Fly Reel Build

[Freefly]

Lots of good things I really didn't consider. Thanks for the insight. Yes it will be direct drive. My brother mentioned his technique for assisting the drag was to apply palm pressure on the outer lip of the spool, so I designed with that in mind. I'm assuming your method is to pinch the spool cheek and frame with your thumb and index finger to add drag, correct? If that's the case do you prefer a smaller knob to prevent interference when doing that? I could definitely design future spools to have an ergonomic groove on the cheek. The frame is mainly 0.125" thick in most features but is 0.063" in some areas for rotating clearances.

I've been working on the mounting foot, but encountered the need to make some mandrels and fixtures to properly hold the workpiece for various machining operations. This really is a learn-as-I-go process. I'd love to have CAM and CNC tools at my disposal, but I just use my equipment for hobby work 90% of the time and can't afford the fancy stuff. I'll try to post some more pics hopefully this weekend.

[Carl Blackledge]

Sir,

Have you ever looked at any other reels? That bearing your using looks more like a wheel bearing then something that works in a reel. Why not tear an ABEL apart get a better ideal what it is your trying to make. So far that reel looks like something from mars, and would weight a ton. my 2 cents.

Carl

[fish_stix]

Good grief CB! You don't start out on a project like this with a finished product. Absolutely nothing wrong with the beginning machine work. I'd bet the finished reel he comes up with will be a jewel. Abels weren't built in a day either and had many hiccups along the way!

[irishff727]

Good grief CB! You don't start out on a project like this with a finished product. Absolutely nothing wrong with the beginning machine work. I'd bet the finished reel he comes up with will be a jewel. Abels weren't built in a day either and had many hiccups along the way!

X2

Time enjoyed wasted usually means I've been fishing

[nick]

I don't fly fish but that's bad***

[acesover]

X2

Time enjoyed wasted usually means I've been fishing

X3

[saltybum]

Reminds me of people who critique a painting before it's done.
I offer them the brush and say "Here, Take over". The usual reply. . . "Oh I can't paint".

Freefly, I live right across the bridge and will be happy to field test it when it's ready.

[Permit Rat]

Lots of good things I really didn't consider. Thanks for the insight. Yes it will be direct drive. My brother mentioned his technique for assisting the drag was to apply palm pressure on the outer lip of the spool, so I designed with that in mind. I'm assuming your method is to pinch the spool cheek and frame with your thumb and index finger to add drag, correct? If that's the case do you prefer a smaller knob to prevent interference when doing that? I could definitely design future spools to have an ergonomic groove on the cheek. The frame is mainly 0.125" thick in most features but is 0.063" in some areas for rotating clearances.

I've been working on the mounting foot, but encountered the need to make some mandrels and fixtures to properly hold the workpiece for various machining operations. This really is a learn-as-I-go process. I'd love to have CAM and CNC tools at my disposal, but I just use my equipment for hobby work 90% of the time and can't afford the fancy stuff. I'll try to post some more pics hopefully this weekend.

I never liked palming, but again, that is just me. My method (and many do this) is to hold the reel flat in your right hand (handle UP, so as not to hit anything) Then just curl your thumb up and over the outside edge of the frame, until it makes contact with the spool cheek. I think this is a much more stable approach and with practice, you can do this while holding the rod over your head, if need be. I used to have a photo, showing this, but I think it is long gone...lost a few computers ago, in fact.

Handle length is of little consequence, so long as it is not too short or long. You can get an idea from another mfgr's handle. Long ago, when almost all fly reels were RH retrieve, it was said that the reason was, so that the fly line did not catch on the handle during the cast. Well, I use RH retrieve, simply because that is how I "grew up," but I have fished with plenty of fishermen using LH retrieve reels and I have never seen a problem.

Down the road, your biggest problem, will be matching the weight of the counterbalance, to that of the handle....AND positioning it in the EXACT proper position, opposite the handle. I don't know if a CNC machine can do this, or even what the big mfgrs use. But the makers with "ultra smooth" reels, have it down pat.

[Freefly]

Haha, I've had quite a few volunteers for testing. I should give my little brother a lesson in technical writing and have him draft some Acceptance Test Procedures for the reel. Give him some practical english experience and add to the proof of concept.

I've looked at a couple reels (Ross, Nautilus, G-Loomis) and noticed some used a plain bronze bearing and other used the one way bearing for supporting radial loads (not all one-way bearings are designed for radial loading and may not engage when reversed). I decided to used a stainless ball bearing (0.5" ID 1.125" OD x 0.25" wide) as the main supporting bearing. Sure it looks stout, but it doesn't have a significant amount of mass. I'm also using a one-way bearing, but it was only designed to engage the drag disc. It very well may be able support the spool, but that would be a poor design assumption. Anyone can reverse engineer things (look at the Chinese military hardware and Iran's new drone), but I'd rather blaze my own path and learn the reason behind a design from my own experience.

Good point on the spool balance. The rotational mass balance of the spool shouldn't be too difficult. I work as an engineer with turbomachinery and frequently deal with this issue. I will likely create the knob and weigh it, then create the counterbalance to match the knob's mass. To get the components located polar opposite of each other, I'll use the rotary table (seen in pic with the spool being milled). I should be able to get the locations within a tolerance of +/-0.002" radial distance and +/-0.1 degrees polar. I may need to make a test rig to inspect the balance of the spool assembled...that may take some creativity.

I made some progress on the mounting foot last night. Next I'll get the foot mounting features done on the frame and make the drag knob. Should have some more pics ready by Monday.

[acesover]

Very interesting thread, it gives insight to something I thought was a pretty simple piece of equipment. Never thought so much went into a fly reel.