3wt Fly Reel - All 3d Printed

One of my first personally designed 3D prints was a working fly reel.  This is a version of that first model that I've fished successfully.  Overall this prints in 7 pieces and you need a small o-ring (Harbor Freight) to hold the handle on.  In the pictures you'll see an original version with line printed in PETG and you'll see a later version that aligns with the design files in ABS that was vapor smoothed.

Printing Tip:  I used supports for printing the frame of the fly reel because of the connection to the rod being offset.  Everything else was printed without supports.  I used a 0.4mm nozzle.

Assembly Tips:

• The handle is 2 pieces, a post and a cylinder fitting loosely over the post that is kept from falling off by the o-ring.  The post itself is screwed into threads found in the spool, they can be hard to see.
• The spool is designed to clip together using the index markers to help align.  Superglue or acetone (in the case of ABS) works well for the connection.
• The drag is indexed into the frame to keep the upper piece from spinning, which makes it function as a friction drag.  Cork could be used, but I've found that the plastic itself provided enough drag that I was happy.
• To help keep the spool spinning on the frame smoothly I added some lithium grease.

Overall I like a reel that I can palm to manage the drag and for that this works amazing.  I did have issues balancing my 9ft 3wt because the reel was too light even after loading with line, so I ended up using this on a 7ft rod instead.  I am working on another version that has much more hardware in it to make it smoother and heavier to better balance my longer rods.

My favorite features are the pass through arbor and being entirely 3d printed (with exception to the O-ring).