yellow door 1 1,821 Posted March 16, 2019 Report Share Posted March 16, 2019 How to break bulk spools of braid into 100m topshots 1. Measure it out on a rugby pitch (100m try line to try line) 2. jam 2 sticks in the ground 10m apart run the line around them 10 times 3. use your reel and the manufacturers guess as to how many cms of line is taken onto the spool in one turn of the handle. (this guessed distance will be for a full spools) 4. Buy a line counter and turn it around so it counts line coming onto the reel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted April 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2019 It arrived today and it works doobie and Squid Inc. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rod 773 Posted April 3, 2019 Report Share Posted April 3, 2019 G'day Yeah use one of the cheapy version line counter, works well. Also bought holder for the spools, had issues with that but fixable Cheers Rod Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2019 1 hour ago, Rod said: G'day Yeah use one of the cheapy version line counter, works well. Also bought holder for the spools, had issues with that but fixable Cheers Rod Yeah I just use threaded rod from bunnings to hold the spool. A couple of nuts and some plywood washers and shess done. But the line counter really rounds out my top shoting kit - no more guess work based on doqdy maths and spool circumferences. As long as there enough tension to turn that little orange wheel - its pretty accurate Squid Inc. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2019 Heres the one I bought - took a split second to realize the importance of tension to spin the wheel, to get accurate readings but after that it was smooth sailing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rod 773 Posted April 4, 2019 Report Share Posted April 4, 2019 My counter appears to be the same. Cheap but adequate for my use Your spooling device looks functional and durable This is the one I bought, the wing bolts had crap metal and stripped, the female thread good though so replaced bolts and clamp it in a vice rather than using the suction cup. Great tension control with the springs each side Cheers Rod yellow door 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2019 Ahhh - Yeah that part of the process could use a bit of work at my end- I tend to use my fingers to tension the line onto the reel - or if I'm doing big jobs like surf reels - thats when the wet polar fleece glove comes out to play Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2019 Now that I've had a few minutes to think about it - I might build myself a line tensioning rig aswell. When you spool the braid onto to your reel - do you use that tensioning rig? - The reason I ask is I usually let the line come off the spool like this when transferring to my spinning reels to avoid twist - but that habit comes from the days when I used to use mono where twist is a much bigger issue Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rod 773 Posted April 4, 2019 Report Share Posted April 4, 2019 I used to tension like you but have done a reel or 2 with the spooler tension thingy and it worked well Cheers Rod yellow door 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted April 5, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2019 The tensioner is done Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rybak 622 Posted April 5, 2019 Report Share Posted April 5, 2019 I just go to my go to tackle store to split bulk spools & they do it for me................. Hunter69 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted April 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2019 Do they charge for the service? - coz I'd be rocking up with cheap Chinese braid I got off ebay Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rybak 622 Posted April 6, 2019 Report Share Posted April 6, 2019 No Charge for me anyway. You just need to form good relationships. Often I get good prices for all fishing gear & that includes bulk spools so no need to buy off ebay for me. Not that many buy bulk spools so to move stock, the retail sell price is reduced. I usually get near shop purchase price so they still make some profit. If I do bring in a bulk spool purchased elsewhere, they still help me out . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted April 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2019 Yeah I used to have a much better relationship with my tackle shop before the internet - but these days - getting them to make topshots out of ebay braid would be stretching the already strained friendship. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted April 7, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2019 heres some other diy rigs Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted April 7, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2019 Just added a pencil to mine so I can incorporate my line counter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Softy 2,991 Posted April 7, 2019 Report Share Posted April 7, 2019 I always used an artline 90 texta thru the spool then stuck it between my feet. Works well lolSent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk doobie and yellow door 1 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
doobie 5,802 Posted April 7, 2019 Report Share Posted April 7, 2019 33 minutes ago, Softy said: I always used an artline 90 texta thru the spool then stuck it between my feet. Works well lol Me too and a garden glove on my hand to save the cuts and also guess work tension yellow door 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted April 7, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2019 Yeah this all stems from me being a tight arse and splitting up 300m spools into three 100m topshots. If I wasnt measuring it out - the texta between the toes would get a run. AquaticResearch1 and doobie 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted April 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2019 ok so here it is in its final form - I tried to get away with using a single nut and no springs - but the rig had a tendency to self tighten when too much drag was applied to the spool. So I made some springs - then some more refined springs -then added a second locking nut and now it actually works like it should Softy and Squid Inc. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted April 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2019 Just when you thought this thread couldnt be less interesting - I've done it Found a couple of tennis balls on the way to work - so I had to give that method a crack. Good for light pressure of a bit over a kilo and below. Supposedly you can ramp it up with a bench vice and some vice grips but I only managed a few hundred more grams of pressure with that method. I reckon you could ramp things up with some threaded rod, nuts and washers but the spring loaded version already provides that service Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Softy 2,991 Posted May 13, 2019 Report Share Posted May 13, 2019 Finally a reason to wear crocs... doobie and yellow door 1 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
doobie 5,802 Posted May 13, 2019 Report Share Posted May 13, 2019 And you went and purchased those neoprene shoes - should have got some croc ones lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yellow door 1 1,821 Posted May 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2019 Crocs have got to be one of the most versatile shoes in the business Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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