New Home Built Fishing Reel

[aussie123]

For a long time now I have been wanting to build my own deep drop electric fishing reel as I am sick and tired of rebuilding the standard off the shelf electric reels.

A few months ago I decided to just get in and do it and so far I am very happy with the results.

There is no roller bearings in this reel as they always seem to rust and seize up and there is no drag washers to burn out or go lumpy.

The drag system is electronic and should just about last forever.

Each part of the reel is modular and runs its own circuitry so in the event of a failure, I can quickly change out any damaged parts, even when out on the boat.

All I need to finish now is the mounting frame to fit it in the boat, get the switch panel face plate made and spool it up with 1000m x 400lb braid.

So far nearly everything has been drawn to CAD so I can make some more once this one has been fully tested to its limits.

If all goes well, I am hoping to take it out to the deep water in about 2-3 weeks time and give it a hard flogging before I make a second one.

 

 

 

[The fessor]

That's a serious bit of kit.

Looking forward to seeing how it's developed and the end product and reading how it performs . Not that I've ever fished anywhere requiring an electrically driven retrieve but I'm interested in seeing how you solve the engineering and materials challenges of getting to robust and durable and effective reel.

[rayke1938]

How many hours so far?

There should be a world wide market for that;

Cheers

Ray

[Drop Bear]

That is awesome @aussie123 If you need a decky...

As long as it is after the 6th. 

[aussie123]

4 hours ago, rayke1938 said:

How many hours so far?

There should be a world wide market for that;

Cheers

Ray

I am not sure on the amount of hours Ray but there has been quite a lot so far.

The hardest part has been finding machine shops that are happy to do small bits of machining at a time and then the wait times  to get things done has been horrible.

I have some mates wanting to buy some reels and that's all I am going to sell as i only want to recover the development costs.

If someone else wants to take the plans at a later date and do something commercially with them, they can have the hassles of building and selling them.

 

 

[aussie123]

8 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

That is awesome @aussie123 If you need a decky...

As long as it is after the 6th. 

Should be able to do some serious fish piggin with this one Robbie. 

[kmcrosby78]

Awesome work Lance, can't wait to see how it goes!

[Drop Bear]

On 19/04/2019 at 4:03 PM, aussie123 said:

Should be able to do some serious fish piggin with this one Robbie. 

if only we could put on 200 hooks!!! 

haha you will be the hussar pig king!!! 

[Drop Bear]

On 19/04/2019 at 4:03 PM, aussie123 said:

Should be able to do some serious fish piggin with this one Robbie. 

I see how you cleverly avoided my decky request haha!!! 

Did I tell you how well the rod holders went? They are awesome. 

I had safety lines on all the rods at first but after 2 days with no incidents I have taken them off. 

I used them again in my mates boat out at straddie and they were awesome again. 

Thanks for the tips mate. 

[aussie123]

9 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

I see how you cleverly avoided my decky request haha!!! 

Did I tell you how well the rod holders went? They are awesome. 

I had safety lines on all the rods at first but after 2 days with no incidents I have taken them off. 

I used them again in my mates boat out at straddie and they were awesome again. 

Thanks for the tips mate. 

Sorry I missed that bit Robbie but you know you are always welcome to come out.

All you have to do is say yes when I ask you,lol

Glad you like the rod holders mate.

[Drop Bear]

12 hours ago, aussie123 said:

All you have to do is say yes when I ask you,lol

haha yes I have turned you down twice. 

[aussie123]

Finally the reel is finished and ready for testing this week.
Hopefully tomorrow or the next day we will get it set up on the boat and fill the spool with some line and shoot out into the bay and give it a good run with some large paravanes as they will exert a lot of pressure on the reel so I can make sure that the drag and everything else is working as expected.
I cannot wait to use this beast as it has been a long time in the planning

 

 

[kmcrosby78]

Looking good Lance!!

[ellicat]

Looks good. How will you manage the lay of the line ?

[aussie123]

20 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Looks good. How will you manage the lay of the line ?

Thanks Brian

I will just work the line back and forth by hand like we do now on our other reels.

Next step is going to try and design a level wind but at the moment that has me a bit stumped on how to do it.

