Listen to the Master

 

I was just thinking about getting my 2 reels maintained. After looking at some videos along with the comments and pictures here in this thread, I’ve confirmed that I will be sending mine over to DVT.
 

Called him the other day and got pricing. I think the time I would put in trying this, and the possibility of anger and extreme anxiety, cost is best option to send to DVT and have them returned ready to go. I am a firm believer in letting the pro’s do the job they do every day, every week of every year. 
 

I mean are you going to have a general surgeon who can do almost any surgery do your colon surgery or you want a colon specialist who does those surgeries exclusively. Just my opinion. I’m sending my reels out. 🤪

 

I give you all props for taking a chance on cleaning and greasing them. 👏

8 hours ago, FLYING HIGH said:

I was just thinking about getting my 2 reels maintained. After looking at some videos along with the comments and pictures here in this thread, I’ve confirmed that I will be sending mine over to DVT.
 

Called him the other day and got pricing. I think the time I would put in trying this, and the possibility of anger and extreme anxiety, cost is best option to send to DVT and have them returned ready to go. I am a firm believer in letting the pro’s do the job they do every day, every week of every year. 
 

I mean are you going to have a general surgeon who can do almost any surgery do your colon surgery or you want a colon specialist who does those surgeries exclusively. Just my opinion. I’m sending my reels out. 🤪

 

I give you all props for taking a chance on cleaning and greasing them. 👏

On 10/30/2025 at 8:20 PM, Banned User said:

 

I've never messed with full ceramic before..

 Very interesting experience 

 

I guess the best way to use full ceramic is a light smooth cast, as chucking hard as i can would overload them and actually slow them down. Maybe I'm wrong... idk. 

 

 

 

Hard casting won't slow them down. That is when they excel.

 

The true advantage of going full ceramic is that they weigh just under half of what steel bearings weigh, so you can get spool startup sooner and with less weight. So you can cast slightly lighter lures when going full ceramic.

 

I've been using them for more than 10 years on all my spools and love them. I like the whine they make and I use it to help judge casting.

 

I run them dry, and clean them once a season or as needed with denatured alcohol to not leave behind any residue.

 

Let us know how you like them.

On 7/20/2025 at 10:27 AM, bulldog1935 said:

I was casting a reel with full-zirconia-ceramic across a tide pass, and my buddy 130' away complained about the noise - I switched to KTF/IXA hybrid ceramic.  

 

full-silicon-nitride ceramic are also quieter.  

@Banned User

Zirconia ceramic has limited use, and noisy as heck, as I quoted.  

Maximum contract stress is limited to 80% of steel, silicon carbide, or silicon nitride.  

For most BFS application, hybrid ceramic micro (air) bearings will give you the best light-distance result, measured on casting range in direct-swap tests.  Ball diameter and inner-race mass are 2 main factors in bearing inertia.  

Spendy, quiet, high-load-range, lowest-possible inertia - full silicon nitride are a boon, especially for salt use.  I ran silicon-nitride loose balls in a Super Record bicycle hubset for 10,000 mi.  

 

Actually, pure acetone does not leave residue when it evaporates where as denatured alcohol does due to the additives used to make it undrinkable. Main thing is to degrease and lightly oil with whatever products you choose. 

Actually, it's the catalyst from production - I've done years of alloy-phase digestion and analysis on electron microscope.  Technical grade ethanol is simply filtered, and leaves residue - lab- and reagent-grade do not, because they're distilled to leave the residue behind.  

Alcohol left open to the air will absorb more water than acetone, and isopropanol will absorb more than ethanol.  This can leave a watermark residue.  

Regarding bearings, if you're not using ultrasonic, you're leaving a significant film of the old grease regardless of solvent choice.  

The two solvents I use are mineral spirits for cutting dirt and grease, and ethanol (denatured alcohol) for final clean and flash dry.  

I just use what we used in electronics work - Anhydrous Grade Isopropyl Alcohol 

Denatured alcohol does contain about 1-5% methanol which is used to discourage consumption, but methanol itself doesn't leave residue behind either.  The contents and their percentages will be disclosed on the MSDS.  Reagent grade is higher purity and used in lab environments, while the other stuff is sold as a parts cleaner or camp fuel.  Even then, they will only leave residue behind if there are impurities from the distillation process or include non volatile contents.  As always, read the MSDS and technical documentation for what you're using, whether it's a solvent or lubricant to know if it will be suitable for your uses.

Something else regarding solvent choice - acetone is absorbed into your body directly through your skin (specific risk to liver).  We covered solvent use earlier on the thread discussing ultrasonic cleaners.  If you wash your parts in matching-size beaker and watch-glass cover, you both use minimal amounts of high-grade solvent and keep fumes to a minimum.  I collect the spent alcohol in a separate bottle and use it for non-critical cleaning.  Regarding anhydrous isopropyl - it doesn't remain anhydrous after the bottle cap is removed.  

