So I picked up a Santiago 12 to add to the arsenal. I spooled it with 45lb braid and 40lb mono topshot. The reel is advertised to achieve 30lbs of drag at strike with freespool. I had to set the reel up for 40lb test and set the drag at 12lbs at strike. I have almost no ramp up to 12lbs. I have to concentrate hard to move the level so little that the drag doesn't go instantly to 9-10 lbs from free spool. How can I get the reel to ramp up less aggressively? It does still ramp to 12 at strike and 18ish at full but it jumps from free to "holy crap" as soon as you move the lever slightly. I've gotten to go to 6lbs by wiggling it back to dang near free spool but it should ramp up much slower. Bellevilles are (()). I tried them ()() and that made matters much worse.
Quote from: Nasty Wendy on August 24, 2016, 02:02:22 AM
...I tried them ()() and that made matters much worse.
Should be quite the opposite. ()() is indeed the long, slow, soft & easy way.
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If it got worse moving to the softer ()() config. It's likely due to not enough space along the shaft. Maybe measure your stack height at (()), and shoot for a less springy config that is just a hair shorter overall? ()) or )(), or even ()| with a shim. May be that your cam ramp is just a but too steep. You can carefully, slowly, meticulously evenly flatten out both ramps on the cam to make the curve more gradual. I know the Fin-Nors have somewhat steep cams, and resulting drag curves, and the tollerances, and spacing limits along the shaft are a bit on the tight side. You just need to play around, and test. If you decide to modify the cam, take only a little off at a time, reinstall and test.
Thanks for the info guys. i'll be playing around with it. I'm going to order some shims for it and try to get it tailored to my needs. My other Santiago doesn't have this steep of a curve.
I posted the springs backwards. It got worse when I went (()). So there is nothing screwy about that it seams. I'm thinking I'll try
│)(│. Experiments will continue until a solution is found.
OK now that I'm a pro at getting in and out of this reel ;D I've come to realize that increasing the drag at strike is what is also increasing the drag curve before I get to strike. Part of that is common sense so give me a little credit in that I'm aware that pressures would be higher at given points. What was the real dilemma was that as soon as I came out of free spool I was reading ~ 7lbs of drag with my strike drag set at 14lbs. I was hoping to get a bumpless ramp up but it seems that once strike drag is above 10lbs free spool is followed by 4-5lbs of drag rather than 1lb climbing to strike drag. Given that this is a size 12 reel I don't think that this is a manufacturing or design flaw. I'm spooled with 40lb line and that means that I've bypassed the 16, 25, and 30 sized reels by using the 12. I'm sure the larger reels could maintain a bumpless drag curve from free spool to strike (the 16 not so much as it is just a larger (wider) spool). So I've reinstalled the drag springs to the "slow and easy" ()() configuration and set my drag to 13lb at strike and I'll live with 6lbs of drag coming out of free spool.
At some point in the disassembly/reassembly process of one the many times I changed spring configurations the reel started softening up coming out of free spool. I have no clue what may have shifted or line up differently or properly for that matter. It still had considerably higher step in to drag from free spool but it is much more livable now. Maybe I greased something that needed some lube. ??? It is a greased carbonfiber drag system.
Thanks for the update.
Sounds like you are now much more intimately familar with your reel :) You may have been able to soften things up a but by filing the cam ramp to be a bit more linear, but it probably is not worth the effort. As you pointed out, we have to remember the reel was designed for 12lb, with 6lb max drag. Pushing it to double that will definately change the drag just past freespool, and consequently the fish able drag range. The fact that you were able to get those numbers without undue binding, loss of freespool, ir excessive side loads on the pinion speak volumes.
Good work.
I guess I was expecting the same from the 12 (in a lesser capacity) that I have in the 30w. I have my 30w spooled with 80lb test and the strike drag setting is 24lbs. It is a very smooth and linear ramp from free spool to strike. Being that the 12 is advertised to attain 30lbs @ strike with free spool I thought I'd have the same smooth ramp up. We live and learn. :)
Thank you guys for taking time to chime in and offer your insight on this.
Well I played with a loose cam for a 30W that fell into my hands tonight. I was able to shave it down about a half of a hair and that made the ramp up MUCH smoother. I didn't shave the entire travel but only for 5 or so millimeters. This made the ramp up very gradual coming out of free spool. My 30W wasn't bad or so I thought. With the surgery to the cam it is smooth as butter coming out of free spool to 1lb, 2lb, then the curve ramps up at the factory rate. I'm going to do this with the 12. I backed my strike drag down from 12lbs to 9lbs to get the drag out of free spool to be less than 7lbs. I'll shave a little at a time and test until I have the ramp up like I want it.
The main reason for this is when I'm free lining (chunking) with these reels I like to have my drag lever at its lowest setting coming out of free spool. When I free line in free spool I get back lashes if a fish hits the bait but doesn't get the hook. More often something toothy will hit the bait like a bat out of hell and bite through the line. The hard hit and then nothing causes the reels to backlash and even bird's nest if the clicker is off.
Nice work.
I prefer a more gradual drag as well.
Thanks. The Fin Nors have a very smooth drag when you set them for the line class they are made for. They are of course capable of fishing much heavier line than it's reel size class. Running 80lb line on a 30W is quite the jump from 9lbs at strike to 24lbs and the reel does this fairly smooth. It seems though that the drag cam is a bit to aggressive when one starts dialing in 3 times the amount of drag that the reel was designed for. I'm using 40lb line on the 12 and it actually jumps out of free spool to ~7 lbs!
I'm guessing that this a part of what Cal Sheets does when he blueprints a reel for a specific line weight. Me thinks he isn't eyeballing it with a dremel though. If I thought I'd be doing this a lot I'd make a jig for the cams to keep the trimming precise and equal on both sides because using the dremel and masking tape is tedious work.