I can build one driven off the  drive shaft but the level wind will keep driving regardless of what the spool is doing so ultimately i need to find a way to drive if from the spool rotation only.

I do have an idea in my head but whether it can be built is another thing.

 

[aussie123]

41 minutes ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Looking good Lance!!

Thanks Kelvin.

Its been a fun project and a real learning curve in electronics,lol

[Drop Bear]

Awesome mate. I am around this week if you want to go out in my boat let me know. 

How do you mount it? 

[aussie123]

9 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

Awesome mate. I am around this week if you want to go out in my boat let me know. 

How do you mount it? 

The frame has a 22mm solid rod coming off the bottom that you cannot see in the picture as it is inside the roll of bubble wrap.

I am tied up this week, I have a bit of work happening and then either Fraser or 1770 this weekend, location will depend on the weather forecast later this week but tomorrow is a bay trip towing large paravanes to test the reel out.

[aussie123]

I fitted the reel to the boat today and went out for a quick test run to make sure everything was working right before we head out and start dropping in 300m.

The reel performed amazingly and certainly better than I thought it would so i am very happy with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4uM9pVxvJ8&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvPRTrx9mNQ

 

[Drop Bear]

23 hours ago, aussie123 said:

The reel performed amazingly and certainly better than I thought it would so i am very happy with it.

When do you go into full production? 

[aussie123]

2 minutes ago, Drop Bear said:

When do you go into full production? 

I have no intentions to put them in to full production Robbie although I did plan on building half a dozen for some close mates to help cover the initial costs and the R&D cost.

I have people everywhere wanting them now and I had a shop from WA call me last night wanting 5 units straight away for their customers but I said no to him, lol

The next one I build with be very different again internally and I may consider doing something with that one if I can get it working properly.

[Drop Bear]

10 hours ago, aussie123 said:

I have no intentions to put them in to full production Robbie although I did plan on building half a dozen for some close mates to help cover the initial costs and the R&D cost.

I have people everywhere wanting them now and I had a shop from WA call me last night wanting 5 units straight away for their customers but I said no to him, lol

The next one I build with be very different again internally and I may consider doing something with that one if I can get it working properly.

Ok let me know if you ever want to sell them and I will buy one too. 

[aussie123]

I forgot to update this post about the new reel.

It has done 2 big trips to the deep grounds wide off Fraser Island over the past 2 weeks and it have performed absolutely amazing.

It has ripped 2 big Makos up from the depths as well as a number of large Bar Cod and some 15kg plus Amberjack as well as other reef fish and sharks.

I built a new flat rod for testing and it is amazing as well. I was hesitant in using it but it is the best thing I have ever tried so far when fishing the deep water.

I have also built a lighter one for the shallower 100m line when chasing Snapper and Pearlies.

I have already started work on version 2 which will be an automated version of this one but with a few handy extra features added.

Anyway here is a short video of the first drop 2 weeks ago which was its first drop out in the real world.

Make sure you watch it in HD.

 

 

[Lesm8]

Brilliant mate, well done.

[Drop Bear]

17 hours ago, aussie123 said:

nyway here is a short video of the first drop 2 weeks ago which was its first drop out in the real world.

Fantastic mate. Well done. Must feel great to have something that you have spent so much time and thought on work so well. 

Anytime you want a decky let me know.

Happy to be the cook and grub around. 

 

[kmcrosby78]

Awesome result Lance, great work mate. Love the rod - is it just aluminium?

[aussie123]

6 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

Fantastic mate. Well done. Must feel great to have something that you have spent so much time and thought on work so well. 

Anytime you want a decky let me know.

Happy to be the cook and grub around. 

 

No worries Robbie.

Hopefully version 2 will be a massive upgrade again.

[aussie123]

1 hour ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Awesome result Lance, great work mate. Love the rod - is it just aluminium?

Thanks Kelvin.

The rod is made from a special type of fiberglass.

It is laid up in a way with special cloths under pressure, much like a fishing rod blank where the cloths are laid up in different directions to achieve maximum strength.

Normal fiberglass will explode in your face and become very dangerous with possible shards of glass flying everywhere.

I want to get a couple more made up in different thicknesses and then get a carbon fiber one made to see how it performs before i make a final decision on which one suits best.

