The earliest, small headed non tapered screws were nickle plated brass and used to attach reel feet to frames.
The next screws came with the advent of the straight pillar reels. Larger tapered head, same nickle plated brass material. 5/16" long on 13/16" wide frame reels; 3/8" long 1" wide frame reels.
The last change was to stainless steel screws with the same tapered heads 5/16" long only. All the DA series reels have these screws. 1970 to 1979
I don't know much about the imports after 1979 but they did change to metric threads.
I believe these are a standard size, but not a common one: a #3 x 48UNC (unified nat'l course) machine screw shaft.
(The#3 has no fractional equivilent, it measures 0.099inch OD; the shaft has 48 threads per inch.)
The head profiles, both the oval/countersunk and binder/filister, are proprietary to Pflueger. These are not 'standard' screws; you can't get these heads (or any #3 machine screw) in a typical hardware store. Some gun smith supply houses and bicycle shops carry them as specific replacement parts, but not with this head profile.
A #3/48 tap & die are often available on the big auction site.
Last edited by tunafart on 03/23/13 19:21, edited 1 time in total.
My local hardware store has 3-48 x 3/4" slot oval head machine screws for 15 cents each. I cut them down to 5/16" to use as replacements on my USA-made 1492, 1494 and 1495 reels.
I believe that the Asian-made versions of these Medalist reels take metric screws that are 2.5 mm x 8 mm, 0.45mm pitch, but I haven't been able to find them locally with slot oval heads.
Just curious on the local hardware store version. Stainless Steel? If not Stainless or brass I wouldn't want them on a reel I was gonna use.
I use a 3/48 tap to clean up the holes. It is a standard thread. I used to deal in Stanley Planes, the screw threads they used were unique to them.
I just spent the afternoon driving around to the best local hardware stores in the Rochester, New York area. I know we are a backwater area even though we historically have been the most important high tech manufacturing area in New York State. There are virtually no completely independent hardware stores left. Anyways I did find find some 3-48 Stainless Steel machine screws in three of the hardware stores. They are new production screws, probably from China. Most are phillips head, none of the head designs match the Pflueger Screws, but I could use the screws in the reels. A couple of weeks ago I had a long talk with Bob Selb who is supplying new parts for the Pflueger Reels. He's had screws custom made that match the old but due to the low volumes he could sell the cost each is very expensive. His Medalist parts business is a true labor of love.
Last edited by mrriver on 03/25/13 16:46, edited 1 time in total.
[quote="Southbranch"]My local hardware store has 3-48 x 3/4" slot oval head machine screws for 15 cents each. I cut them down to 5/16" to use as replacements on my USA-made 1492, 1494 and 1495 reels.
A little off topic but more neat stuff. The ratchet bearing parts that the drag plates rotate on changed over the years. The originals were made of bornze and were a close tolerance fit to the drag ratchet, with a minimal amount of play. The next generation coming out in the late 1950's ? and were made of brass and lasted to the mid to late 1970's and had a lot of play, the fit was very lose. The last generation was some kind of casting like zinc and had about the same awful fit as the brass.
Over the years the construction of the spools changed. The first spools had an aluminum spindle bushing in the center. The next generation starting in the mid 1950's was bronze. The last generation from the early 1960's was made of brass. The early spools with the aluminum center may have been good with the early bronze spindles but don't wear too well with stainless steel. The center spool has the bronze bushing. Buy that one and not the earlier aluminum to the left. The newer brass 3 rivet spool to the right is a better choice for use than the aluminum in my view.
I know this thread is ancient, but it gave me a path. My reel isn't a Medalist as far as I know, but a Berkley special from early 80's. Long story kinda short, I did the bike shop route. They didn't have them, but he pointed me to a local RC/hobby shop.
They didn't have the exact match, but I got something that works if that is all you are looking for.
Might want to blue loctite them in or superglue.
The screws I found that worked are ProTek RC 2.5x4mm button head screws. Might be slightly different for the Medalist.
Anyway, if you need some odd tiny screws, try a RC hobby shop. Bring in your screw (if you have them) and/or reel and you might luck out.