Something I feel that gets overlooked often is the use of mineral spirits.  I can get internals cleaner a lot faster with a combination of a toothbrush, brass brush, and mineral spirits.  When I used an ultrasonic for internals, I often had to go over the gears or driveshaft after because some deeply embedded stuff was left behind.  The cleanup and drying process of this Black Max 3600 took about 10 minutes after I removed the gearbox cover.

 

4 minutes ago, redmeansdistortion said:

 

 

All joking aside these pictures especially the second to last one is the reason I’ll never try to do my own maintenance as it gives me a panic attack just seeing the photos. I realize this is more than routine maintenance but I give all you guys and gals credit for having the skills to do this. 

^ It's not that bad....my Tatula's are easy to do.

 

2 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

^ It's not that bad....my Tatula's are easy to do.

 

I’ll take your word for it my friend 😉 

@MN Fisher - since we know @redmeansdistortion doesn't own any Tatulas, he's working on OP's gunk. 

@bulldog1935 Finger nail polish remover. There are still varieties of this made with acetone. I’ve used it before to clean bearings (once, 20 years ago)

I used it a great deal working in a machine shop/plastic injection. I’d remove small to very large molds and change inserts for different specs. Acetone sucks all the moisture out of skin, turning hands, fingers white. It’s also a seemingly cold chemical. Not the same as is used in finger nail polish I’m thinking..

 

Opinion on using acetone via fingernail polish remover. 

32 minutes ago, redmeansdistortion said:

Something I feel that gets overlooked often is the use of mineral spirits.  I can get internals cleaner a lot faster with a combination of a toothbrush, brass brush, and mineral spirits. 

 

 

I'll second this suggestion. I also use mineral spirits, but in a well ventilated location and use latex gloves just to keep it off my hands, but it does work very well on most reels.

 

On occasion if there was some harder tougher grease to clean I might use regular gasoline to simply accelerate the dissolving process, but this is very rare. Also used in well ventilated area and use of gloves to protect skin.

 

I never use acetone. Just don't like the stuff and bulldog's advice is well taken for what it can do. It can be a dangerous chemical and best just not to play around with that stuff if it can be avoided with other less harmful chemicals. (If there is such a thing)

On 10/30/2025 at 9:33 PM, MN Fisher said:

Listen to the Master

Leave it alone if there's no issues... got it

 

On 11/1/2025 at 8:54 AM, FloridaFishinFool said:

like the whine they make and I use it to help judge casting.

Since I fish about 97% at night, I'm hoping this helps my blind casts into over hangs and docks

 

On 11/1/2025 at 11:04 AM, bulldog1935 said:

 

 

 

Those candied cherries in there? 

 

Why limited use for zirconia? 

 

I do have a set of full Si3n4 for my Zillion when the time comes, I'm just still nervous to Crack open my best reel.

 

On 11/1/2025 at 5:28 PM, bulldog1935 said:

mineral spirits for cutting dirt and grease, and isoethanol (denatured alcohol

This for gears and bearings? 

 

I could've sworn you mentioned using Acetone for bearings. Maybe it was someone else, maybe I'm just remembering wrong. 

 

I bought some Acetone and denatured alcohol because of this thread. Still in the shed unopened 

 

On 11/2/2025 at 8:10 AM, bulldog1935 said:

acetone is absorbed into your body directly through your skin (specific risk to liver

Glad i haven't opened it yet, I'll definitely use gloves and only outside

 

On 11/2/2025 at 10:33 AM, redmeansdistortion said:

Black Max 3600

Was that thing found in a tar pit? Seriously though, how could it get that way? 

 

On 11/2/2025 at 11:11 AM, FloridaFishinFool said:

can be a dangerous chemical and best just not to play around with that stuff if it can be avoided with other less harmful chemicals

Dam

 

So denatured alcohol to clean everything then? Should I just toss my Acetone? 

3 hours ago, Banned User said:

Was that thing found in a tar pit? Seriously though, how could it get that way? 

No idea.  The owner bought it on eBay and wanted me to go through it.  My guess is that it was serviced at some point in its 33 year life.  If that was the factory grease, it would've stiffened by now.  Somebody overdid it along the way.

On 11/1/2025 at 5:23 PM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

denatured alcohol does due to the additives used to make it undrinkable.

I wish you told me this a few years ago, I would have stopped going to the hardware store for alcohol consumption  

 

Loved the post TBH. Thanks for sharing 

@Banned User

I don't get quoting the answer to your question.  

Zirconia load rating is 20+% lower than steel, silicon carbide, or silicon nitride.  

Where they're useful is in handle knob bearings and level wind bearings in Ambassadeur mods, combination of essentially weightless and never needing oil.  In these small-size applications, they're also quiet.  

Acetone - is this thing on?  

Acetone is a keytone base chemical that can unzip ( breakdown) most polyimde (Nylon) polymers.

Cleaning metal parts Acetone is a good degreaser but you need to use caution to protect yourself. Denatured alcohol or mineral spirits are a lot safer and may require more effort to clean parts. 
Listen to the experienced reel technicians.