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Carbontek


Tybo

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Have recently been cleaning up all my gear and assessing what needs doing. Several of my light end reels were in desperate need of a service, and the drag washers were like tissue paper. Previously on my high end reels, I've let the shop do the servicing and always upgraded to carbontek washers, however decided on these few reels to do it myself. Trying to find reel specific washers online was like a mine field, and weren't cheap. So I found a store that sold carbontek sheets and you cut them yourself. Seemed easy enough, so gave it a crack. $21 for a sheet and was posted in a couple of days.

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Small sheet, I wasn't confident in doing a neat job with scissors, so luckily I have access to a CNC machine. Measure the old washers, did up a digital file and cut them out.

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Perfect. Greased them and did the easy install. The drag feels smooth and responsive, can't notice any negative difference. I'm stoked! And now I still about 80% of the sheet left to do any of my other reels.

I was going through the testimonials on the site, and think I'm not the only member who has had a crack at them. Wouldn't you agree @Do$tylz?

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Na, in this instance I couldn't be bothered cutting out a sheet so just bought the pre-cut ones. Far cheaper to buy a sheet and do it yourself though!

I think you can just use a compass tool to scratch out a nice round circle, but a CNC machine would surely do the job

Sometimes I feel the carbontex aren't quite as smooth as felt with initial start-up, but certainly don't wear out like the felts. Did you notice anything like this?

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These did feel rather coarse to touch when I cut them out, but once greased and installed I couldn't tell the difference. Mind you this is me just pulling the line from the reel, things may be a bit different when I have a fish on.

The carbontek ones I've got in the past had a much thicker weave through them. These ones have a very thin but dense weave. I don't know what the difference is, I guess only in time I'll find out.

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On 21/03/2017 at 1:27 PM, Tybo said:

I was going through the testimonials on the site, and think I'm not the only member who has had a crack at them. Wouldn't you agree @Do$tylz?

Yep. I had a crack at it with scissors though. Having access to a CNC machine is to get exact cuts is awesome.

The only thing I have read and am conscious about is that the drag pressure capabilities on your reel increases with the carbontex washers. Some of the reels may not be able to actually handle the new max drag pressure so you could potentially be over speccing what your reel is capable of.

It's never actually become an issue for me but for some of the guys who regularly lock their drags to fight the bigguns, you may have some problems later.

 

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1 hour ago, Do$tylz said:

Yep. I had a crack at it with scissors though. Having access to a CNC machine is to get exact cuts is awesome.

The only thing I have read and am conscious about is that the drag pressure capabilities on your reel increases with the carbontex washers. Some of the reels may not be able to actually handle the new max drag pressure so you could potentially be over speccing what your reel is capable of.

It's never actually become an issue for me but for some of the guys who regularly lock their drags to fight the bigguns, you may have some problems later.

 

Yeah, don't think I would've been as keen if I had to do it with scissors. I'm not a fan of locking up my drag, so hopefully shouldn't be a problem.

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