Ultralight Fly Fishing Reel

myminifactory

This is another Fly Reel I designed a few years ago, and this one has an Ultralight Design. It was paired with a cheap Eagle Claw Featherlight 3/4 Line Weight Fly Rod that I found on Amazon. Let me start by saying I know very little about fly fishing and not a thing about fly reel design. Much like my other printed fly reel, I made this just to see if I could. This is a simple Click and Pawl design reel - it uses a spring, ball, and dents designed into the spool to control the limited drag. It was designed to use your hand against the outer spool's rim if you need more drag. Notice - If you're looking at this thinking it would be a cheap way to get into fly fishing, I highly recommend going another route. Shorter/lighter fly rods are harder to cast... Get something better/larger or you will just get frustrated and quit. Ok.... With all that out of the way, on to the nuts and bolts. Hardware Required (1) 10-32 x 1" Socket Head Screw and Nut (See Notes Below) (1) 4-40 x 1/2" Flat Head Screw (1) Thrust Bearing (or washers See Notes Below) (1) Spring & Ball Notes Nut - The nut for the spool is embedded into the actual thumb knob during printing and requires a thin nut. (I used an 18-8 Stainless Steel Thin Nylon-Insert Locknut from Mcmaster Item# 90101A225) You could probably just use a nut and washer but seeing it's used to set the drag of the reel (so to speak) it might be hard to adjust in the field without a tool if you went that route. If you can't find a thin nut, I have included two different thumb nut files to choose from.... Ultralight_Fly_Reel_Thumb_Nut.STL uses a Thin Nylon-Insert Locknut with these specs and Ultralight_Fly_Reel_Thumb_Nut_Full.STL uses a full-sized Nylon-Insert Locknut with these specs. Thrust Bearing Unfortunately, I made this so long ago that I don't remember where I bought the thrust bearing from. (probably eBay) The thrust bearing setup measures .472" (12mm) Width x .176" (4.5mm) height. (you could probably substitute a few plain washers in place of the thrust bearing.) Spring and Ball The spring and ball for the clicker/drag can be a Pen Spring and a BB but they will rust over time. I used a .186" chrome ball (Honda Motorcycle Part# 96211-06000) and I also used a cut-down stainless steel spring that I found locally. Use a small hex wrench to press the spring and ball into the hole while pressing the spool down then just remove the hex wrench and the spool should fit into place holding the ball. It's a little tricky but not impossible. Hold the spool in place until you tighten the thumb knob. Misc The hole for the spool bolt was left small and tapped with a 10-32 tap. (You can probably just force the screw in but it might crack.) The Handle pin was also tapped for the 4-40 screw. Printing Printing this reel is a little more difficult to print than my other fly reel because of all the curved surfaces. This was as much a test for me in printing as it was reel design. Everything was printed in the orientation shown in the STL previews. The spool's halves will take a lot more support this way, but I wanted the outer surfaces to look the best I could get them. The inner spool surfaces were sanded smoother to keep any excess wear from happening to the fly line. If you have any questions or problems with the files or fitment of the parts just let me know and I will try to fix them. Remember, if you like the service, pledge your designers - thanks for looking.