506HS project questions

[Keta]

Yup, worse case would be no and you are only out a few minutes time.  Alan lives relatively close to you too and is a good person.

[Shellbelly]

Thinking only in the realm of spool speed for casting control.  Given that the concern is wearing from blunt axial braking, wouldn't a collet-style method be a better line of thinking?  It might have to occur on the clicker side of the world where there's more room and there is a surface to work from...the clicker gear.  You won't eliminate the need for lateral adjustment in any application, but you might minimize it and the collet could be a multiplier in the equation. 

Think of a dremel collet on a spool axle and what it would take to make it squeeze (and un-squeeze) without compromising the bearing into failure.  Cast control usually doesn't involve much movement so you need to multiply what little adjustment is available.

Boondoggle?? 

[jurelometer]

Sorry to get all sciencey again, but if you want a spool that is better for casting, how much it weighs matters, but also where the weight is distributed.  Weight farther from the axis means a longer moment arm. Flywheels are narrow to maximize the diameter/moment arm length for a given mass, trying to get as much inertia as possible.  For casting, you want the opposite of a flywheel.

Braided line adds weight, but not as much as aluminum.  I would expect that an unported  shallow  (large abor) aluminum  spool would have more inertia than a stock spool.

If you are only going to fish braid, I would look to see if Penn made plastic spools for the HS Jigmasters.  I know that they did for the standard models.  The plastic spools had problems with mono, as the mono was so elastic that it would contract under load, and then would try to expand back on the spool when the tension was relieved.  Lots of busted plastic spools.  Braid does stetch a bit, but not like mono, so I would expect  that a braid-only guy like you could get away with a plastic spool.  The lighter plastic spools did cast better.

If you want a lighter aluminum spool, the stock cast aluminum spools should be slightly lighter than the aftermarket  spools machined from solid bar stock, as the density of cast is usually around 5-10% lighter.  Or maybe the machined spools have less material? You could weigh them and figure it out.

To make a machined spool lighter, it would have to be ported.  But porting then filling with braid introduces a new problem:  the diameter on braid is so small that is squishes into the gaps from the porting as the line is loaded up under tension.  This happens a lot on ported saltwater fly reels, but is manageable, since you are not spinning the spool for casting and you are usually not winding under very heavy tension (still can't be great for the braid though...).

I can see why this porting would not be much of a problem with the ultralight baitcaster that are not applying much tension, but I would be more concerned on a bigger saltwater reel.

We were talking in another thread about designing a reel from scratch.  To catch up with modern braid, it seems to me that a lightweight carbon fiber braid-only spool would be something pretty cool to investigate.

The test that everybody likes to do is see how long a spool spins, but this is not really the right test.  The perfect casting  spool would not only have zero static/dynamic friction, it would also have zero inertia.  It would freely turn when you pulled line, and immediate stop when you stopped pulling.  The only way to address inertia is to go lighter on the spool, and braid gives us a whole different set of opportunities.

-J

[jurelometer]

Getting fancy within a spindle braking system seems a bit counterproductive to me.

 Just grease the bearings if you want more spool friction.  Or even better, use your thumb. Skin on the thumb regenerates and your neuromuscular system makes a for a highly advanced cast control system.  Sort of like AI without the A

If you do want to go into cast control, lots of threads on magging, and magnets have an advantage in that the braking force increases and decreases with the RPMS.  Not too tricky to make your own adjustable mag system if you are handy.

Requires a conducting spool wall to do a magnet.  Aluminum will work, plastic won't.  A future carbon fiber spool might be conductive enough - not sure.  A "guy I know" got shocked from an electrical short on a carbon fiber panel.

-J

[Shellbelly]

Agreed.  I bit of micro-machining involved.  I was in the rabbit hole of applying thrust.  And yes, thumb skin grows back. Thumb wear has been known to prevent quick phone access, though. . Important to some, but not all.