 

 

[Drop Bear]

19 hours ago, aussie123 said:

No worries Robbie.

Hopefully version 2 will be a massive upgrade again.

Are you working on a level wind? Does it need one or does it lay well enough on its own? 

[aussie123]

5 minutes ago, Drop Bear said:

Are you working on a level wind? Does it need one or does it lay well enough on its own? 

The line lays reasonably good but still needs to be guided by hand a fair bit depending on what angle the pulley is laying.

I will definitely add a level wind if I can work out a solution on how to drive it off the spool.

I can drive it off the gearbox output shaft easily enough but then the level wind will keep moving when the spool is stopped or turning in reverse from a fish so that is not really suitable.

Somehow I need to drive it off the spool's motion and that is creating a few headaches with design options.I do have a design in my head but whether is will be feasible to produce is something that I will need to talk to an engineer and my machinist about before I go too much further as it will mean a big change to the spool design and cad program.

[tugger]

Great result Lance it looks the goods 

[Drop Bear]

17 hours ago, aussie123 said:

The line lays reasonably good but still needs to be guided by hand a fair bit depending on what angle the pulley is laying.

I will definitely add a level wind if I can work out a solution on how to drive it off the spool.

I can drive it off the gearbox output shaft easily enough but then the level wind will keep moving when the spool is stopped or turning in reverse from a fish so that is not really suitable.

Somehow I need to drive it off the spool's motion and that is creating a few headaches with design options.I do have a design in my head but whether is will be feasible to produce is something that I will need to talk to an engineer and my machinist about before I go too much further as it will mean a big change to the spool design and cad program.

I saw this and thought it might be a way to drive the level winder. Fast Forward to 57 seconds. It is a friction thing that comes off the spool. Would go backwards and forwards. Dunno if it helps. 

 

 

[aussie123]

On 30/07/2019 at 11:08 AM, Drop Bear said:

I saw this and thought it might be a way to drive the level winder. Fast Forward to 57 seconds. It is a friction thing that comes off the spool. Would go backwards and forwards. Dunno if it helps. 

 

 

That is not really an option Robbie as the reel spool has too much pressure when winding up with a high drag setting.

The level wind mechanisms also need to be set up so hands and fingers cannot get caught up in them so belts or pulleys on the outside are no good.

I do have a new idea which I think will work just nicely but again I will need to speak to an engineer to see if it is feasible and cost effective to try and build.

[Drop Bear]

18 hours ago, aussie123 said:

That is not really an option Robbie as the reel spool has too much pressure when winding up with a high drag setting.

The level wind mechanisms also need to be set up so hands and fingers cannot get caught up in them so belts or pulleys on the outside are no good.

I do have a new idea which I think will work just nicely but again I will need to speak to an engineer to see if it is feasible and cost effective to try and build.

Nice mate. I look forward to seeing it. You are a genius you know. I hope not an evil genius haha

[aussie123]

We went out deep again about 2 weeks ago and gave the reel a huge workout and again it never missed a beat.

It was hauling up 2-3 cod most drops and it did it with ease although we did blow up the drag in one of our other electric reels due to the huge work load that both of the reels copped.

The electric drag system seems to be holding up nicely and after we do a 2 day cod trip this week, I will bring the reel home for a full strip down and parts inspection to see how everything looks inside.

Here is a short video of one of the drops we did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=946Kw0TVy8E

 

[kmcrosby78]

Great to see Lance, well done mate.

[Drop Bear]

Nice one mate. I saw this on Facebook too. Killing it. 

[davostephens]

Hi

 

Looks the goods.

We are up FNQ, we are looking to make something similar for shallower sought of water <100m but to outrun the bloody sharks... My theory is if you pull hooks on fish the sharks will get anyways... So we want high retrieval.. any suggestions on motors etc.. were looking at fabricating from mobility scooters etc as they push people along quiet well, good torqe..

or from one of those E scooters you see now..

 

any help be great..

[kmcrosby78]

Hi @davostephens - sadly Lance aka @aussie123 passed away. He was a legend of this site with a vast array of knowledge and as you can see from these reels, a clever bugger to boot. RIP @aussie123 - gone but not forgotten mate.

[Angry51]

I sent him a PM half hour ago. Kelvin