Machining my own fly reel

[Burtbords149]

Hey all it seems like a year since I've been on here...college work has been outrageous, guess that's a good thing.
Anyway I'm here at TCNJ going for mechanical engineering and can't help but design my own fly reel and give it a go for machining one myself.
This isn't gonna be some arts and crafts project I'm making a sealed disk drag with a clutch system and it should be very light (under 4 ounces).
My question is has anyone here ever tried this or talked to anyone who has, any tips or advice. Thanks a lot gents, who knows maybe I'll be in the business soon.

 

[WBDluver]

is this going to be your own design, or just a copy

 

[brough]

I would be more than happy to try out the prototype on the local streams. Just trying to help out with R@D.

 

[Trout Nazi]

Are you going to be hand machining it or will you get some time on a CNC machine? I reckon if your on the CNC, your imagination is the limit on the design and aesthetics. I would focus on the drag though, making it smooth with low start-up inertia. What materials are you going to use for the drag surface?

 

[coolkyle]

Make several...hundred. I want one.

 

[Burtbords149]

I'm going to try and hand machine on the lathes and milling machines here at school. For the drag I think I've found the perfect material, it's a PTFE filled Delrin, which is supposedly free of "stick-slip" behavior due to its static and kinetic friction coefficients being almost identical. I'm making it a nice big true large arbor with a wide spool so the line sits shallow and doesn't increased pulling force when line is taken off the spool.....So I take it no one here has ever taken on such a venture?

 

[Pete]

Have you ever worked with machine tools before?

If your first efforts give you problems, don't get discouraged.
Under normal circumstances, completing a machinist apprenticeship takes just as long, and takes as much effort, as getting a BSME degree.

BTW: Building what you design, can give you some insights that will serve you well in the future, (and maybe save you some embarrassment). I recall a few instances when a young engineer designed something that couldn't be built.

 

[eddavidson9]

cool stuff, i hope you'll keep us updated with status and pics

 

[Hllywd76]

Have you ever worked with machine tools before?

If your first efforts give you problems, don't get discouraged.
Under normal circumstances, completing a machinist apprenticeship takes just as long, and takes as much effort, as getting a BSME degree.

BTW: Building what you design, can give you some insights that will serve you well in the future, (and maybe save you some embarrassment). I recall a few instances when a young engineer designed something that couldn't be built.

I hear many times where someone designs a piece then hands it off only to be told there is no tool that can turn 4 different ways in a piece of material.

Burt call me maybe our shop can help out. Lane always hears me saying to the pres. we should make reels in the summer when the CNC isn't really being used. The only tough part is the drag.

Going out opening day w/ my girl again for a few hours.

Hllywd

 

[Burtbords149]

Pete:I've done limited work on the lathe and mill here, but our machinist is very helpful and I bring him a drawing of every piece I want to put into this reel (they are almost all custom). It's teaching me a lot as to what can and cannot be built. BTW anyone know of a shop that will "rent out" their tools...i.e. let a person come in and use their machines for some fee?

Hllywd...that's awsome ur going out opening day with her...I'm gonna try and get out at some point that day. I've been working on a recycling sorter final project that is taking over my life. I was at the Gorge last Saturday and landed a big bow that was all of 22" in that high water (euro nymphing 3 wt). Anyway your company has cnc machines? This is an HVAC company...cool. Design your own man its some crazy shit. I have everything all figured out it's just finding the time to get in the machine shop and do it.


Pete: any tips on making a washer (brass 0.040 thick) with a 1/4" D cut inside hole...they're expensive to buy due to tooling. I only need to make 1 so far.

Thanks for the replies folks, I'm like a kid in a candy store drawing the CAD models of this stuff.

 

[Pete]

....Pete: any tips on making a washer (brass 0.040 thick) with a 1/4" D cut inside hole...they're expensive to buy due to tooling. I only need to make 1 so far.....

I'm tempted to suggest stamping from 0.040" shim stock, but unless you happen to have the proper dies, tooling is too expensive for just one.

A search for something made for another purpose, or for another reel, may be more cost effective, even if you have to adapt your design to accommodate any differences.

 

[mbwmn]

Pete: any tips on making a washer (brass 0.040 thick) with a 1/4" D cut inside hole...they're expensive to buy due to tooling. I only need to make 1 so far.

