I'm interested in finding a material I can cut drag washers out of, I've read else where on the site about using the strips sold by McMaster. Would this be suitable for Mitchell 300, 306, 400, 410?? If so what thickness should I buy. Can this material be punched with standard hollow punches and cut with scissors??
Thanks. Advance
Tom
ok, here goes.....
for punches for something easy to cut, like thin teflon, you can use paper hole punches that come in different sizes. EK tools makes a nice line and they are not that expensive.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=EK+Tools+Circle+Punch&ref=nb_sb_noss
for teflon sheets, you can order them in 0.005", 0.010", 0.015" and 0.020" thicknesses from mcmaster.com.
https://www.mcmaster.com/teflon-sheet
but i would still recommend using greased carbon fiber for drag washer material, not teflon. :-\
Hi Tom,
for myself, punching Delrin washers, I crack more than I get, so I have a friend that water jet cuts them. You can also get them at SmoothDrag.com, but I'm not sure if they will have the size you need. Teflon is softer and easier to punch in my opinion.
Bryan
Delrin (POM-H) and Acetal (POM-C) are engineering plastics. From a fishing reel point of view they are very similar and pretty much interchangeable. They can be used for bearings/gears etc. They are very strong and don't compress/deform very much. Good temperature tolerance. Lowish co-efficient of friction. It could be used for drag washers but there are better materials out there.They are quite hard and brittle. I usually sharpen my punches before cutting this stuff. I get about 20/25% wastage due to cracking.
Teflon/PTFE (same thing different name) has one of the lowest co-efficient of friction of any polymer. However it deforms and compresses easily. It would not be suitable for drag washers. But if used in a non load bearing application it can be very useful - very slippery. Easy to cut and punch even when quite thick. Good temperature tolerance.
For a slippery load bearing washer use Delrin/Acetal.
For drag washers use greased carbon fibre. It cuts and punches easily but can be messy if sanded.
An alternate product, which I still use, is a form of compressed Kevlar. I use it dry and it is quite smooth in use. However, for a sea fishing application I would still use greased carbon fibre - the grease helps to protect the metal parts against salt (as well as smoothing out any snatching).
Kevlar:
https://www.frictiontechnology.co.uk/friction-products/rigid-material/rigid-flat-sheet-friction-material.html
Just checked my records I've been using the FTL180 product for 6 years. The hardest use is in my line spooler - long runs of 10lb continuous drag (never changed the original washers :))
Checked their site and they now have a greater variety of products - maybe time to re-visit Kevlar :-\
Thanks for all the responses,
I plan on upgrading my personnel 302's to carbon fiber,
For the 300's I think Teflon will be fine, they usually get loaded with 8 to 10 lb line before I pass them on. Truthfully I have cut drag washers out of a milk jug and so far no big failures but I'm sure that falls into the category of "yet".
Does anybody know the thickness of the stock Teflon washers in 300's?? Or have suggestions for a best thickness?
Tom
For spinners I usually opt for 1mm (.5mm if it's a Daiwa). A few spinners I have gone for a 5 stack (instead of a default 3 stack) with .5mm drag and metal washers - it seems to improve the smoothness.
McMasters is awesome, recieved my Teflon sheeting about 26 hours after I ordered, 28 hours after ordering bluegill landed, small detour on the way to pick groceries.
I ended up using a hollow punch for the center, and curved Scissors for the outer, worked great, this stuff cuts easily. This week end I'm going to try grinding some bigger punches from old sockets, pipe nipples and what ever else I find.
Really appreciate all the help, you guys make this the greatest spot on the net
Tom