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A lemon from lemon grove
Home of wicked coursing
On dec 10, 2015, I ordered a lure baby standard with the whippet option. I was the first one to order this modified version of the lure baby standard with a larger motor, from wicked coursing. It wasn't delivered until june 28, 2016, after multiple attempts to cancel the order were denied. I was told by pat, the owner of the company, that once the parts were ordered, the order could not be cancelled. This is clearly stated on the website but there is no time limit on how long it may take you to get your unit. Apparently this business is a one person show, see the bottom of screen shot #1, which lists pat as the owner, designer, engineer, machinist, and test dummy.
After unpacking the unit and testing out the motors, I observed multiple discrepancies in the design and performance that convinced me that I did not want to keep the unit because it was both dangerous and bound to fail in the near term. I sent two emails to pat bennett outlining the electrical and mechanical discrepancies and asked for a refund which was denied along with a response saying that there were no design problems with the unit.
Here is a list of the problems with this unit. You can judge for yourself whether or not you would be willing to purchase one of these expensive units sight unseen with no return option.
First the electrical design issues, in order of importance:
There is no short circuit protection such as a fuse or circuit breaker. This could have been incorporated for about $5 by including the fuse holder shown in photo #1.
The main motor terminals are outside the case and un - insulated making them very vulnerable to being short circuited when the unit is running (Photo #2) . With no overload protection this will result in an immediate current flow between 200 - 600 amps depending on the type of battery being used. The 14 ga. Wire used to wire the unit, will get red hot and will melt the insulation, probably resulting in an electrical fire.
The main power switch is grossly underrated for the current flow of the unit. It is only rated for 20 amps ac (Photo #3) . The main motor will draw around 30 amps or better when under load, but this is a dc inductive load which is far more destructive to switch and relay contacts than an ac current. The good news is that this switch will not normally be switched under full load except in an emergency shut down attempt, just when you want it not to fail. Hopefully it fails in an open condition instead of welding the contacts closed.
The relay is rated for ac current and may not hold up well when switching a dc inductive load as often as will be the norm with this unit. I replaced this relay with a pwm variable speed control for $20, greatly reducing the wiring, required splices and giving the user much smoother control of the motor speed.
Now the mechanical issues:
The first time I ran the unit was without any string wound on the reel to check out the motors, I noticed that the pivot bolt (Photo #4) , which anchors the string leveler arm to the case, was moving around as the leveler reversed direction and the end of the arm was hitting the bottom of the leveler motor. When I looked more closely at the case I noticed that there was another hole drilled in the case right next to the one it was centered on. Later on, after I had been informed that the unit could not be returned, I removed the bolt and found that there were actually 3 holes drilled right next to each other, two of them were overlapping (Photo #5) . With line running through the loop at the end of the leveler arm when retrieving a lure, there would be considerably more load on this bolt and is likely the bolt would eventually pull through the weakened case. This was one of the major reasons I sought to return this defective unit. Later in the check out, I wound some line on the reel using the leveler as installed and found it did not have the throw to guide line to either end of the reel. It was a little over ½ inch short at both ends of the reel. Another design deficiency.
All of the remaining mechanical problems have to do with vibration of the motor and reel assembly. Vibration in a rotary system is inherently destructive and should be minimized to the greatest extent possible. Unfortunately in this unit, the motor is anchored to the base of the case which is plastic and only ⅛ inch thick. Furthermore the bottom has an oval shaped concave section designed to add a little strength to it. As the motor starts and stops, this concave section flexes adding a considerable amount of vibration to the reel and motor assembly, which cannot be fixed without adding a metal base to stiffen it.
