How to prevent plastic spools from cracking...

Started by Beachmaster, January 12, 2020, 03:06:34 AM

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Beachmaster

So, I have a good collection of these Quick reels and I am ready to start putting some line on some of them and fish.  I have been noticing lately some of these reels on ebay have cracked spools (be careful and look close at pics before bidding!) I got one myself.  How do you prevent the spool from cracking?  Should I use strictly braid?  Back it with some braid first then finish off the spool with mono? 

whalebreath

Replace the plastic spool with one made of metal-proved 100% effective.

Midway Tommy

Use a backing or spool arbor/filler. Dacron works great for backing. Do not fill the entire spool with mono as it stretches & then shrinks later. Also, try to avoid plastic spools loaded with excessive from being stored in a cold winter environment. That adds to the mono shrinkage.
Love those open face spinning reels! (Especially ABU & ABU/Zebco Cardinals)

Tommy D (ORCA), NE



Favorite Activity? ............... In our boat fishing
RELAXING w/ MY BEST FRIEND (My wife Bonnie)

mo65

#3
Quote from: Beachmaster on January 12, 2020, 03:06:34 AM
How do you prevent the spool from cracking?  Should I use strictly braid?  Back it with some braid first then finish off the spool with mono?  

  Yes...using a braided line is a good deterrent to keep plastic spools from cracking...but I don't think mono is cracking so many of these spinning reel spools...as most of them don't have a large enough capacity to hold all the loops necessary to cause implosion.  I think most are cracked simply from rough handling. A spinning reel's spool is more exposed to damage than a casting reel's. 8)
~YOU CAN TUNA GEETAR...BUT YOU CAN'T TUNA FEESH~


Beachmaster

Quote from: whalebreath on January 12, 2020, 03:11:37 AM
Replace the plastic spool with one made of metal-proved 100% effective.
I don't think you can get a replacement metal spool for all of the Quick reels?

oc1

Mine is cracked but I just ignore it.  The line seems to bind everything together just fine.  I'd be proud to have enough action/excitement to make it explode.
-steve

Midway Tommy

#6
Quote from: mo65 on January 12, 2020, 03:38:22 AM
Quote from: Beachmaster on January 12, 2020, 03:06:34 AM
How do you prevent the spool from cracking?  Should I use strictly braid?  Back it with some braid first then finish off the spool with mono?  

  Yes...using a braided line is a good deterrent to keep plastic spools from cracking...but I don't think mono is cracking so many of these spinning reel spools...as most of them don't have a large enough capacity to hold all the loops necessary to cause implosion.  I think most are cracked simply from rough handling. A spinning reel's spool is more exposed to damage than a casting reel's. 8)

Mike,

Speaking from experience before the culprit was uncovered, and I know this to be true with ABU & Zebco Cardinal 4 & sometimes 3 spools, although I've never had a 3 break.

About 25 years ago Dacron was hard to find so I though I'd be smart and back my spools with cheap KMart mono. Well everything was fine throughout that summer. It was a very cold winter & the reels, on rods, wintered in the rod storage compartment in my boat, in my garage. All of the spools were in great condition and had always been covered when not in use and I never abuse my fishing equipment, it's too expensive for this poor boy. The next spring when I went fishing for the first time, to my surprise & dismay, 4 of the Cardinal 4 spools had their faces popped off. Luckily I had a few black skirted graphite spool 4s in there, too, so we were able to fish. It was a few years before guys figured out that filling the spool with only mono was the culprit. I no longer spool more than 125 yds of mono on any of my plastic or graphite spools and haven't had a face pop off since. I use Dacron for backing but anything that won't stretch would suffice.      
Love those open face spinning reels! (Especially ABU & ABU/Zebco Cardinals)

Tommy D (ORCA), NE



Favorite Activity? ............... In our boat fishing
RELAXING w/ MY BEST FRIEND (My wife Bonnie)

mo65

   Obviously it takes a lot less wraps than I thought. Now that I think about it...another factor that would increase the spinning reels chance at disaster is the weight of the line. The lighter the mono...the more the stretch! I guess even a tiny spool of 4lb. could fall victim. :-\
~YOU CAN TUNA GEETAR...BUT YOU CAN'T TUNA FEESH~


Beachmaster

Quote from: Midway Tommy on January 12, 2020, 08:52:40 PM
Quote from: mo65 on January 12, 2020, 03:38:22 AM
Quote from: Beachmaster on January 12, 2020, 03:06:34 AM
How do you prevent the spool from cracking?  Should I use strictly braid?  Back it with some braid first then finish off the spool with mono?  

