4wt fly reel

thingiverse

A few months ago, I set my mind on building a fly reel, so I began designing one from scratch. Throughout the process, I drew inspiration from various designs I came across, particularly the handle spindle and asymmetric clicker found in some reels. These features allowed for more resistance when stripping line from the reel compared to reeling it in. The clicker design was heavily influenced by SublimeLayers' 3D printed fly reel, which can be viewed on Thingiverse at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2680438. Most of the other elements were born from my own imagination. The black reels in the pictures were created using my Tevo Tarantula (FDM), necessitating supports due to the single-piece spool design. However, removing these supports was a breeze, and the surfaces were sanded down for a smooth finish. On the other hand, the gray reel was printed using my Anycubic Photon (DLP), resulting in a much easier printing process without support material. Nevertheless, it took significantly longer to print, clocking in at 15 hours compared to just 5 hours on the Tevo. Despite not having had the chance yet to take these reels fishing due to the constant rain since printing them out, I'm pleased with how they handle and sound when attached to a rod. I'll be sure to update this post once I've had the opportunity to put them to use in the water.