Texas Fishing Forum

Cutting your own carbontex drag washers

Posted By: Coolarrow

Cutting your own carbontex drag washers - 12/30/18 06:20 PM

Watched a few videos and been reading about this.. Anyone ever give it a try? Pros and cons??
Posted By: 78Staff

Re: Cutting your own carbontex drag washers - 12/31/18 12:24 AM

I mean, if you had a bunch of reels, like 15-20 plus, or had reels that they don't offer drag stacks for, I guess it would be beneficial. How often do you actually replace drag stacks? Factor in the cost of several sharp conical cutters, unless you are thinking about free-handing it? I guess I should search for the vids smile.
Posted By: 78Staff

Re: Cutting your own carbontex drag washers - 01/01/19 08:47 PM

I skimmed a few vids - tbh seems like more of a hassle unless they just don't make a set for your reel. Seems most use scissors/sanding/drill bits - I had thought appropriate sized conical cutting punches would work better, but probably not cost effective.
Posted By: tmd11111

Re: Cutting your own carbontex drag washers - 01/01/19 09:46 PM

Unless you want the satisfaction of making them yourself it seems like a lot of work for a $10 set of washers.
Posted By: Chippawa1020

Re: Cutting your own carbontex drag washers - 02/14/19 05:47 AM

A 4" by 8" sheet of Carbontex is only about $20.00 ! $5.00 more for the Cals Drag Grease. You can do 10 or 12 average size reels with it. The punches cost a fortune ! I use Various sizes of flat washers for the outside diameter templates. Just clip the washer to the Carbontex sheet and cut them out with a sharp pair of scissors, clean up the edges with sand paper or sanding bit. Drill bits and cone shaped grinding bits for inside diameters. Dont breathe the carbon dust however, not good for you.

The thing I like about doing the drags myself is most pre cut drag washers leave about 30% of drag mass on the cutting board. The ones I cut have the largest possible outside diameter and the smallest possible inside diameter, thus much more drag mass ! The Original Factory drags are even worse !

I can cut the 2 Carbontex Drag washers and clean them up for the older (Green Curados) in about 5 minutes.
Try it yourself, it's really fairly simple.

Best of luck....
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