Thanks for the replies folks, I'm like a kid in a candy store drawing the CAD models of this stuff.

I'm not sure about the inside dia, but see if you can find an exploded view of a Mitchell-Garcia 300 spinning reel...plenty of parts available for these yet...and if you have to change the OD you can say you machined it!

 

[Pete]

Crazy idea (before 1st coffee):

Hole saw of the proper OD, with a 1/4" drill in the center.

Clamp some 0.040 brass shim stock between two pieces of wood (for rigidity).

Mount in a drill press & drill....

De-burr & polish as necessary.

~~~~~~EDIT~~~~~~~~~~~~
If your Hole saw has a smaller pilot drill. Start the hole, go through the brass with the pilot into the bottom piece of wood, but don't "break through".
Use the smaller hole as a pilot hole to drill 1/4" but only drill deep enough to get through the brass.
Remount the hole saw and finish.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Follow-up on mbwmn's idea. There are literally thousands of reels with drag washers (including spinning and conventional). The better ones have spare parts available. One of them may be exactly what you need (or close enough), and available for a few cents.
Using custom parts instead of, commercially available parts, is why the government pays so much for toilet seats & etc.
A possible source Mike's Reel Repair

 

[LyNcH]

THERE'S A GUY ON SPEYPAGES THAT RECENTlY MILLED A SPEY REEL FOR HIMSELF AND HE PUT UP SEVERAL DETAILED POSTS. woops, didn't mean caps lock. Do a search on their forum. good luck

 

[Hllywd76]

Crazy idea (before 1st coffee):

Hole saw of the proper OD, with a 1/4" drill in the center.

Clamp some 0.040 brass shim stock between two pieces of wood (for rigidity).

Mount in a drill press & drill....

De-burr & polish as necessary.

~~~~~~EDIT~~~~~~~~~~~~
If your Hole saw has a smaller pilot drill. Start the hole, go through the brass with the pilot into the bottom piece of wood, but don't "break through".
Use the smaller hole as a pilot hole to drill 1/4" but only drill deep enough to get through the brass.
Remount the hole saw and finish.

The center hole he wants is a D not Round so drilling won't work it will have to be stamped or Milled on a machine.

Full machine shop here. I will ask Lane if he can make that washer for you. Whats your OD? or send me a file/drawing.

Hllywd

 

[Hllywd76]

Burt,

Talked to Lane. I have a D punch you could use but it's a little large for a reel. He said the setup would take longer than making the piece. You have to make a jig for the piece to fit the circular table on the bridgeport then go to town. The one we have to punch is about a 3/8 shaft. You should be able to do it there. He said to stay in the standard size for tooling ease.:nose-picking:

Hllywd

 

[Pete]

The center hole he wants is a D not Round so drilling won't work it will have to be stamped or Milled on a machine.

Full machine shop here. I will ask Lane if he can make that washer for you. Whats your OD? or send me a file/drawing.

Hllywd

Sorry, I missed that...
I took the "D" to mean diameter. I guess the capitalization, and the word "cut" should have tipped me off.

 

[Burtbords149]

Hllywd....that's awesome that you guys have a full machine shop. I literally get giddy when I enter a machine shop...anyway 3/8 might work but I think its gonna be too big. Thanks a ton for asking your machinist though. I'm gonna talk to a guy at Princeton Plasma Physics Lab where I do some work and see if he can cut it on the water jet. If not I'll be exhausting all other resources or shelling out dough for tooling.

Anyone have any qualms with current reels that might give me some more ideas for improvement? Thanks for the great responses every1, once I start I log photos of progress on here.

 

[Hllywd76]

Sorry, I missed that...
I took the "D" to mean diameter. I guess the capitalization, and the word "cut" should have tipped me off.

I had to look at it a few times to say why would he have an issue drilling a hole on C in a washer. Besides that should have read id... He's still missing his Od dim.

I just blamed it on the flashing on that old monitor you have....:crap:.

I have to deal w/ the friggin engineers here to much. There's one that just builds controls that burn up lately. lots of smokin transformers in the UL test lab. He gets told it will fail even prior to the testing yet refuses to redesign it. :finger: Then when it burns up he says the UL test is wrong and that it's the test parameters. Dumb ass it's UL you want the rating design to their specs for what you making. Sorry for the rant.

Hllywd