July 27, 2015

The 3D Printed Fly Reel

STL files for this reel are available on Printables and can be found HERE.

I’m not much of a Fly fisherman so I don’t know what makes a good reel but I designed this in August of 2015 and it was loosely modeled after a cheap reel from a bass fly fishing combo rig I bought years ago.  It was designed in Solidworks and went through a few iterations over time but this is the final version.

This is a simple Click and Pawl reel. It was originally designed to use a pen spring and a BB for the clicker but these rusted pretty quick so now I use a .186″ chrome ball (Honda Motorcycle Part# 96211-06000) and a cut down stainless steel spring I found locally. (it can also use a printed clicker piece instead of the spring and ball but it is not shown here.)

Another exploded view showing all the bits and pieces. I tried using a thrust bearing but it really didn’t improve anything so now I just use three fender washers in place of the bearing and it works well. Someone suggested using Delrin washers but I just haven’t had time to turn and up on the lathe yet.

Here is the printed final design, it was printed in ABS and it works really well for me.  It’s actually the only fly reel I use right now.  I have several of them and use them for everything from bass and panfish, to trout.

The back side.

It’s a larger reel but then again it was designed after a bass reel.

Strung up and ready to go.

Here’s a few of the various versions I went through while making it.

In 2016 I caught my first fish with the new reel. (it was actually first trout on a fly too.)

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