Frickin awesome
Love the winder.
Wire i have used is stainless and it is annealed. That is a heat treating process that will soften it so it doesn't break. Some use fly store wire like for ribbing but I don't know which type.
Love the spool for the crank handle. I assume the aluminum flip table is rigid enough that you could make some sort of lock attacked to the table supports and get rid of the spool that is propping it up. Perhaps some sort of pin or square block that attaches to the top of the post and extends over the back edge of the table should do the trick.
Not sure I'd want a spool beneath but that's me. Seems like a guy with your talent could take another scrap of aluminum and make a support leg, drill it and screw it into the side of the table. It could then be folded out of the way when you drop the table. Just sayin'...
I like the reel to prop it, since I used part of it for the crank, the other part had to be utilized as well. It makes no difference in functionality whether I use it or some fancy stop. And it goes with the overall theme. . I will try and post a vid but am a little challenged in that department.
Yup, industrial grade for sure! Lol! Way over built for it's function but it was fun. On the question on wire. I use xsm ribbing wire for small freshwater flies and stainless wire for saltwater applications. I got the wire from saltwaterflies.com
I don't fish saltwater, so I've never tried stainless. I use copper 0.006" or small Utrawire.
I found that while I can get the few initial turns to securely trap the dubbing material between the wires, I need to cut it at the non-turning end so I can let the twisted wire contract by keeping moderate tension with my fingers....if the fixed length of the twisted wire isn't allowed to contract as you twist the strands it will, indeed, break at some point. Even a ductile material like copper or Ultrawire has its limits. Of course, with a thread dubbing loop the dubbing tool slowly moves toward the fly as you tighten the winding of the trapped materials. Same principle, but the limitations of the wire are more apparent when the length is fixed between the ends of the dubbing table device.
I thought about incorporating a spring like tensioning dilly but ended up just going this way. I may still do it in the near future I just need to find something with just the right resistance so that it won't give right away. As it is now I realized that if I don't stop at a certain point it pretty much cuts the fibers. I did a test last night where I just kept spinning, there's probably a little heat involved as well, from the friction.
I have been looking at making something like this. Can you give some details on the bearing/bushing/ reel to hook connection on the crank side?
This seems to be my one hold up on building one.
Thank OP for the inspiration. I had some free time this weekend and built a couple "tools". Here's my version of the dubbing brush maker from crap lying around. Now I just have to practice the mechanics of building brushes that are the right mix of materials/length/density.
I attached it on the back inch with a couple pegs. There's a cotter pin support on the right side that when pulled out drops the table to vertical. I think this will be the beta version. After cranking out a handful of brushes I found a couple things I'd like to improve. And, I have about 500' of first growth redwood tongue and groove 2x6's (salvaged from a storage pier in SF) that will make a really pretty tool once I get the kinks out. @Squamishpoacher I'll let you know once I get the choice version in production!
Beautiful! I'm looking forward to see the tying vise you make next!
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