Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Quote from: day0ne on December 05, 2025, 04:39:47 AMYou are misunderstanding what I mean about Smoothdrag. You don't order a 5 stack, you pick a washer size that you can cut down from the list I quoted and order 5 of them. Order by the number on the left column.

https://www.smoothdrag.com/wp/Carbontex_washer_sizes.pdf

David, sorry if I'm misinterpreting what you said.  Yes, I could have bought my carbon drags from SmoothDrag; the 20B washer could have been made to work and maybe I'll go that route on the next one.  However, the bigger problem is the overall thickness of the drag stack.  An 8.8mm thickness 5-stack can't be done with only stock Daiwa metal washers -- of that I am very sure. 

Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on December 05, 2025, 05:02:26 AMSoooooo with all this effort are you gonna do a before after test with a spring scale?

Was thinking about that; I don't have a spring scale, just an electronic luggage scale. Once I get this all put together, it can be applied to other reels; the design is "scalable." 

Any scale will work. Drag force is measured in pounds so is weight. I annoyed a friend who was struggling with the concept by suggesting he put a bucket full of water on a bathroom scale and see how much the weight readout decreases when he tries to lift it.

I think most of the beliefs about what a drag scale "needs to be" is driven by those who sell drag scales.

Thank you, BTW, I've been in need of some tackle-based entertainment and this project of yours has provided a lot of it for me.

Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on December 05, 2025, 02:43:09 PMtackle-based entertainment

ILMAO!

Eventually drag increase expose the next weak point.  My goal were mostly for a smoother drag at slightly higher drag numbers.

Quote from: Keta on December 05, 2025, 04:08:19 PMEventpualy drag increase expose the next weak point.  My goal were mostly for a smoother drag at slightly higher drag numbers.

Being new to this, I guess smoothness is critical.  When the possibility of enlarging the ID (center hole) of the keyed washers came up,  I was afraid they could get wobbly and jerky. But probably there is a good way.

So -- it's been a long time but I never finished this project and post.  Finally came back to it, since being interrupted for Christmas. This post is for the drag stack, and I have another for the reel itself (https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,40488).  The drag stack is nearly done (after about 9 months).  What can I say?  Family keeps me busy!

The context details:

• This is going in a Sealine 300H reel.
• The gears are from a Sealine 50H reel which improves the ratio from 3.7:1 to 4.2:1.
  

My 5-stack drag sandwich recipe, starting from the main gear:

• carbontex
• keyed washer - standard Daiwa
• carbontex
• eared washer provided by Ken (Ultimate Upgrades) from Penn 114 kit
• carbontex
• keyed washer as above
• carbontex
• eared washer as above
• carbontex
• keyed washer as above

As you can see, I ended up ordering the carbontex from SmoothDrag, as Day0ne suggested earlier.    I had ordered slightly thicker drag discs from another source, but quickly ran into difficulties drilling out the centers. The ones from Smooth are .5mm thick and worked out nicely.

I have more to post but will do it piecemeal...

P.S. Ken, I owe you and will be in touch soon!

The main gear needed some work, two things:  1) flatten the circular ridge on the bottom of the gear and 2) run the grooves for the ears deeper. This was necessary to accommodate more and thinner drag washers.  I've never done this before and have a limited workshop, but it wasn't super-difficult.

The washers from the UU 114 kit were a tad too wide in diameter for the gear, so I filed them down with a dremel and cheap diamond grinder from HF. 

The last eared washer came right up even with the lip of the gear, leaving a carbontex and the last keyed one higher than the gear, which I think will be okay.

One problem, the last SmoothDrag carbontex fits the gear sleeve too loosely.  My solution for the moment is to use an HT100 6-114 washer, which may also be used between the main gear bottom and sleeve. THe 6-114 is a little smaller in outer diameter, so maybe this will be adjusted later.

Attempting a custom drag stack is a whole new world to me.  I never had to think about it very much before, and now understand why it is a specialty.  Many thanks for the inspiration of others (to be named later)!  Some concerns:

• I don't really yet understand the implications of the stack getting higher than the gear.  How will it fit and adjust on the completed reel? Will the spacer need adjustment?
• The eared washers have pretty small ears.  I think Lee said something about ears potentially shearing off at high drag pressures.  This stack should be on the 20-25lb range.
• Sal had said something about carbontex starting to shred above 20lbs of pressure.  Will my .5mm stand up? Is that 20lbs measured distributed across the stack or at each washer?

My goal is to fish this reel with 65lb braid for depths 300ft and more. The drag strength here ought to match the 65lb braid well, using a 1/3 rule.  I'll get more into the reel on the other thread(https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,40488), but it looks like the drag stack is just about ready.  I'm already thinking of how to apply the same stack to another reel; it should fit the same in a Sealine 50H.

P.S. Yes, this wouldn't be complete without a test measurement of the drag strength.  When I get the reel assembled will update that here!

P.P.S. Today is my birthday.  Happy to be posting!

Happy BD Joe.

Quote from: Decker on September 14, 2026, 03:03:00 PM

• I don't really yet understand the implications of the stack getting higher than the gear.  How will it fit and adjust on the completed reel? Will the spacer need adjustment?
• The eared washers have pretty small ears.  I think Lee said something about ears potentially shearing off at high drag pressures.  This stack should be on the 20-25lb range.
• Sal had said something about carbontex starting to shred above 20lbs of pressure.  Will my .5mm stand up? Is that 20lbs measured distributed across the stack or at each washer?

Decker - My $0.02:
Things to looks for on overall stack height: I always like to measure the overall of the stock factory and then compare to the overall on the custom - they won't be exact but usually within a few thousands - and when the stack heights become dramatically different that is when things "can" become interesting.  The two easiest ones to look out for are clearance with the sideplate itself (make sure that the top of your drag stack is not actually rubbing on the inside side plate) and the thickness/length of any spacer sleeve/wave washer combination.  Assuming everything is OK on clearances within the sideplate (and you will probably want to check the clearance of the OD of your larger main gear as well - both easily determined by stealing some Play-Doh from the kids toy box) you want to make sure the combination of spacer/wave washer etc. is suitable enough to allow zero drag when backed off, and achieve max drag without the star bottoming out against the sideplate.  Easy stuff.

Eared washers - Lee is right, but in a "maxed out take it to the limit" sense that is not a territory that it appears you are venturing into.  What I would definitely double check is to make sure that the ears move smoothly within the grooves, this is the problem I see most often.  I suspect failure of said ears would be more a function of excessive clearance allowing too much play and extremely maxed out drag loads - both of which I don't see in your situation.

Failed CF - I suspect Sal's observations were both a combination of it being in the early days of CF washer usage (materials have no doubt improved), and also Sal was very thorough on his modifications and testing - he would intentionally seek out the limits of what he was doing so that he could determine if a modification was worth it, or even resulted in an improvement at all.  Again, not territory that you are venturing into.  Proper application of your drag grease of choice and you should be fine.
- john

Quote from: Decker on September 14, 2026, 03:03:00 PMP.P.S. Today is my birthday.  Happy to be posting!

have a nice one amigo, 

Thanks, Steve and Alex!