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ENGR 1332 Fall 2014

3D Printed Fishing Reel

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Table of Contents

1.0 Project Objectives

2.0 Conceptual Design

3.0 Schedule and Organization

4.0 Preliminary Design

5.0 Detailed Design

6.0 3D Printed Prototype

7.0 Materials and Post-Processing

8.0 Solidworks Assembly

9.0 Testing and Evaluation

10.0 Specification Sheet

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1.0 Project Objectives

When we had our first overall group meeting, we created the following six landmark goals to

help track our progress along the way:

1. Finalize CAD/Solidworks drawings by Nov. 3

2. Finish 3-D printing by Nov. 10.

3. Assemble reel by Nov. 12

4. Catch a fish and/or reel a brick from two story window by Nov.16

5. Complete painting by Nov. 19

6. Complete Report by Nov. 21

Although our original goal was to create a functioning fishing reel, we decided to push ourselves

and accept the challenge objective of catching a fish with the reel we created.

2.0 Conceptual Design

The Solidworks group initially reviewed the preliminary sketches (Figure 2.1) created by one of

the project managers before brainstorming and modeling to assess what must be done to best

achieve the team's objective

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Figure 2.1: Six Views of the Original Design

The original design of the fishing reel was thoroughly and meticulously created, however the

Solidworks group wanted to start from scratch to create a more detailed design that included all

the internal components. While the original design was a good starting point and may have been

appealing enough to a potential customer, it was more of a rough draft for the Solidworks group

to keep in mind while designing a much more intricate version and would not have actually

functioned in assembly because of missing parts. One of the biggest differences when designing

the external components was creating an even more aesthetically pleasing and professional look

for the reel. Informal brainstorming was used by the design group which allowed members to

create their own designs of the reel body for evaluation by the group. Many existing designs

were also evaluated to see what was good and what was not about real reels. It was fortunate

there were several fishermen in the Solidworks group to give insight on what a customer would

look for in the design. A compromise was made from group member’s designs and favorable

existing components from other reels that could be reverse engineered, to create a final design.

3.0 Schedule and Organization

The ability of each group to work together and finish their task on time was key to the overall

success of this project. The system that was developed (Figure 3.1) made sure each group had

work to do, but it was divided up evenly. By the nature of this design, some groups were front-

loaded while others were back-loaded, but all had to complete their task while staying on

schedule.

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Figure 3.1 Organizational Chart

The group in charge of finalizing the SolidWorks drawings had to complete their task first, as it

was key to all other parts of the project. This group worked to finish the drawings, and make sure

everything was measured properly and would be ready for the printing group. They were also

tasked with coming up with new drawings if one did not work.

The second group was responsible for gathering materials needed for all stages of assembling the

reel. Collecting materials needed such as sandpaper, paint, and screws were all included in this

group’s tasks. Project management had to communicate the needs of the other groups to this

group in order for them to gather the needed materials for assembly.

The third group was the 3-D printing group. This group had the laborious task of saving all of the

files as .STL files and printing out all of the parts of the reel. To ensure no problems later on,

several parts were printed multiple times just in case they broke.

The fourth group took the printed parts and cleaned them up, removing the support material and

sanding the parts down. After smoothing out the parts, the group painted and assembled the reel

into working condition.

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The fifth group was in charge of writing the final report. This group had to be in communication

with all groups in order to be able to write a good report.

The total project lasted just over two months. In order to know clearly when tasks needed to be

completed by, a simple Gantt chart (Figure 3.2) was made showing when the different groups

needed to have their task completed.

The Gantt chart was available to anyone upon request and helped keep everyone organized and

on task. The detailed chart also shows the dependence of one task upon the completion of

another task.

Figure 3.2 Gantt Chart

4.0 Preliminary Design

At the group meetings, we discussed the best ways of designing a working reel to be 3D printed.

The project managers gave different design options for the members to choose from. Once

decided, we drew a few different sketches to model in Solidworks. A large portion of the original

discussion stemmed from the idea of a “clicker” for the reel. A clicker is used to detect when a

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catfish is on the line, allowing the line to be pulled freely while making a loud clicking noise to

alert the fisherman that a fish is present. The only problem is clickers are only used for

baitcasting reels, and our design is a spinning reel. After further discussion, the group decided to

focus on making a very sturdy and aesthetically pleasing reel than to try to invent a new idea for

a spinning reel. Upon making a parts list, we decided to use universal gears from eBay for the

reel instead of plastic printed gears to ensure they would not break.

The first Solidworks models were created at this time, beginning with the outside and inside of

the drag cap (Figure 4.1) followed by the main body (Figure 4.2), which was modified multiple

times in order for the final assembled gears to fit correctly.

Figure 4.1 Outside (right) and Inside (left) of the Drag Cap

Figure 4.2 Early Design of the Main Body

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5.0 Detailed Design

At this point, the Solidworks group completed most of the original Solidworks models in order to

print them. This included a body that did not fully connect with the gears, so it had to be

reworked by the Solidworks group. Calipers were used for reverse engineering the model reel to

ensure the gears would fit the body and the outside of the body would fit with the main body.

The pre-printing assembly worked relatively well, needing a few minor adjustments with gears

and sizing of the bail to the body. Both parts of the reel handle were finalized and ready for

printing (Figure 5.1).

