In testing my simple spiral set-up,when I bend the rod sideways, away from the bumper guide, the line rubs the blank, between the bumper and the 180, . Other than that, the line flow looks great. Is this normal?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2008 04:06AM by George Forster.

Unfortunately,Yes..............quite often.
Lots of recipes for spirals.
One way to mitigate the issue & spread the guide loads in the transition is to use two bumpers at 1/3rds instead of 1 at 1/2's
Works for me.
the other issue is your casting style preference; if you use any side swing in your cast at all, the spiral is best placed on the same side that you cast, to minimise blank contact.
ie right handed cast right side spiral.............left handed cast left side spiral.
If you are not casting ..............toss a penny .
DenisB

Dennis is talking about transition guides, not bumpers. They're not the same thing.

How far apart are your butt and first 180 degree guide? They should not be more than about 10 inches or so apart.

On very large diameter blanks, you may want to use a slightly larger rings to allow the line to pass by the blank without rubbing it.

......................

The butt guide is a DF 06. The bumper and the runners are SF 04's. The butt and the 180 guides are exactly 10 inches apart. The rod dia. at the butt guide is .3125 inches. The bumper is at 90, placed at the point where the line crosses the middle axis of the blank. The spiral is to the right, since that is the same side as the reel handle. I'll try some different butt guide and bumper sizes. Any other ideas? Thanks.

What's happening, is that due to the very small butt and first 180 degree guide rings you've employed, the line is having to start and finish from farther in towards the very center of the blank. Had you used the more standard say, 16 or 12 ring sizes in those positions, you wouldn't like have encountered this situation.

If you want to keep the very small guides in those locations, then you'll have to employ a bumper with a higher frame (or larger ring). That will move the line farther away from the blank.

........................

Tom Kirkman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What's happening, is that due to the very small
> butt and first 180 degree guide rings you've
> employed, the line is having to start and finish
> from farther in towards the very center of the
> blank. Had you used the more standard say, 16 or
> 12 ring sizes in those positions, you wouldn't
> like have encountered this situation.
>
> If you want to keep the very small guides in those
> locations, then you'll have to employ a bumper
> with a higher frame (or larger ring). That will
> move the line farther away from the blank.
>
> ........................


Tom, this is not meant to be negative towards the Simple Spiral, which is an excellent method. But, if you want to use the small guides you might want to try out a Forhan or O'Quinn spiral method. I use the micro guides w/ a Forhan style spiral and do not have any issues w/ the line rubbing the blank. To be fair I have not tried the Simple Spiral w/ micro guides.

Scott Sheets
www.smsrods.com

Correct - it's not any fault of the Simple Spiral. It's just a situation where very small guide rings are being used and thus you're going to have trouble keeping the line off the blank when you try to skirt by it on one side without using any transition guides, which is what the Simple Spiral does.

I would agree with Scott that if you want to use those micro guides in those positions you may wish to drop back to a more traditional type spiral wrap with standard transition guides.

..................

Hello Again

Actually I wasn't talking about transition guides I was talking about small bumpers & using 2 instead of 1 ..............but accept that does not make it a classic Simple Spiral.
In all other respects the guide train is.
I agree it is entirely an issue of small guides & resultant minimal 'standoff' /bumping of the line around the blank in the transition of the line from above to below the blank when using small framed guides of very small sizes, especialy where the blank can flex significantly in the transition area.

Works for me

DenisB

I use 2 guides to transition when using the micros. You still need to watch the spacing, but it eliminates most issues.

George, you say " when you bend the rod sideways away from the bumper guide", what does it matter. Are you going to fight a fish sideways, or are you going to pull up like most people? As for casting, the rod won't be flexed as the line is paying out so it shouldn't be an issue then, either. My opinion.

Oops... I didn't read that part about bending the rod "sideways." Thanks, Greg.

George,

Bending the rod sideways isn't something you need to worry about - that's not what you'll be doing while fishing. If the line isn't touching the rod as it moves from top to bottom then you're fine as is. This has all been unnecessary, possibly.

Does the line touch the blank between the butt and first 180 guide at rest or under normal load from below? That's the test, not bending it sideways.

....................

The line doesn't touch the rod in a normal bend or at rest, but it is really, really close. Will the coils form the line cause some contact when the line isn't under tension, like during the flight of the lure? I was worried about the sideways bend, because sometimes people cast sidearmed.
Thanks all for the comments!

You don't flex the rod that far back on a normal cast, and during the time the rod is flexed on any cast, the line isn't moving. The line only begins paying out as the rod returns to straight.

What you've experienced is neither here nor there in terms of anything to worry over. What you want to look at is what happens during a fish fight - when the line is moving and under a firm load.

....................

In that case, everything looks good. Thanks for all the help everyone!