Category Archives: Reel Parts

Line Guard

Posted on January 9, 2023 by dave49

Back in 2008/2009, I made several “tuna can” reels. The plans are elsewhere in this blog (search for “Reel 37 Plans”). The second owner of a pair of these was concerned that there was no line guard to protect the … Continue reading →

Posted in Forming, Frame | Leave a comment

Bronze Castings

Posted on February 5, 2022 by dave49

Here is a bronze casting in the form of a rectangular solid bar, and a reel foot made from this material. Bronze alloy C954 is supplied as a casting, made by the “continuous casting” method. The cast bar is quite … Continue reading →

Posted in End Plate, Foot, Materials | 1 Comment

Chuck Spider

Posted on July 1, 2020 by dave49

I finally sold my Sherline lathe, my first machine tool. I could do this because I have made enough upgrades and fixtures for my newer minilathe to produce all reel parts with just it and my mill. The last consideration … Continue reading →

Posted in Ring, Turning, Work Holding | Leave a comment

A “Perfect” Reel Configuration

Posted on June 13, 2020 by dave49

An iconic reel design is the Hardy Perfect. I have never had one in hand to photograph but I did borrow a Hardy Bougle from a friend, and it is the same thing except that the frame is raised pillar … Continue reading →

Posted in Frame, My Reels, Plans, Spool | 4 Comments

Leo’s Foot Fixtures

Posted on November 11, 2017 by dave49

Below is some correspondence from Leo. When I have needed to make curved surfaces on reel feet, I have used my mill with either a rotary table fixture or a ball end mill. Leo shows how to do the same … Continue reading →

Posted in Fixtures, Foot, Turning, Work Holding | Leave a comment

Ratchet Cutting

Posted on October 21, 2017 by dave49

This blog post records my setup for cutting ratchet teeth. I having been building reels one at a time, so this setup is needed for each reel. The bushing/ratchet blank is held on a mandrel in a 4 jaw chuck … Continue reading →

Posted in Milling, Ratchet/Gear | Leave a comment

One Piece Spool, Again

Posted on August 15, 2017 by dave49

This post is not so much about how to make a one piece spool (topic covered June 2013) as it is about a comparison of two types of metal lathe available to hobbyists. I now have both a MiniLathe (China … Continue reading →

Posted in Spool, Turning | Leave a comment

Fitting Reel Foot to Seat II

Posted on July 11, 2017 by dave49

This post is additional material to my post of 15 June 2015. In that post, I did not say enough about the interface of the reel foot and the reel seat sliding ring. Here again I am discussing “cap and … Continue reading →

Posted in Foot | Leave a comment

Bronze Frame Reel – Final

Posted on February 24, 2017 by dave49

The last drawing covers all the remaining parts for the click mechanism. The kink in the spring biases the pawl for left or right hand wind. There is a blog post on spring bending, 13 June 2016. The “pawl shim” … Continue reading →

Posted in Plans, Spring | 2 Comments

Bronze Frame Reel – Pawl

Posted on February 21, 2017 by dave49

The clicker has taken me more development time than any other reel feature, except possibly for the aluminum anodization process. I started out thinking that the pawl should be made from steel, since that is what I observed on commercial … Continue reading →

Posted in Pawl, Plans | 1 Comment