# Is this reel balanced..



## Kwesi W. (Apr 14, 2006)




----------



## dmaaero (Jan 27, 2008)

nope, the reel shouldn"t rock back an forth like that at the end of the spin. Nice 2 min spin time. Only need to spin for a few sec to check bal. All your watching is the stop!!!! Pretty simple fix, take the line off an do it again. Put a black mark on the tape with a marker, should stop somewhere different each time,and should not rock. Then an only then is it ballanced. Good luck 
ps i have pretty good luck with one center hump (sometimes). It"s still a pain when they dont come out right.


----------



## justinstewart (Nov 23, 2007)

I'm definately not the best person here to give you advice, but I would say no.

At 1:43 in the video, the spool spins backwards, which means that the heaviest part of the spool is finding it's way to the bottom. Which means it's not balanced. 

Spin it again and mark the tape with a sharpie at a the top of the reel. Then spin it again and see if the mark is in the same place. If it is, it's not balanced. You basically want to see marks everywhere, not just in one place. If the spool stops randomly, there are no places that are heavier than others, and the spool is balanced.

Anyway, just my .02.


----------



## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

Agreed, it appears slightly off. wait till it comes to a stop, then take a marker and make a small line at the very top of the spool the line should mark both the rim of the spool and the cage.

Now repeat your spin test several times- see if it rocks back and stops to the same location on each test. if it does- the mark on the cage and spool will line up, it indicates the heavy spot will always settle to the bottom- you can counter this by stripping off the line and placing a small bit of electrical tape on the top side (light) side of the spool, or try rebalancing with the line lay method, making small humps with the first bit of line, either in the middle or at both ends of the spool, or possibly all three.


----------



## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

Can the line-lay method balance your spool if the spool itself starts out unbalanced?

Ran a balance check on both my 525s with an empty spool, and found out both were unbalanced. Tried a single-bump line lay but that didn't fix it, I've still got rocking at the end of the spin.

What do I try next?

Evan


----------



## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

Be sure the tape you use to secure the line while doing the test is not throwing off the balance. It need to be exactly two wraps around, and the second wrap end should meet the start end of the first wrap, if the ends overlap (or don't quite meet) the tape itself will have more weight in one area than another.


----------



## dmaaero (Jan 27, 2008)

kmw,
Another tip, make sure your electric tape is wraped twice around the spool an make sure the ends of the tape are butted up perfectly. For the tape to be balanced you have to have (exactly) two wraps. If there"s say 1/2 inch from butting together on the tape then thats the problem not the line.


----------



## Kwesi W. (Apr 14, 2006)

The spool came with line already on it.. The Abu box in the video was sent to me with tons of Abu parts.. The guy threw in two "balanced" spools . So i don't know how the line was put on...


----------



## Kwesi W. (Apr 14, 2006)

I know i don't need a 2min spin to see if the spool is balanced.. but I think it's pretty cool!!!  Plus I've been have tons of problems with my homemade CT conversions. For some reason the frame rubs the spool.. So I swapped it with a ABU CT 6500 frame.. So I just wanted to see if it would give me the same issues.. It didn't.. I guess I warped the other two frames.. 




dmaaero said:


> nope, the reel shouldn"t rock back an forth like that at the end of the spin. Nice 2 min spin time. Only need to spin for a few sec to check bal. All your watching is the stop!!!! Pretty simple fix, take the line off an do it again. Put a black mark on the tape with a marker, should stop somewhere different each time,and should not rock. Then an only then is it ballanced. Good luck
> ps i have pretty good luck with one center hump (sometimes). It"s still a pain when they dont come out right.


----------



## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

I'm not using tape to hold the line, just put an overhand knot about three inches from the end, wrap the line around the spool and thread it through the knot. Voila, no tape balance issues.

Stripped all the line off one of the 525s this morning, and tried respooling on with two bumps instead of one. Still rocking at end of spin. I'm sure that the spool starts out unbalanced, but can't figure out how to fix it.

Help! 

Evan


----------



## dmaaero (Jan 27, 2008)

Did you try what surfcat recommended? 
Take the line off an use a small piece of tape to balance the spool first.


----------



## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Spool balance is more art than science guys. 

Right now I've got a spool that I've attempted to balance at least a dozen times and it STILL has a heavy side. A bit of tape on the high side works well in some cases but you have to be careful. I've had spools that actually get _worse_ after you add enough tape to balance the bare spool perfectly. Another trick is to mark the high (light) side and place your knot right there. My best luck seems to come from different humps and *course* line lay between the humps.

Last night, I either got lucky or have found one of those special spools. Right out of the box, lined it with .28 and got a 6:38 spin with no heavy side...



Tommy


----------



## hellbent (Aug 24, 2007)

Tommy said:


> Last night, I either got lucky or have found one of those special spools. Right out of the box, lined it with .28 and got a 6:38 spin with no heavy side...
> 
> 
> 
> Tommy


What was it on?


----------



## Kwesi W. (Apr 14, 2006)

tommy how are you getting close to 7mins on a spin... is it the bearings?




Tommy said:


> Spool balance is more art than science guys.
> 
> Right now I've got a spool that I've attempted to balance at least a dozen times and it STILL has a heavy side. A bit of tape on the high side works well in some cases but you have to be careful. I've had spools that actually get _worse_ after you add enough tape to balance the bare spool perfectly. Another trick is to mark the high (light) side and place your knot right there. My best luck seems to come from different humps and *course* line lay between the humps.
> 
> ...


----------



## eric (Oct 24, 2007)

dry ceramics.

so what spare parts you have around kwesi?

maybe pm me so i can help ya get rid of some? xD


----------



## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Oh there's a little more to it than dry ceramics.... 

