aluminum framed spinning reels

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Hulkster
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aluminum framed spinning reels

Post by Hulkster » Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:01 am

Hi Bantam, are there any plans in the works to have the aluminum frame design trickle back down the spinning reel lineup?

ie the first reel offered with an aluminum frame is the Stradic ($200) while back in the day you could get a metal frame in I believe the Sedonas and on up.

What was the reason for going with graphite? weight reduction? or cost savings? Or a bit of both? :)

Thanks

-Hulk

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Bantam1
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Re: aluminum framed spinning reels

Post by Bantam1 » Thu Feb 01, 2018 5:13 am

The Sedona has always been a graphite frame. The lowest the aluminum frame went down in the lineup was Sahara. That changed in FD model. This is when we changed to a cold forged gear. An aluminum frame with a cast gear didn't do anything to provide additional durability.

The Stradic still uses aluminum excluding the CI4 models.

Aluminum is more costly to produce and there is additional machining time. The cost of material is higher and varies since it is considered a commodity and is traded like oil.

The new graphite materials we are using are actually more rigid than aluminum. The material doesn't corrode and it is plenty strong enough for the drag ratings on the reels. Where it is really needed is for ultimate precision and strength in high drag requirements (saltwater mostly). Reels like Stella and Twin Power require ultimate precision due to the very tight tolerances for the gearing. Even with the graphite based reels, the tolerances are still quite impressive.

The decision was made that gear durability was more favorable than an aluminum frame. When you can still have a rigid and light platform with a much better gear train, the decision was a lot easier. This is why CI4 changed to CI4+. The + material was more rigid than the previous material. This was needed due to improvements in the drive gear designs and to assist with the additional power that X-Ship provided in the spinning reels.

Hopefully that explains it. I know some will still complain or question anything outside of aluminum, but the facts are listed.

reason162
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Re: aluminum framed spinning reels

Post by reason162 » Thu Feb 01, 2018 6:39 am

Bantam1 wrote:This is why CI4 changed to CI4+. The + material was more rigid than the previous material. This was needed due to improvements in the drive gear designs and to assist with the additional power that X-Ship provided in the spinning reels.
Would you say that the stradic ci4+ and fk are --- functionally --- equally rigid for the stated drag ratings?

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Bantam1
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Re: aluminum framed spinning reels

Post by Bantam1 » Fri Feb 02, 2018 5:06 am

The FK is slightly more rigid than the CI4+ model. You probably will not feel any difference fishing them, but in QC testing the FK had a slight edge for some tests.

Hulkster
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Re: aluminum framed spinning reels

Post by Hulkster » Fri Feb 02, 2018 5:52 pm

Thank You

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