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Fly Rod 6wt 9ft — Slicing & Print Settings

Now that we have the necessary STL files ready, we can move on to the slicer software, which tells the 3D printer what to do. I use OrcaSlicer. There are endless print settings — I'm not going to go through them all. My settings probably won't work identically on other printers, and even my own settings don't behave the same in a hot summer room compared to a cold winter day.

I use a 0.6mm nozzle and have set the print temperature to around 250°C. Foam filament starts foaming at around 220°C, and foaming is most effective near the filament's upper temperature range (this is usually printed on the packaging or the spool label, and you can definitely find it on the manufacturer's website). You just need to find the temperature that gives you the best result.

I've set the flow ratio to 0.6. If you run foam filament at the normal 1.0 flow ratio, the foaming isn't as strong as desired. The result looks more like a regular TPU print. I also usually set cooling fan speed to 0% — completely off. The exception is when I've put text or patterns on the handle surface. Details like that can be printed with a low 25-50% fan speed. You can also use the fan for supports and at the very top of the handle (0.5-1cm). It helps supports succeed and the tip of the handle comes out cleaner. I've just manually adjusted the fan speed during printing.

Layer height 0.20mm. You get perfectly decent results at a larger height too, but the surface is of course better with a lower layer height. I typically use 2-3 wall loops and 15-25% infill (honeycomb).

Then just let it rip. The Sidewinder isn't breaking any speed records, so printing a handle takes about 3-5 hours depending on settings. The butt prints in about half an hour. If it feels like you just can't get clean results, go ahead and enable fuzzy skin in the slicer and make the whole outer surface bumpy. Then you can claim that's exactly what you wanted. Rough. Grips really well. The printed foam surface is plenty grippy anyway, but you don't have to tell everyone that.

*Normal printed handle vs. one printed with a light fuzzy skin setting. Doesn't really matter which way you go — the feel is nearly identical, and print layers always show to some degree anyway.*

Fly Rod 6wt 9ft — Wrapping and Finishing

When it comes to wrapping, I'm no expert. At this point I've got close to 30 rods under my belt, and they've all worked more or less. If the cast doesn't flow, I blame the blank. Guides haven't come loose

Fly Rod 6wt 9ft — Finding the Spine and Gluing

So we've reached the point where it's time to find the blank's spine. YouTube is full of videos on this — just search for "find blank spine." And if you watch several different builders, some bend the thin tip against the table, others

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Ideas and thoughts about fishing, fly tying, and rod building. DIY rod grips using 3D printing. Many say you can't make a rod grip with 3D printing. I suppose they imagine it's just plastic — hard and brittle. It would be, if you printed the grip with

Fly Rod 6wt 9ft — Designing the Grip in Tinkercad

A little groundwork needs to be done before heading to the design table. You need to measure the blank butt — the thickest part of the blank. That tells us how big to make the hole through the handle for the blank. On the blank I'm working with, the

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Fly Rod 6wt 9ft — Wrapping and Finishing

Fly Rod 6wt 9ft — Finding the Spine and Gluing

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Fly Rod 6wt 9ft — Designing the Grip in Tinkercad