Testing Drag

[Locke N Load]

Hello Mr. Tani,

I am a fan of yours and you have inspired me to do some testing on my reels. I just purchased an Avet 50W and plan on prepping it for the Summer Tuna season here in MA. I would like to do a baseline test on the reels specs, drag at strike and full and freespool time. Then I plan on opening her up and greasing the bearings and other areas, but not the drags. Then test the drag and freespool again. To take my test to the next level I plan on breaking the drags in by running a few hundred yards of line off using a vehicle a couple times in a row. Then let it cool down and repeat the process. Then I can do a final test of the specs. If I get really adventurous I might buy an extra set of the carbon fiber drags and grease them. Then switch them in and do some more testing. I have not decided if I am going to go that far yet though.

So to my question. What is the proper method for testing the drag pressure? My plan is to mount the reel on a rod, secure it horizontal to the ground and then tie some sort of container to the line. Then I will fill the container with weights until the line starts to slowly move the spool. I figure this will get me the moment of inertia drag numbers to break the coefficient of friction on the drag washers. I plan to also test the already-in-motion drag pressure as well. I figure I will remove a little weight so the line does not come off. Then I will give a slight tug. If the line does not move I will take a little more weight off until it stays moving after the tug. I think this will get the correct amount of actual drag after overcoming the static pressure.

Does this sound reasonable to you? Anything I should rethink? Any tips for prepping the intenals of the reel for the season?

Thanks

[alantani]

to answer your question, here's a little light reading for you...  http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=290.0

if you have more time on your hands, take a look at this.......

if you've got a strong basic sciences background, you will remember that statistics class that you nearly flunked because it bored everyone to tears.  well, you need it now.  first, understand that your sample sizes will be so small and your confidence limits so wide that your results carry absolute not statistical significance at all.  you're ok with that, right?  unless you do this in consultation with a statistician to work on your study design and pick your minimum sample sizes, you can come to no firm conclusions.  still, you will see some trends........

here are your parameters - time, temperature, static strike drag in pounds at the top of the spool (handle moving constantly, spool not), dynamic strike drag in pounds (spool moving, handle not) when you are pulling line at a constant rate (increasing spool rpms).  there are literally a hundred different permutations.  to start, i would lock the reel down, tie the line off to a scale, hook a thermocouple to the drag pressure plate and then hook the handle arm to a motor that will turn the handle 3 times a second (180 rpm).  they you can measure changes in temperature as a function of time, changes in static drag pressure as a function of time, and changes in static drag pressure as a function of temperature. 

do 10 runs, allowing the drag pressure plate to return to a documented room temperature each time.  you will see trends, but your small sample size will still not allow for statistically valid conclusion.  now repeat the entire process with the motor turning the handle arm 10 times per secone (600 rpm).  now you're cookin', literally!!!!!  your drags had better be greased when you do this.  shimano drag grease melts at 300 degrees F, cal's grease melts at 500 degrees F.  and finally, check the dynamic drag as a function of time (= distance) by peeling line off and a constant rate of, say, 3 feet per second.  that's 100 yards in 100 seconds.  you will be evaluating drag pressure and temperature as a function of distance.  now repeat this run at 30 feet per second.  that's 100 yards in 10 seconds. 

this would be tedious for sure, but i think the results would be fascinating. 

[Locke N Load]

Yeah, plenty of parameters that are out of my control and anyone else's while fishing.
Static and kinetic friction are the subjects I want to test. I will follow up with my results.