.mp4

All reassembled and catching fish.





This is a fun little reel!


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Re: Another Round Reel
Post 24 Feb 2021, 23:04 • #2 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
that's a handsome reel.. and Made in Sweden too.. nice !

Quote:
The ultra-cast spool design (the spool and spool shaft are separate pieces, only the spool spins) allows the spool to spin and spin.


seems like a very good idea, wonder why they stopped doing that..


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Re: Another Round Reel
Post 25 Feb 2021, 07:44 • #3 
Sport
Joined: 05/26/17
Posts: 74
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Very nice. I've tried to buy NIB 1600 Pro Max's on eBay and Tradera over the past couple of years, but the auctions always drove up their prices beyond my reach.


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Re: Another Round Reel
Post 25 Feb 2021, 21:22 • #4 
Guide
Joined: 06/21/20
Posts: 141
I would imagine NIB ones could be pricey. The price on used ones with a few "beauty marks" are quite reasonable. Promaxs are the same reel with a few more bearings (although they consider some bushings as bearings on the ProMax, a marketing thing, I'm sure).

If you really want to pay, try to get a clean Morrum round reel. These were the premium one piece aluminum framed reels of the era. Interesting to note there were Morrum spinning reels out in 1997. These later were under the Suveran and CD4 names. They all had worm gear spool oscillation, I think well ahead of Shimano. These generally go for pretty high prices on eBay. They were quit a different body design and used a center drag system. Abu Garcia makes nothing like these any longer.

Good write up UC reels here.

https://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk ... ultracast/


Last edited by FishFishWish on 25 Feb 2021, 22:25, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Another Round Reel
Post 25 Feb 2021, 21:32 • #5 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/11/05
Posts: 1008
Location: US-NY
I’ve had one of those since they first came out. It’s a nice little reel. Now I want to go bass fishing.


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Re: Another Round Reel
Post 25 Feb 2021, 22:31 • #6 
Guide
Joined: 06/21/20
Posts: 141
Go get 'em!


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Re: Another Round Reel
Post 27 Feb 2021, 08:36 • #7 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19077
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
and post photos... :hat

Very pretty little reel, and a really neat size.
Thanks for the complete thread with nice rebuild photos. Never had an Abu, but of the couple of (larger) round LW reels I owned, they just never got to me, most probably because of my need to throw light lures to distance in inshore niche.
(This doesn't count with my NLW CT's, which I adore).
Yours should be better at light lures with inertia-reducing improvements, and well on its way to bass BFS.

BTW, is the LW driven by the main gear, or is it engaged to the spool full time through a back-plate idler gear?

doug in co wrote:
...
Quote:
The ultra-cast spool design (the spool and spool shaft are separate pieces, only the spool spins) allows the spool to spin and spin.


seems like a very good idea, wonder why they stopped doing that..

They still do Ultracast in the larger round Abu's based on the traditional frames, and the newest Gen 3 of low-profile reels has their equivalent with separate spool and spindle.


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Re: Another Round Reel
Post 27 Feb 2021, 11:52 • #8 
Guide
Joined: 06/21/20
Posts: 141
The LW is driven off the gear/crank. There is a plastic gear that sits under the main gear that drives the LW gear. So, the LW is not involved in free-spool/casting.




Forgot to post the dimensions (approx - couldn't find my calipers):

Frame width: 2-1/2"
Frame diameter: 2=3/16"
Spool diameter: 1-1/4"
Spool width: 1"


Yes, this could be a BFS rig, if someone made a lightweight spool. If one was available, I'm guessing these might be more sought after. I'll have to weigh the spool one of these days.

I haven't tried anything lighter than 1/4 oz yet. Gotta see what it will do. I think these were popular for pitching/flipping back in the day.


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Re: Another Round Reel
Post 27 Feb 2021, 12:39 • #9 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19077
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
great photo - thanks.
I had a narrow Okuma, inexpensive, bought for back-up, that was geared this way, but we never got friendly, because it only had spool tension for brakes, and drifted constantly with changing temperature - cold start v. warm-up from use; start from scratch again when it cooled down.
That's the beauty of modern casting brakes, you don't even need spool tension.


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Re: Another Round Reel
Post 27 Feb 2021, 12:45 • #10 
Guide
Joined: 06/21/20
Posts: 141
That's for sure, brakes have come a long way - from nothing but spool tension to two-pin centrifugal to 4 and six pins, more sophisticated centrifugals like the ICVB and others to mag, mag with inductors, and combo mag and centrifugal. And now Shimano has the DC system that uses a microprocessor to apply the brakes. What's next?


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Re: Another Round Reel
Post 27 Feb 2021, 13:18 • #11 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19077
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Essentially DC works by modulating spool tension, and people with good mag/centrifugal brakes say those reels will outcast their DC reels, but the DC reels are virtually idiot-proof.
BTW, I looked around in new shallow and lightweight BFS spools, and could never find mention of your reel - many are offered for all the older and newer Ultracast reels, as well as the mated-spool-and-spindle reels.


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Re: Another Round Reel
Post 27 Feb 2021, 18:07 • #12 
Guide
Joined: 06/21/20
Posts: 141
I'm guessing AMO and Avail don't see a large enough market.


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Re: Another Round Reel
Post 04 Mar 2021, 19:27 • #13 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
bulldog1935 wrote:
They still do Ultracast in the larger round Abu's based on the traditional frames, and the newest Gen 3 of low-profile reels has their equivalent with separate spool and spindle.


huh interesting - thanks..

I got an Abu Revo 4 X for BFS, upgraded to ceramic bearings and lightweight spool, but it still has the old-fashioned design with one piece spool and spindle.


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