  Tests and studies concerning the design and performance of the GlueX Central
Drift
  Chamber (CDC) are presented. A full-scale prototype was built to test and
steer the mechanical and electronic design. Small scale prototypes were
constructed to test for sagging and to do timing and resolution studies of the
detector. These studies were used to choose the gas mixture and to program a
Monte Carlo simulation that can predict the detector response in an external
magnetic field. Particle identification and charge division possibilities were
also investigated.
