Reel Repair by Alan Tani

General Maintenance Tips => General Procedures => Topic started by: Mandelstam on August 10, 2020, 10:44:09 AM

Title: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: Mandelstam on August 10, 2020, 10:44:09 AM
Been reading a few posts where people mention gluing CF washers together to make a thicker one.

What's the procedure to do that? What type of glue?

I'm thinking a really thin coat of epoxy to not have any bleed through?

Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: Cor on August 10, 2020, 11:11:49 AM
My first thought is why glue them?   I would first of all just double them up, maybe not grease the inside of the two, just experiment a bit.

Somebody posted on this site experiments with laying up graphite with Epoxy to make a rod with a fair level of success if I remember correctly. Maybe the resin he used would work for what you are thinking of or talk to guys with epoxy experience.

Good luck.
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: Mandelstam on August 10, 2020, 11:31:43 AM
Quote from: Cor on August 10, 2020, 11:11:49 AM
My first thought is why glue them?   I would first of all just double them up, maybe not grease the inside of the two, just experiment a bit.

Somebody posted on this site experiments with laying up graphite with Epoxy to make a rod with a fair level of success if I remember correctly. Maybe the resin he used would work for what you are thinking of or talk to guys with epoxy experience.

Good luck.
My first thought was to just layer them as well without gluing, but since reading about people gluing them, even from a supplier of Carbontex in Europe, I thought that just having them loose on top of each other could cause issues?
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: Tiddlerbasher on August 10, 2020, 01:20:04 PM
I wouldn't glue them, glue can leach through the weave and contaminate/ruin the friction surface. - If I need thicker washers I have only ever stacked them together
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: Tiddlerbasher on August 10, 2020, 01:23:06 PM
By the way Karl who is your Carbontex supplier in Europe? I didn't think Dawn had franchised anyone over here :-\
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: mo65 on August 10, 2020, 01:35:45 PM
I have stacked them several times without any problems at all. 8)
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: Mandelstam on August 10, 2020, 02:23:14 PM
Quote from: Tiddlerbasher on August 10, 2020, 01:23:06 PM
By the way Karl who is your Carbontex supplier in Europe? I didn't think Dawn had franchised anyone over here :-\

Blak Dog Tackle in the UK, https://www.blakdogtackle.com/index.php?cPath=86

Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: Mandelstam on August 10, 2020, 02:25:26 PM
Quote from: Tiddlerbasher on August 10, 2020, 01:20:04 PM
I wouldn't glue them, glue can leach through the weave and contaminate/ruin the friction surface. - If I need thicker washers I have only ever stacked them together

Quote from: mo65 on August 10, 2020, 01:35:45 PM
I have stacked them several times without any problems at all. 8)

Sounds promising!
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: Tiddlerbasher on August 10, 2020, 02:30:33 PM
Quote from: Mandelstam on August 10, 2020, 02:23:14 PM
Quote from: Tiddlerbasher on August 10, 2020, 01:23:06 PM
By the way Karl who is your Carbontex supplier in Europe? I didn't think Dawn had franchised anyone over here :-\

Blak Dog Tackle in the UK, https://www.blakdogtackle.com/index.php?cPath=86


Ah OK. I know Russ (Black Dog Tackle) was selling carbontex - I though you had found another supplier :)
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: oc1 on August 10, 2020, 09:17:01 PM
The laminating resin in carbon fiber drag material is very hard and has good heat resistance.  I think it may be a phenolic resin.  Phenolic resin is not something you could or should use at home.

Epoxy resins come in various hardness but all are softer than phenolic resin.  Epoxy doesn't have much heat resistance either and could get gummy.

Gluing them together sounds like a way to keep the CF drag disks from moving against each other.  But, how likely is that to happen and what harm can it do?  It would be much easier for a CF disk to slide against a metal disk than to slide against another CF disk so it is unlikely to happen.  We have to alternate the eared and keyed metal washers to get them to slide against the CF.  Having more surfaces that slide against each other is desirable and a lot of effort goes into making drag stacks with more moving surfaces.  

-steve
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: PacRat on August 10, 2020, 11:55:11 PM
I concur with the others and would first attempt to simply stack them without glue. This will give you more versatility to experiment (thick+thick, thick+thin, thin+thin). If you do find that you must glue them; I would recommend JB Weld original (not the quick set). JB Wels is speced up to 500 degrees f.
-Mike
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: RC4600 on August 11, 2020, 02:28:58 AM
A pass along: I have a friend who manufactured CF rifle barrels did CF consulting before retiring; when ever he had to make repairs in CF he used the old stand by - super glue. Always worked. RC
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: Brewcrafter on August 11, 2020, 03:10:27 AM
One time Dawn was helping me through a project and she was pretty open that you can layer carbon fiber with carbon fiber.  The slip (drag) is always going to be where the least coefficient of friction is. - john
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: oldmanjoe on August 11, 2020, 03:23:47 AM
 ???  Why not add a metal washer and go for more friction surface area ?
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: alantani on August 11, 2020, 04:31:44 AM
yeah, also a vote for no glue!   :-\
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: jurelometer on August 11, 2020, 04:33:29 AM
The reason for a thicker washer is that you can have a thicker and therefore stronger area in the center that is bound by resin.  This allows a greater load before the ears tear off (if there are any).     Gluing two thinner washers together might work in this regard, and since the washers already have a resin core, I would not expect bleed through to the outer surfaces to  be a problem.  

But if the carbon washers have circular inner and outer diameters, then there is  nothing to break off, so a stronger washer does not buy you much.

The fiber to fiber surface will have a higher coefficient of friction than the fiber to metal washer surface, so doubled up "floating" CF washers should behave the same whether they are glued together or not.  I agree with John here.

Steve is right to point out that you need to pay attention to the temp rating of any adhesive that you might use.  I think that there are some high temp epoxies out there nowadays, but they are not common.  Also water exposure.  CA glues usually lose a lot of grip over time if exposed to a high level of moisture.

And even if it the washers are eared, if the existing washers are not losing ears, then making them stronger will not buy you anything.

So a long winded way of saying that I agree with everyone else :)

-J
Title: Re: Gluing thinner CF to make a thicker washer, how?
Post by: Mandelstam on August 11, 2020, 06:51:14 AM
Thanks guys! No glue it is!