Line capacity chart?

[philocalist]

Just out of curiosity, I recently bought (from China!) a reel (off the Polish equivalent of Ebay ) that was a very obvious copy of a Van Staal fixed spool reel. Now, the Van Staals can set you back close to £1000; this came in at less than a tenner, freepost to Poland, then carried over here to the UK by a friend ... I wasn't expecting much, but was blown away by the apparent quality ... I've actually given it to an engineering mate for a 'proper' opinion on construction etc and will post whatever comes back.

 

What's this got to do with line capacities? Well ... on the spool is a single diameter / length marked, with no alternatives, and that got me thinking ... is there a chart somewhere, or a reasonably simple calculation, that would show alternative capacities, i.e a spool that will take 200m of 0.25mm line will also take 'X' meters of 0.18mm etc?

 

Any thoughts - or maybe a link please, anyone?

[ayjay]

is there a chart somewhere, or a reasonably simple calculation, that would show alternative capacities, i.e a spool that will take 200m of 0.25mm line will also take 'X' meters of 0.18mm etc?

 

Any thoughts - or maybe a link please, anyone?

There's one on all the other spools you have.

 

Maybe we could just post up some known capacities and make our own chart.

 

...........or someone (more boring than me - cleverer than me) could do the maths and come up with a simple calculation which could be used if at least one capacity is known.

[Steve Burke]

Capacitity depends on the cross-sectional area of the line. So if the reel takes 200m of 0.25mm line it'll take approx 386m of 0.18mm line.

 

The calculation is 200 x 0.25 x 0.25 divided by 0.18 divided by 0.18.

 

The principle can be used with any reel and any diameter line. It's only approximate, but I've found it surprisingly accurate over the years.

[kirisute]

slightly OT but talking about some of your original post:

the reels and rods for pen rods are made in China and the engineering that goes into the micro reels is nothing short of amazing!

im always amazed when my mate sends me out the new reel...there is a hell of a lot of design and engineering going into them.

I don't think made in china can really be used these days to mean its going to fall apart in a week!!

[philocalist]

slightly OT but talking about some of your original post:

the reels and rods for pen rods are made in China and the engineering that goes into the micro reels is nothing short of amazing!

im always amazed when my mate sends me out the new reel...there is a hell of a lot of design and engineering going into them.

I don't think made in china can really be used these days to mean its going to fall apart in a week!!

 

Tell me about it! I've had a couple of 'normal' reels from Chinese sellers, and found if you go for the better specs they are seriously good reels ... and lets be honest about this - a hell of a lot of the mainstream reels we buy in the UK are made in China, likely in the same factories!

This Van Staal lookalike is something else though ... even raise a whistle and raised eyebrows from my engineer mate ... he's having a proper lookover asap to try and work out how / where ... or if ... they've cut corners on manufacturing!

Curiously, they would ship to Poland, but an absolute refusal to ship to the UK! That said, I've bought from 'China' before to have packages arrive with Chjinese postage attached ... that were actually dispatched in Manchester! Maybe this was / is something similar?

[Steve Walker]

I was going to do the maths, and then realised I could probably just Google it:

 

http://www.giangrandi.ch/soft/spiral/spiral.shtml

[philocalist]

Capacitity depends on the cross-sectional area of the line. So if the reel takes 200m of 0.25mm line it'll take approx 386m of 0.18mm line.

 

The calculation is 200 x 0.25 x 0.25 divided by 0.18 divided by 0.18.

 

The principle can be used with any reel and any diameter line. It's only approximate, but I've found it surprisingly accurate over the years.

 

Thanks Steve ... I had an inkling that I'd seen a calculation posted somewhere before - maybe it was by you, elsewhere on the forum?

[Steve Burke]

Thanks Steve ... I had an inkling that I'd seen a calculation posted somewhere before - maybe it was by you, elsewhere on the forum?

 

I think I've done it a couple of times over the years, but there's always new members who won't have seen it.

[Dick Dastardly]

This whole knocking of "Chinese" manufactured goods makes me laugh! I hear it all the time and then have to listen to some "Mug Punter" waxing lyrical over some British (or indeed other "reputable" company) based brands superior quality.........when they are made in China as well! Often in the same factory and to the SAME specs (minus the badge) as the product they are slagging off as an inferior "copy". Ive said it before but people either don't believe it or should I say don't want to!

[Steve Walker]

I guess what it comes down to is how much of a risk you are willing to take on the goods being as described when you've got very little comeback if they aren't. Often the price difference is so much that it's a no-brainer, but in any case I usually research the product and find out if other people have bought from that supplier. Web forums don't leave many places for the rip-off merchant to hide.

 

The other side of the issue is intellectual property - if the UK company has innovated and is having something manufactured in China, is it fair to buy knock-off versions? Perhaps they are taking the rip with pricing, perhaps they have to accept that as a business risk, perhaps it serves them right in some sense for not supporting UK manufacturing, but I'd be morally dubious about that situation.

 

I think a lot of the time, UK companies are just having generic stuff rebranded and massively marked up, though.