altoids fishing kit "sunfisher"

thingiverse

The Altoids Fishing Kit Sunfisher 1.0 is exactly what it sounds like: a compact fishing reel that fits inside a standard Altoids tin, designed for backpacking and emergency situations. I came up with this idea while on a solo hike in the mountains, when I spotted a beautiful stream and thought to myself: "If only I had a portable fishing pole, I could catch one of these trout for dinner." As the name suggests, this is the first version of the design, which may evolve over time. The reel itself is a basic hand-crank spool with a trigger that doubles as a friction brake on the drum. I find that casting works best when you pay off the line at your feet first and flip-cast the bait with both hands. To assemble the kit, use 4" zip ties to secure the parts together and attach them to a flexible branch or river cane pole. The zip ties will also hold a few of my favorite flies in place. Print Settings: Printer: Prusa i3 Custom Rafts: No Supports: Yes Resolution: .30 mm Infill: 30% I printed all the parts in ABS with .30 mm layers and 30% rectilinear infill. The outside drum and crank handle require support. Tip for Bolts and Nuts: I learned that printing a single bolt at a time can lead to poor thread definition due to inadequate cooling between layers. To solve this, I print multiple bolts together, allowing the layers to cool more evenly. Credit where credit is due: The nut and bolt hardware was created using the Nut Job Thing, available on Thingiverse (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:193647). This design is a brilliant work of engineering; be sure to check it out if you haven't already. The Nut Job Thing is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Share Alike, so the nuts and bolts for the Altoids Fishing Kit should also be considered under this license. Print and Assemble: Step 1: Gather All Parts Print ONE each: inside drum outside drum (with support) top bracket bottom bracket drag trigger crank handle (with support) m7.5 bolt m8.5 nut m9.5 bolt m10.5 nut Print THREE each: line guides Gather the following materials: 4" zip ties fishing line flexible stick, branch or cane pole fishing tackle to suit your needs epoxy or solvent glue Step 2: Assemble Clean up any chaff and scaling from the printed parts. Glue the inside and outside drum halves together using five-minute epoxy or solvent glue. Be careful not to get glue into the center hole of the drum. After ample drying time, assemble the reel by attaching the drag trigger and line guides to the pole. Use a long, thin branch about as thick as a magic marker at the base, securing it with zip ties. Spool on some line and start fishing! Note: The brackets are designed for right-handed cranking; if you're left-handed, mirror the top and bottom bracket parts. Custom Section: UPDATE 1 I added two new drum parts to the design: "inside drum large spool" and "outside drum large spool." These parts have a 30mm diameter spool, which holds less line than the original parts but allows for faster reeling in of line. A larger drum also reduces the dramatic curling effect on monofilament line. I incorporated a suggestion from the comments to increase the depth of the crank handle indentation in the outer drum, which is now reflected in the "outside drum large spool" design.