Proper way to test drag

[kaliona]

Hello all.  After reading many threads on how to's and finally ordering carbontex drag washers from Smooth Drag, I finally got around to rebuilding my Shimano TR100G.  I used a light coating of Cal's grease on the new washers and reassembled.  I'm a little disappointed on the smoothness under light drag settings.  I've read other posts mentioning that after a little use or at heavier drag settings, it will be smoother.  So what is the best way to test a newly rebuilt drag?  I have a digital fish scale I can use to check the poundage a particular drag setting releases.  But how do you guys test the drags response to a fishes hard, long run?  I can get the neighbor kid to let me tie my line to his bike and have him take off  .  Or do you guys have a more accurate method?
Thanks

[jamesnashtonbrady]

im for tieing it to the kid and when he gets down the street a bit set the hook on him. 

[Bryan Young]

If you can, tie to the kid and tighten the drag and let 'em pull to set the drags in.  After that, it should be fine. 

[redsetta]

G'day and welcome kaliona,
The neighbour's kid is a great idea
However, to accurately set or test your drag, you may want to try the bucket test, as Sal outlines here: http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=3083.msg21355#msg21355
Water has a mass of 1kg per litre.
The TR100 drag maxes at about 6kg (about 13lbs), so six litres of water in a bucket will set it at max capacity.
Good luck, Justin

[kaliona]

Is it true about giving the new drag washers time to settle in and they will smooth out?  Maybe I did something wrong and should reclean and regrease all the drag parts 

[Jim]

Should not be jerky with new washers and grease. Take it apart, clean the washers and all drag surfaces with a chemical cleaner.
Check that everything looks "true flat and square". Apply just a very little grease, the only sign you should see that the carbon is greased is shinyness instead of the dull carbon look. Pull off 10 or 20 yds of line against moderate drag. Should (should!) be good.

[Jimmer]

Do you have a carbon fiber washer under the gear as well? I've found it makes a huge difference in smoothness on the tr 100 for some reason. -                      Jimmer

[Makule]

kaliona,

When you say "test' the drag, what are your really trying to test?  Is it the smoothness or the maximum poundage, of something else?

Smoothness will change as a function of the disks "seating" themselves against the washers and this takes some break-in just like car brakes.  Maximum drag will also take a little break-in to get any excess grease out from between the washers and disks.  In either case, the "kid running on the end of the line" is one way to do it, although I'm not convinced that a running kid is necessary.  In my view, just tying the line to some immovable object and walking away while holding the reel and gradually tightening the drag until the star doesn't turn any more, is just as good.  Speed, per se, may not be needed to get things properly seated.  Speed will increase heat, but it's pressure that will get things to conform to each other.

[Bill B]

But it's a lot more fun tie it to a kid and letting him run

[Keta]

Don't any of you have sheep?  Seriously now, I tie off to my ATV and take off fast for about 100 yards a few times to set and test drags.

[Bryan Young]

Line winder also works.  But if sheep, cow, ATVs, jet skis, or kids are not available, just gradually tighten drags down, and use Sal's method mentioned earlier a few times and you should be good to go.

[Robert Janssen]

Depends a bit on what you are trying to achieve.

I once built and used the drag machine test rig below to test a large number of drag materials while keeping tabs on spool RPM, drag pressure, time, temperature, smoothness and deviations therefrom such as drag fade, whilst in situ in the reel, as opposed to using a tribometer or similar.



Temperature, speed, fade and runout are all things I've written about ad tedium and discussed for years with both Cal and Jack Erskine. I'm not sure what Cal uses, but he has his own method i'm sure.

If you on the other hand just want to know if it is smooth, then yeah... the neighbor's kid, or hook up to somebody's trailer hitch at a stoplight or something...

.

PS: I've noticed that the picture above has been borrowed and reposted somewhere a number of times without my knowledge. Curiosity is driving me crazy. If somebody has seen it before, please tell me where!

.

[George4741]

Temperature, speed, fade and runout are all things I've written about ad tedium and discussed for years with both Cal and Jack Erskine. I

Robert,
I'm interested in the temperature aspect of your tests.  For example, all else being equal, would the drag washers in a star drag reel with a 1+5 stack run cooler than with a 1+3?  What, if anything, did you conclude in your tests?

Thank you,
George