  Yes...using a braided line is a good deterrent to keep plastic spools from cracking...but I don't think mono is cracking so many of these spinning reel spools...as most of them don't have a large enough capacity to hold all the loops necessary to cause implosion.  I think most are cracked simply from rough handling. A spinning reel's spool is more exposed to damage than a casting reel's. 8)

Mike,

Speaking from experience before the culprit was uncovered, and I know this to be true with ABU & Zebco Cardinal 4 & sometimes 3 spools, although I've never had a 3 break.

About 25 years ago Dacron was hard to find so I though I'd be smart and back my spools with cheap KMart mono. Well everything was fine throughout that summer. It was a very cold winter & the reels, on rods, wintered in the rod storage compartment in my boat, in my garage. All of the spools were in great condition and had always been covered when not in use and I never abuse my fishing equipment, it's too expensive for this poor boy. The next spring when I went fishing for the first time, to my surprise & dismay, 4 of the Cardinal 4 spools had their faces popped off. Luckily I had a few black skirted graphite spool 4s in there, too, so we were able to fish. It was a few years before guys figured out that filling the spool with only mono was the culprit. I no longer spool more than 125 yds of mono on any of my plastic or graphite spools and haven't had a face pop off since. I use Dacron for backing but anything that won't stretch would suffice.      
Mike, I have a partial spool of 50 lb Dacron.  Would that be too large of a diameter to use on say a Quick 285 or 330?  If it's ok, how much should I put on before tying in the mono?

happyhooker

Good info from Mike & Tommy.  You want to build a little flex in on the spool.  Heavy Dacron should work, but you might have some trouble tying it to a much smaller diameter mono; workaround for that is to just use the Dacron as an arbor and don't tie the mono to it, but just tie the mono to the spool with a Uni or whatever just as though you were tying it directly to the spool.

Frank

Midway Tommy

I use 12lb Dacron. It seems to be a good size for even line lay and tying.
Love those open face spinning reels! (Especially ABU & ABU/Zebco Cardinals)

Tommy D (ORCA), NE



Favorite Activity? ............... In our boat fishing
RELAXING w/ MY BEST FRIEND (My wife Bonnie)

mo65

Quote from: Beachmaster on January 12, 2020, 11:27:28 PM
Mike, I have a partial spool of 50 lb Dacron.  Would that be too large of a diameter to use on say a Quick 285 or 330?  If it's ok, how much should I put on before tying in the mono?

   Yep, that sounds a bit large for the 285/330, might want to save that for a larger reel. Most folks like to fill about 1/3 to 1/2 the spool with backing, just as long as that doesn't interfere with your fishing. Most times, if I have 100yds. of "useable" line on the reel I'm good. The first time I bottom fished on the Atlantic I was horrified that I needed to fill the ENTIRE spool with fresh new line. It was a real step outside the box for a guy who grew up fishing in 10 feet of water. 8)
~YOU CAN TUNA GEETAR...BUT YOU CAN'T TUNA FEESH~


Midway Tommy

Quote from: mo65 on January 13, 2020, 03:00:29 PM
The first time I bottom fished on the Atlantic I was horrified that I needed to fill the ENTIRE spool with fresh new line. It was a real step outside the box for a guy who grew up fishing in 10 feet of water. 8)[/color]

I'm with you! That, my friend, would be one heck of an eye opening experience. Oahe is over 200 feet deep, but we never fished deeper than 30 feet. I wouldn't even begin to know how to tackle something like that.  ;D

Love those open face spinning reels! (Especially ABU & ABU/Zebco Cardinals)

Tommy D (ORCA), NE



Favorite Activity? ............... In our boat fishing
RELAXING w/ MY BEST FRIEND (My wife Bonnie)

Dominick

Quote from: oc1 on January 12, 2020, 06:20:50 AM
I'd be proud to have enough action/excitement to make it explode.
-steve

Ha ha.. good one Steve.  Dominick
Leave the gun.  Take the cannolis.

There are two things I don't like about fishing.  Getting up early in the morning and boats.  The rest of it is fun.

TJAndrews

Quote from: Midway Tommy on January 12, 2020, 03:33:09 AM
Use a backing or spool arbor/filler. Dacron works great for backing. Do not fill the entire spool with mono as it stretches & then shrinks later. Also, try to avoid plastic spools loaded with excessive from being stored in a cold winter environment. That adds to the mono shrinkage.

Hmmm. That explains why the original cork filler still on one of my 331 spools is so much smaller and harder than it was 45 years ago when I first installed it. The plastic filler that came with the other spool is smaller too, but not so much. I thought it was just because they're old.

On the plus side though, none of my plastic spools are cracked at all. A bit off-color maybe, but then so am I...