The most critical element in eliminating rotational vibration is shaft alignment between the motor shaft and the spool shaft. The coupler linking these two shafts was theoretically adequate for the task but the machining of the coupler was incredibly sloppy, resulting in shaft misalignment and excessive vibration. The size of the motor shaft was. 525 in. , a non standard size, requiring the female end of the original coupling to be machined in order to fit. It was larger than the motor shaft by. 010, a factor of 10 greater than what it should be. When the coupler is placed on the shaft and the set screws are tightened, the motor shaft will be offset from the male end of the coupler by. 005 in. , resulting in vibration that you can't get rid of. Additionally the male end of the coupler was also. 010 smaller than the end of the reel shaft that it was inserted into, resulting in a further source of shaft misalignment and more vibration. Finally the other end of the spool shaft was also a very loose fit in the bearing mounted in the wall of the case. Perhaps this was a good thing, since a tight fit with the shaft misalignments already mentioned, would probably cause it to fail before the unit was out of the short warranty period. Before I discovered that the coupler was too large for the motor shaft, I had a machine shop shorten the original coupler and turn the male shaft that goes into the spool shaft to the proper diameter (Photo #6) . This enabled me to get the motor and spool inside the case eliminating the need for the 3. 5 in. Hole and solving the issue with the motor electrical terminals being exposed (Photo #7) . Why wasn't this done when the coupler was originally machined to fit the non standard motor shaft? Since the original coupler could not be made to work due to the improperly machined ends, I purchased another coupler of a different design for $30 and had it machined to fit the non standard motor shaft and the other end machined to fit a new spool shaft, which the machine shop made for me. The new spool shaft was necessary because the end needed to be solid rather than bored out as in the original design. Also the other end of the spool shaft, which goes into the bearing mounted to the case, was machined to the proper tolerance.
The bearing utilized to mount the spool shaft to the case wall has an outer race that pivots enabling it to self align with the shaft end and solve the alignment problem that comes with the sloping wall of the case not being perpendicular to the end of the spool shaft. However, it is a pretty delicate needle bearing that is not sealed and quickly runs dry of grease if not lubricated regularly. In my unit, it was located outside the case, in an attempt to make more room for the longer motor. This further exposes the bearing to the elements and dirt. No easy solution to this problem except routine cleaning of the shaft and applying lubricant to the bearing, which requires pulling the motor and spool shaft out of the case. Not any easy job. The manual for the lure baby makes no mention of the need to lubricate this bearing. Wonder how many failures will occur or have occurred on this item alone. The lure baby standard and lure baby jr. And lure baby with the whippet option all share this same bearing. My lure baby jr. Bearing lubricant dried up in about a year and the spool shaft started to wear immediately before I realized what the problem was, so this is not just a postulated problem.
The spool end plates and spool center section also have design problems. There is no easy way to center them on the spool shaft. If they are not centered it results in another source of shaft vibration especially as more mass is added, as line is wound on the spool. The end plates have holes drilled in them that are larger than the shaft by several thousandths of an inch and all one can do is eyeball that the shaft is centered in the hole and hope that it stays that way when you tighten down the nuts and washers that hold it in position. The center of the spool is much more problematic. It relies on pressure from the two end plates to hold it in a centered position. It must also be eyeballed into a centered position. The washers that hold the end plates in position are a couple tenths of an inch too small to physically center this middle section of the spool. If you get one that is reasonably well centered don't take it apart, even with a dial gauge it is a difficult process to get the ends and center spool aligned with the shaft.
Almost all of the vibration issues with this unit were avoidable had the machining been done by a competent machine shop. Likewise, the electrical design issues were easily avoidable had the designer been knowledgeable in this field. With the no return policy, you the consumer, are totally at the mercy of wicked coursing to supply you with a well designed and properly assembled unit sometime in the indefinite future, 7 months in my case. Buyer beware! You have zero options if you get a defective unit (Lemon) , except to wait for it to fail and hope it is still under warranty when you ship it back to lemon grove at your expense and get your claim denied. No worries, “your satisfaction is guaranteed”, it says so right here in screen shot #1 of the wicked coursing web site.
It appears that this unit has been pulled from the market. The web site originally had a box you could check and a listing for the additional cost of $300+ for the whippet option under the lure baby standard listing. Now, only the text for the whippet option remains on the site. It appears that I was sent a prototype unit and when I complained about the design it was pulled from the web site. Pretty much validates my complaints don't you think?
After spending almost $300 additional to fix this unit, I should have it gold plated to more accurately reflect what I have invested in it. At least now I can pass it on to my grandson and not worry about electrical or mechanical safety issues. I will never tell him that it was originally made in lemon grove.
Michael j duncan
Wicked coursing test dummy (I didn't volunteer)
Wicked coursing redesign engineer (Yes I am a real engineer)
