DIY: Making Carbontex (Carbon Fiber) Drag Washers From Sheet Stock

You can view a more detailed explanation of this process on my Instructable which can be seen here: www.instructables.com/id/Make...
This is my technique for making Carbontex drag washers from sheet stock.
I ordered the sheet material from a seller on eBay.
I hope you found this video helpful. If anyone has any questions, let me know and I will be happy to help if I can.
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[@adamwhite4378]

Fantastic video. Thanks.

[@YL-mc9oz]

PERFECT JOB - BIG LIKE, THANK YOU !!!

[@robanfield1]

Excellent job. !!

[@iamajames]

Nice technique

[@warriors5779]

thanks for the drill tips

[@TheFishingHobby]

Glad you found something useful, thanks for watching!

[@yulunfen2957]

Hola excelente...una pregunta como cortas la lámina de carbono tengo una de 1.0 mm no se como cortarla, agradecería de tu ayuda...gracias

[@TheFishingHobby]

I cut mine with scissors 👍

[@808Mark]

The question is, where do i buy the sheets? I'm in serious need of a drag upgrade in a reel i have.. the drag star changes the drag too drastically with only one or 2 clicks

[@TheFishingHobby]

Search the term "carbontex" on eBay and you will find sheets for sale as well as premade washers for lots of reel models.

[@808Mark]

@@TheFishingHobby thank you!

[@TheFishingHobby]

No problem 👍

[@kencleg7721]

Try leather not to exceed .085 thickness grease up and install

[@TheFishingHobby]

Leather is a good drag material. I have leather drag washers in some of my vintage reels.

[@rickhollass7434]

I bough a 0.5mm sheet of carbontex and I followed the instructions and everything went fine. Now I have and old reel that uses a 1mm drag. I don't wanto to buy an other sheet, will it work if I just use 2 layes of 0.5mm?

[@TheFishingHobby]

I would think so. I'd try it if I were you. There may be a little extra slippage between the doubled up carbontex so you may not be able to get quite as much drag tension...or maybe not! I think (since you already have the material on hand) it would be worth trying it out.

[@rickhollass7434]

@@TheFishingHobby I'll try and will let you know!

[@TheFishingHobby]

@@rickhollass7434 I'd appreciate that. I've wondered about that myself but never had the situation come up to try it out.

[@rickhollass7434]

@@TheFishingHobby Sorry for the late reply, but I didn't have time to test the double layer of carbontex till yesterday. The results aren't good at all. I've lost at least 50% of the power of the drag, but that's not the worse part: after opening the reel I encountered a lot black of debris, they came from the surface of the 2 opposite faces of the carbontex. They have "smoothed" due to friction. So in the end the result was bad. I also did and other test: I put a common metal washer between the two layers of carbontex, at first seemed to be a good idea but it didn't work at all. After a little thinking I understood my mistake. The reel drag works with friction not compression. What I mean is the common metal washer has a round hole in the middle so it doesn't "lock" with the shaft and it's not doing any friction or at least it doesn't transfer it to the shaft. Usually the original reels metal washers doesn't have a round hole but they have a "rectangular" hole with the two short sides rounded (I don't know the name of that), the shaft has the same design so the washer fits in and follows the shaft's rotation. So that's why it won't work. I used an abu garcia pro max 3.

[@TheFishingHobby]

@@rickhollass7434 all the reels I have seen have some way of anchoring a washer to the shaft for sure. Maybe yours is missing? It looks like part #40 in the schematic for that reel should do that: www.reelschematic.com/wp-content/uploads/schematics/Abu%20Garcia/pro%20max/Ambassadeur%20Pro%20Max%203%2025%2000.pdf

[@polilore1974]

Nice video! Where can I buy carbontex sheet? Regards

[@TheFishingHobby]

polilore1974 I ordered mine from a seller on eBay

[@polilore1974]

USA?

[@TheFishingHobby]

I live in the USA but the person selling it lives and ships from Australia (international shipping).

[@ytu777]

@@TheFishingHobby could you send me the contact in Australia where to buy the carbonated sheets please Regards Ian

[@TheFishingHobby]

I have no idea, I live in the USA. I ordered these sheets on eBay so you may look there.

[@afzalb2366]

Is carbontex and carbon drag washers same????

[@TheFishingHobby]

Yes 👍

[@jimcatanzaro7808]

You could use a punch kit from harbor freight

[@TheFishingHobby]

You can, but it is hard to keep holes concentric unless you have a double die punch and those are pricey. You can get them close enough with the kit you mentioned...you don't need moon landing precision for drag washers 👍

[@jimcatanzaro7808]

@@TheFishingHobby it takes about 15 minutes for me to bang out 40 or so washers for my penn reels 1 inch out side and 1/2 inside I like using thin washers like .65 and .85 you can also mod the drag system you can buy or make thinner stainless washers Instead of 3 drag washers now you can do 5 increases the max drag performance by 30 percent that’s big on say a penn 113h or jig-master penn 500 I have some dual dog mods as well I can do them for mostly any round reel