That is part of the tune for spin time though. 

This particular reel is a 6600 QTC with a Benfield. I always liked black and gold... 

Pic attached

Tommy


----------



## eric (Oct 24, 2007)

ya its everything else too, but the dry bearings play biggest role.

i had a damn spool which took me about 9 times to get it right with .28

now, even on my fishing reels. i spooling up some .28 backing first, then uni to uni whatever else line i plan to use. 
ive noticed its easier to balance spools using lower diameter line then using straight .40 for example.

so even if i strip off the fishing line, i leave on the .28 line so itll keep its balance.


----------



## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

ooeric said:


> ya its everything else too, but the dry bearings play biggest role.
> 
> i had a damn spool which took me about 9 times to get it right with .28
> 
> ...



ooeric is right, 

once you get the spool balanced, never take off the bottom 2-30 yrds of line. Just retie and you'll keep the balance.

I've had SS bearings well over 5 min...


----------



## Kwesi W. (Apr 14, 2006)

Tommy i see you're keeping your reel tuning private. I completely understand.. But at the end of the month don't take it personal if I'm stalking you with my notepad. taking notes on everything you do.... LOL


----------



## Jesse Lockowitz (Feb 13, 2006)

kmw21230 said:


> Tommy i see you're keeping your reel tuning private. I completely understand.. But at the end of the month don't take it personal if I'm stalking you with my notepad. taking notes on everything you do.... LOL


it just takes alot of time, and over and over and over and over. ive only had 1 time where the spool was damn near perfect the first time i put line on it...

other times, when i really got into it, and tried to get it perfect, took atleast half a dozen tries, or didnt happen at all.

from what ive seen/been told. there is no "big secret", or one easy fix tip...wish there was, woulda saved me alot of spooling/unspooling lol


Jesse


----------



## Led (Feb 1, 2001)

A few Q's first.

1 - Is the line used constant throughout it's length (e.g zero variation).

2 - Is the spool perfect (has it been set up & run on a DTI)

3 - Are the bearings magnetised

If the answer to 2 is No, then get it checked, there are a number of spools that are not 'true' and will never balance. I had a spool that had 3 though more on 1 side than the other and I couldn't balance it no matter what I tried - a good engineering buddy sorted it on his lathe.


----------



## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

kmw21230 said:


> Tommy i see you're keeping your reel tuning private. I completely understand.. But at the end of the month don't take it personal if I'm stalking you with my notepad. taking notes on everything you do.... LOL


There is no single secret or even secrets. Here are the basic steps.

1 - Start with an empty spool. Remove the bearings. I prefer ceramic hybrids, but SS work fine.

2 - Remove one dust cover from each bearing. Sewing needle or small sharp fish hook works good to get under the small "c" clip that holds it on.

3 - Clean the bearings. Many different ways to do this. Some use lighter fluid, some acetone. I like an aresol industrial electric contact cleaner or metal parts cleaner that evaporates completely and leaves no residue. Let the bearings dry completely. I use a hair dryer to speed the process.

4 - Re-install bearings dry.

5 - Install spool and spindle into reel. Put in freespool and give the spool a slight turn. Note where it stops. Do this several times. Ideally it will stop at different spots or at least roll back to the same spot slowly. If it rolls to the same spot every time, mark the high spot with magic marker.

6 - If you have a mark, place your knot on the mark in middle of spool. Start winding line on coarsely but keeping the gap linear. Do this for 3-4 passes.

7 - Make a single center hump about 3/8 of an inch wid and about 1/4-3/8 inch tall in the middle of the spool. Fill in coarsely on the right until flush with top of hump, the cross over and fill in coarsely on the left until flush.

8 - Wind line on in a controlled manner. I use 5-6 rotations of the handle per pass on a 5500, 6-7 on a 6500 and 7-8 on a 6600w. When you get a hump or a valley (and you will) DO NOT fill in by making short back and forth motions in that one spot. If you do, and you have a fluff at that point you WILL have a blowup. When full, tie an overhand knot about 6" from end of line, rotate spool one revolution and stick the line end through the knot and puul tite. Trim close.

9 -Tighten drag and flick the handle while you push the freespool button. If all is well you should not feel any (or at least very little) vibration. You can time it now to check spin time. When it rolls to a stop, once again check to see if the spool comes to rest cleanly or of it rolls back and forth to a heavy spot. If so, mark the spot.

Now you have a decision to make, is it good or do you want to wind all of the line back onto another spool and start over with two humps??

If there is a heavy side, you can add a bit of tape to the light side to balance. If it takes more than just a little then this can actually make the balance worse. Some spools just *cannot* be balanced.

When you are satisfied, remove the spool, take out the bearings and oil them with your favorite lube. Reinstall. I like red rocket oil.

There you go, all my (well most of them... lol) reel balancing secrets out there on the table.

Tommy


----------



## eric (Oct 24, 2007)

i remember some guys long while ago.
used to use lead tape on some reels.. namely the newells.
because newell spools are cast aluminum , not very finely machine.

so 60% of the spools are unbalanced from factory. (rough estimate)

my 229 is very unbalanced, i can literally see one side is bigger then the other.

so i just pile all the line from the center to right side., about 6mm tall.

even then, itll only balance the spool 75%.

when you get spools like this. its honestly best to call the company or if you got a friend with a lathe...


----------



## Jesse Lockowitz (Feb 13, 2006)

ooeric said:


> i remember some guys long while ago.
> used to use lead tape on some reels.. namely the newells.
> because newell spools are cast aluminum , not very finely machine.
> 
> ...




ive seen like 2 avets that were wicked bad, i know steve had an MX he couldnt get right, and ive seen an SX that sounded like a mega-wobbler on take off lol


Jesse


----------

