What does it mean when a disc is “broken in”?

Here`s a question recently posed to me in the store:

-  “is it the little “nicks” and marks a disc gets that changes the flight pattern or is it the actual impact that “loosens” or somehow changes the plastic in some way?”

The little nicks and scrapes(surface imperfections - I call them “teeth”) will certainly affect the flight path.  In 2 ways.

1st, any surface protrusions will act like an “air brake” on the discs rotation, slowing it down, causing it to run out of spin prematurely and limiting the amount of distance you get from the shot.

Sand these off with our disc sanding sponge and your disc will perform 20% better.  It will fly faster, farther and will act a little more stable.

2nd, protrusions on your disc will cause it to turn prematurely.  Your Polaris LS was a great example.  You said it worked great initially but then started turning over a little prematurely.  When you showed it to me I noticed about 20 little surface imperfections on the disc.  That is why it was turning over unexpectedly on you.  Sand those off and the disc would start flying close to the way it was new.

Now, over time, as you whack the disc on trees and what not, the disc will naturally loose its stability.  This is called “breaking-in” the disc.  This is the natural progression of the flight of the disc, so over time it will gradually loose its stability.  As a disc gets “broken-in” from too many hits its function will change.  An overstable disc will become stable and then understable.  An understable disc will eventually become a good roller disc.  Eventually the disc will have to be replaced when you need a more stable version.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.