Maximum drag runout

[trickytune]

 Hi I have been trolling through here for a while now but this is my first post.
I live in Queensland Australia and recently bought a new spinning reel.
Before i used it I noticed the drag had a tight spot as you turn the spool. The higher the
drag the worse it gets. So as I always do I removed the drag stack and sanded the metal plates dead smooth
on a glass plate to 1000 grit finish. Then I tried dry assembly after cleaning the carbon drags with acetone.
Still sticky so I tried a few different greases with no luck.
I took it back to the retailer and sent it for a check over.
They sent a new spool complete with drag which improved it heaps but is still terrible.
I just bought some Inox MX6 teflon grease as Alan has used and it still is sticky.
So tonight I measured all the drag components with a micrometer and all the metal ones are almost perfect measured all around the washer.

BUT the carbon washers are up to .04mm. There are 40 thou in a mm by the way.
The best one has .01mm runout. I have not really had a chance to bed them in on a decent fish to see if they settle.
If I buy some carbontex or HT100 what would they measure up like out of the box?
Should I just upgrade or is there something I can do to these ones?
The manufacturer has a pretty good reputation for quality reels and should not need mentioned.
I know Alan aims for zero startup but this would be approx 10% of the setting.

[Irish Jigger]

Welcome aboard tt.
0."016 seems like a lot of run out on a carbon drag.
What reel is it anyway? Maybe someone here has one and can compare notes with you.
If it was mine I would take it fishing and see how it performs under load.

[trickytune]

Before and after an 18kg kingfish = terrible!! haha

might try lapping the carbon washers to see if they come right

[Jim]

Had a similar experience, try this.
Clean the drag washers, metal and carbon, with a solvent made for electrical components. Do a really good job, use lots. Leaves zero residue. Now just a breathe of grease. Don't forget the surfaces upon which the washers sit (on the spool), are they square and true?
Hopes this helps.

[Nessie Hunter]

OK, I need to ask this.. 

IS the "sticky"  Only when the Spool is turned alone???  or when you turn the handle??

Need to eliminate the bearings, shaft etc

[trickytune]

Yeah turning the spool not the handle.
Lately I have been tying my leader to my tow ball and pulling back while its fitted to the rod as fished.
I have tried 3 different rods and all very similar result.
Going to try and measure up some other carbon washers for runout to compare if I can find some.
Alans 1 foot every 5 seconds test would be impossible even at 2 lb drag setting!
Going to take it fishing and see if I can bed the drag in some more today.
Maybe get the mrs to drive off in the ute to gets the drag working.

[alantani]

there are always imperfections in the the metal and the carbon fiber, but they generally do not matter if the drags are greased.   i'm in cairns right now.  where are you?

[Keta]

Try cranking down on the drag fairly tight and letting the reel set over night.

[Nessie Hunter]

Try cranking down on the drag fairly tight and letting the reel set over night.

Agree..   
Or tie it to ball hitch on car at Med drag and run it out.....

[trickytune]

Im in Mackay Alan. Thats about 800km south of Cairns.
It is doing my head in and I would love an answer on how to fix this.
Have thought about sending it to you.

[Keta]

Does the reel have a bent shaft?

[alantani]

so, you do have a carbon fiber drag washer, right?  i would like to have you try some cal's grease.  i am betting that it would fix the stickiness.   

[trickytune]

Yes five carbon washers on top of the spool and one washer under it.
Tonight I pulled the one under off and found it to be some unknown material so I
fitted a spare carbon from my spare spool with grease and im reasonably happy
with the result. Its still not perfect but up to what Im capable of using I think its acceptable
for now. It has way more up its sleeve that I cant use.

[alantani]

which reel do you have?

[trickytune]

Its a FIN NOR Biscayne 85. Yes its their low end but the offshore has no anti reverse bearing.
And with the warranty they say they cover it for use on GT's.
I dont get out often enough to warrant a higher spec reel at this stage.
I am very interested in the new Penn Spinfisher V to be released soon as my popper reel as
one of my favourite reels is my Penn Slammer 560L. I have managed to get that to just under 11 kg
of useable drag by changing the front washer and adding a spacer.