[PacRat]

"Requires a conducting spool wall to do a magnet.  Aluminum will work, plastic won't.  A future carbon fiber spool might be conductive enough - not sure.  A "guy I know" got shocked from an electrical short on a carbon fiber panel. "

I've used carbon fiber slats inside fiberglass tanks to ground the contents. This is to eliminate any potential that could cause a spark.

-Mike

[JasonGotaProblem]

Dave I was hoping you'd chime in. I'm sure there are other factors but I have a BFS spool for my blackmax which fits on many abu lopro reels of that category. I mention it because the weakest of those is designed for 30# braid and claims 15# of drag. I haven't taken it to a scale but those numbers probably aren't far off. And the arbors on that thing are remarkably thin, the sidewalls not super thick. It weighs 14g. And I've cranked the drag down a few times to break snags. That BFS spool seems pretty structurally sound at that range. Which is quantitatively quite similar to the forces a narrow jiggy would feel if you don't crank it up to 20#

Granted the 501/6 is a bit wider but maybe 30% tops. I feel like something a bit more robust to compensate for the wider spool, combined with maybe 300yd of 20-30# braid could be enough lighter to be worthy of consideration as a casting improvement. I mean they do this on baitcasters specifically to better throw lighter weights. I feel like that effect still would scale.

I'm just musing here. It'll fish just fine as is. This is entertainment.

[JasonGotaProblem]

Did I over fill?

[Keta]

With a supper short topshot it looks good to me.

Without having the reel in hand it looks like the line could be tighter on the spool to avoid it digging in.  If you do not have a line winder take the rig to a park, tie it off to something, walk the line off then  respool it tighter by cranking and walking toward your anchor point.  Having the reel on  short stiff rod helps.  Winding the line tighter will give you room for a longer topshot if needed.

Jerry Brown recomends 10# of pressure but Alan recomends more.   For the drag range this reel will be fished 10# will be enough.

[JasonGotaProblem]

I got to go out and test cast this fella a bit yesterday. Definitely a different animal, compared to casting a magged baitcaster for sure. Thowing 3oz I don't think I got past about 70yds, there's definitely room for improvement.

Logic tells me much of that room for improvement is in thumbing the line on retrieval so it releases from the spool better. But frankly it would be weird if I was already great at that with probably less than 20 conventional reel casts under my belt. And I guess that's part of the fun.

[thorhammer]

what length rod? past 70 yards that comes into play. a 12' with 20lb mono and 6oz will well north of a hundred.

[JasonGotaProblem]

what length rod? past 70 yards that comes into play. a 12' with 20lb mono and 6oz will well north of a hundred.

10' rod this time, my one and only surf conventional rod. Suspect user error is more of a factor though.

[Keta]

You are doing relatively good for a beginner, actually better than relatively good.

It's apples and orangutans here, I am getting 30-40 feet casting  but I am casting a weightless 4" swim bait that weighs a bit less than 1/2 oz with a 6' rod and a JDM Shimanao Ocea Jigger reel getting ready for the 8 day LR trip.  If we get into another wide open dorado bite like last year I plan on tossing these small weightless swimbaits with "C" hooks at them on a 7' 20# rod with a Okuma Komodo reel.  I might even try it on YFT.

[thorhammer]

what length rod? past 70 yards that comes into play. a 12' with 20lb mono and 6oz will well north of a hundred.

10' rod this time, my one and only surf conventional rod. Suspect user error is more of a factor though.

Def takes practice, and certainly with braid and no magnets. That's still a decently large spool as far as inertia goes to sling 3oz on a ten footer tho- that's still in Abu 5500C class. I'd wager you'd actually pick up some yards at 5-6 oz providing the rod is rated for that. I'm thinking what I might get if I put mine on a 10' Spinfisher that I have rated what's 1-5, with 3oz lead. My sketti noodle calculus says....about 70 yards, maybe.

[thorhammer]

i just looked at 70 yds. that's a pretty good toss with your rig.