Page 5 of 7
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 6:58 pm
by Eaglezsoar
Michael are you using one of the Harbor Freight tumblers?
My apologies if you have already posted this.
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 7:03 pm
by mhackney
Carl, have a Thumper model B 15# capacity tumbler. I do have 3 of the large Harbor Freight vibratory polishers and they are workhorses.
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 7:41 pm
by Nylocke
I haven't quite gotten to printing one of your reels, just too many things on my plate. I have a cool idea color/materials wise though...
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:18 pm
by Eaglezsoar
mhackney wrote:Carl, have a Thumper model B 15# capacity tumbler. I do have 3 of the large Harbor Freight vibratory polishers and they are workhorses.
Thanks for the reply. I looked at the Thumper model B and it appears to be an industrial level machine. Very nice!
Spring will be here soon but it will be the middle of May before all the snow you got hit with to melt. I would love to see your shop but I doubt that is in the cards.
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:32 pm
by KAS
It came out a little thin between the holes with S3d. Still needs more tweaking but it's fun to play with.
This one was just an experiment with the Concentric infill settings. Meh, looks better from a distance.
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:34 pm
by mhackney
Carl, you have an open invitation to visit ANYTIME you might be in the Boston area!
CAS, I like the color combo!
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 1:56 am
by scobo
Do you sand the parts first or do you just put them straight into the tumbler ?
I just bought a tumbler myself to try with Bronzefill. Just waiting on the shot being delivered.
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 11:41 am
by mhackney
I just went straight to the tumbler.
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 10:24 am
by dunginhawk
is the shot available on amazon? i am searching for a lot of things, but cant find anything close.
thanks
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 10:31 am
by mhackney
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 10:47 am
by dunginhawk
you should get a referral check

bought and paid haha
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 1:12 pm
by Eaglezsoar
mhackney wrote:Carl, have a Thumper model B 15# capacity tumbler. I do have 3 of the large Harbor Freight vibratory polishers and they are workhorses.
Which would you recommend to polish the parts made from the bronze or copper filament, vibratory or rotary?
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 3:36 pm
by mhackney
Vibratory doesn't do a good job and takes way too long with barely any effect. I actually just bought a new rotary I found out about that's all the rage. Will be here on Monday:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IOE ... UTF8&psc=1
But I do use these for my aluminum and brass reel kits so it's a good investment for me.
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 7:32 pm
by bubbasnow
couldn't you just 3d print a barrel? you could make round/4/6/8 sided types for any need?
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 7:49 pm
by Mac The Knife
bubbasnow wrote:couldn't you just 3d print a barrel? you could make round/4/6/8 sided types for any need?
I was thinking that the weed trimmer line would be a good candidate for this.
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 9:41 pm
by Eaglezsoar
mhackney wrote:Vibratory doesn't do a good job and takes way too long with barely any effect. I actually just bought a new rotary I found out about that's all the rage. Will be here on Monday:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IOE ... UTF8&psc=1
But I do use these for my aluminum and brass reel kits so it's a good investment for me.
For what you do this does appear to be a good investment. I will look for a used one on Ebay, I would only use it a couple of times a year and if my back keeps going the direction it has, then I won't need it at all!
Are you going to be going to the MakerFaire this month?
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 11:11 pm
by mhackney
Eaglezsoar, probably not since I don't know what MakerFaire you are asking about! In general I don't like to go to events like these unless I have something specific to do like give a presentation or help with booth duty unless they are within a couple hours driver.
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 9:21 am
by geneb
I think he's referring to MRRF. ALL the cool kids are going.
g.
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 9:54 am
by mhackney
Now I don't know what MRRF is. What's that?
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 2:20 pm
by Eaglezsoar
mhackney wrote:Now I don't know what MRRF is. What's that?
2015 Midwest RepRap Fest (MRRF!) as per John at this link:
http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=7702
It is being held near the SeeMeCNC headquarters at Goshen, IN.
My wife is going to drive me there and I will use my walker to get around because it is also a chair so I can sit down.
Might be a good place to demo your 3d printed reel if someone could bring one and a some business cards so they know
where they can buy them. (Hint)
PS: Don't pay any attention to Gene about all the cool kids going, I would rather be a hot kid any day, instead of what
I am - an old fart!
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2015 12:05 pm
by mhackney
I got my new tumbler yesterday. This morning I added 5# of stainless mixed media and two ColorFABB reel parts - the front ring and the back plate that has the 5 skinny pillars. I did not do any pre-sanding, just put them in the tumbler, added 1/2 gallon of water and ran. It's been 3 hours now and two observations:
1) the pillars are surviving! Not sign whatsoever of breakage.
2) the parts are starting to shine up nicely
Tumbling this way is not an abrasive operation. I think for the best results the parts will need to be sanded (or vibratory polished if I can find a good media and schedule) and then tumbled to a shine. I'll post photos at the end of the experiment.
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 11:06 am
by dunginhawk
quick question.. I have a cheap tock tumbler... I put in brasso (i know, wrong move) and it is SUPER dirty. I cleaned my stainless media, and thats all good. but now i have a film on the inside of the plastic drum... It has no markings to determine the type of plastic, so im not sure if i can use Acetone to clean it out.
any thoughts?
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 11:37 am
by mhackney
Most of the drums I've seen have some sort of rubber lining. I would not use acetone! Try windex or isopropyl alcohol. Then try Simple Green.
Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 3:45 pm
by dunginhawk
this is 100% plastic in the drum, just a rubber gasket on the end that screws off. but yeah, ill try those things first

Re: 3D Printed Fly Fishing Reel
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 4:44 pm
by scobo
To keep with the fly fishing theme, I thought I'd post up a couple of pics of a fly box I designed for my dry flies.
It's printed with Colorfabb Woodfill at 0.3mm. I might have another go at 0.2mm to try for a better finish but I'm pretty pleased with it for a first attempt.
[img]
http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac28 ... 7bc486.jpg[/img]
[img]
http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac28 ... d00248.jpg[/img]