Figure 5.1 Finalized Parts of the Reel Handle

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6.0 3D Printed Prototype

The printing team used the files from the Solidworks team, starting with the drag cap. After a

few trial prints in PLA and ABS, the team decided to use PLA for the reel.

The drag cap pieces were printed first. A couple of practice prints of the cap were conducted to

get the support structure and temperature correct, then given to the sanding and painting teams

for practicing.

The idea for the main body of the reel was to print at .1 millimeters because many of the details

are very intricate. The problem with this idea is the office hours are only four hours, but the main

body print said it would take over ten and a half hours. As a result, .3 millimeters and 130%

speed were the settings used to print the main body, and it still took just over four and a half

hours. Pictures were taken after one hour, three hours, and after completion (Figure 6.1, Figure

6.2, and Figure 6.3, respectively)

Figure 6.1

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Figure 6.2

Figure 6.3

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While the main body printed, the secondary body and both handle pieces were printed with the

proper support structures included shown in Figure 6.4.

Figure 6.4

7.0 Materials and Post-processing

Materials gathered

● Sandpaper in various grits (80, 180, 320, 600, 800, 1000)

● Primer (etching, filler, seal, base coat)

● Paint (jet black krylon)

● Clear coat super clear krylon

● Universal spinning reel gears

● Used spool housing with bail

● Used spool

● Self-tapping screws (made the threads for the flat top screws in the final assembly)

● Body filler

● Dolphin glaze

● Filler spreader

● Flat top screws

● 3D printed parts

● Abu Gacia gear grease and gear oil

● Exacto knife with multiple attachments

● Dremel set from harbor freight

● Two digital 6 inch calipers

● Line

● Bobbers

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● Hooks

● Sinkers

● Worms

● Ugly stick catfish series rod

Post-processing

Once the parts arrived from printing team, the paint team inspecting the printed materials for

defect and measurements. During the inspection, one of the measurements in our original

printing of the reel body was slightly off and had to be reprinted and modified to meet the

standard specs. After the design was printed, the support material was removed using an exacto

knife with a chisel attachment, because this yielded the closest trim. After all parts were

trimmed, the paint team discussed about the best way to prep the surface for painting. They

decided on a technique used by car painting professionals to get the smoothest finish. At first,

the parts were sanded with a rough 80 grit sandpaper to remove any leftover support material

missed by the exacto knife. After the first sanding, the parts were then sanded with 180 grit

sandpaper to remove visible lines from the extrusion process. A light coat of body filler was

then placed over the parts that were to be visible on the assembly. The filler was spread with the

straight edge of a spreader to fill in all the large holes and imperfections in the printed material.

This helped the make the 180 grit sanding move quicker and require less paper to be used. After

the body filler, dolphin glaze was spread over the surface to fill in deeper scratches left by the

180 grit sanding and the smaller imperfections left by the printer. The dolphin glaze was sanded

with 320 grit sandpaper. Next, a filler primer was applied to the reel to fill in the small

imperfections caused by sanding the dolphin glaze to give it a smoother finish. After this, the

reel was sanded with a 600 grit followed by wet sanding with 800 grit and 1000 grit sandpaper.

The spool was the only metal piece painted and it was prepped with an etching primer to prevent

rust and bond paint to the bare metal. Next, a base coat primer was applied to the reel to create a

surface accepting of the base coat. Lastly, all the parts were all painted with jet black krylon

paint and then painted over with multiple clear coats.

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Figure 7.1 Filler Added to Dolphin Glaze

Figure 7.2 First Layer of Body Filler

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Figure 7.3 First Coat of Base

8.0 Solidworks Assembly

After the Solidworks Team modeled the parts to the reel, the assembly started. The parts were all

brought in to a Solidworks assembly file, these parts were made virtual. The main body was

fixed using a mate to plane tool, this was the starting point for further assembly. The gears were

then brought into the body using standard mates and mechanical mates. Standard mates were

coincident and concentric mates, while the mechanical mate used was a gear mate. This was the

most challenging part of the assembly for a number of reasons, the biggest being the oscillation

gear which controlled the movement of the spool. This mechanism was mated with a tangent

mate. The housing was then mated along with the spool rod to ensure the correct distance was

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achieved. The other parts such as the handle, reel cover, spool, and drag cap were mated with

standard mates. The screws were added from the Solidworks toolbox to complete the assembly.

Figure 8.1 Exploded View of Assembly

Figure 8.2 Drawing of Assembly

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Figure 8.3 Render Solidworks Assembly

Figure 8.4

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9.0 Testing and Evaluation

Once the reel was assembled, the entire team was asked to meet at a pond to test the reel and

complete the objective, catch a fish. Weather was cold, but the sun was high. The members at the

pond located sunfish sunning near the banks on the north end of the pond, so worms, hooks,

bobbers and sinkers were purchased and rigged up. The reel was spooled with ten pound test

fluorocarbon line and attached to an ugly stick catfish series rod. Figure 9.1 shows the reel with

line fixed to the rod.

Figure 9.1

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With patience came fish, as eight sunfish were hooked and reeled in using the reel, see Figure 9.2

and Figure 9.3.

Figure 9.2

Figure 9.3

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10.0 Specification Sheet

3D Printed Fishing Reel Weight (lb) Volume (in³) Total Print Time (hr)

.875 5.75 x 8.25 x 6.75 6

Upgraded 25 pound drag, spiraled mount, single needle bearing for smooth reeling, and polished

bail for reduced friction.