Portable Fly Tying Station

[Wiets]

Here is the plan view of a 400 x 600 x 16 mm portable fly tying station I am busy with. This will be manufactured from 16 mm Supawood vacuum cladded with a woodgrain plastic. The are 2 levels - 16 mm and 32 mm. The lower level will accomodate a pedestal vise and have plenty recessed areas for hooks, eyes and other stuff. The upper level will have a large number of holes drilled for tools, bottles and containers. It will also have space for dowels holding over 20 threads. In addition, it will also have a stainless steel rod for flashabou and other stuff. Finally, rubber pads underneath will prevent scratches to where ever one will work. I hope to have a picture soon. What are your thoughts?

[Chris Shelton]

Hi Wiets. I think we must nickname you Mr Gadget That looks awesome man, I can see that you have put quite a bit of thought into it. It sure looks pretty damn jacked up to me. I must compliment you on your innovative flair.

[FishWhisperer]

Throw one together and send us a pic. Just a thought, if its going to be portable, please make it fold up!! When i think of portable i think, stick it in a bag and take it on holiday.... just my 2 cents... use it, dont use it...

[dpammenter]

that looks very good Wiets! i second Chris on renaming you to Mr Gadget! haha i think it's a good overall design. just a few thoughts (constructive crit if you like) ...

1. you've catered only for a pedistal vise. is there a way that the raised section where you have your 'holes for tools/containers' can be extended to accomodate a clamp style vise? and i suggest both sides so it caters for both left and right handed tiers.

2. do you really need place to hold 13 (26 if you go 2 high) bobbins of thread? surely you're not going to use more than about 6 at one time, and then you can go 2 high with your vinyl rib and/or lead/copper wire?

3. for the sake of true portability, it may be a touch on the large side. the 400mm depth i think is fine, but if there's no way to fold it (as mentioned by Matt), i think the 600mm might be a little long. maybe 500mm? i know when i go away i take an old cutting board that's about 450mm x 400mm as my tying board. that, to me, is a handy size - easily transported

again, they're just thoughts. i don't know if you agree/disagree. generally, i think your desing is sound. personally i just think it's a little large. 2c

[Methos]

Wiets

You might want to look into having it about 15cm high and putting in a few drawers. For the vice and some of the Materials etc. You can even put a handle on it like a little suitcase.

And from what I've seen from the tool caddy on the other thread it will be quite nice looking so one would want to prevent dings and stuff, so a "macenite" (sp) cover or something that slides off and on to protect the surface would be cool if you pack it between the suitcases and the kiddie's bikes.


If you somehow could incorporate a pair legs - almost like and ironing board it would also be badass.

Cheers

[Pierre]

Great job Wiets. If only i was fly fishing back when I managed an Engraving Business, we had large CNC machines. Its as simple as drawing it up in corel, placing a piece of super wood on the bed and hit start. I would have gone ballistic making all kinds of things for my fly tying.

[nkula_nkula]

Mr gadget

Love the design, my only criticism is:

I like to have my tools close to me when I work, allows for less time wasted when reaching for them. I have a piece of foam into which I stick all my tools, position it to my right but close by and just out of the way (i'm right handed!)

Also maybe allow for a clamp vise to be attached.

Still very nice.

[LeRoy]

Mr. Gadget.
Want my personal oppinion? I think for a human being, you are very generous (free balsa, free sharing of various genius ideas..) and for a newcomer to fly fishing, you are damn creative. I'm sure that as the secrets and intricacies of fly fishing reveal themselves to you (I'm still waiting, but have found that no matter how much you read or listen, you can't rush nature. At least it seems nature likes you quite a lot, and at least we're not alone..) your ideas and inventions will become legendary. For a person like me who makes do with whatever is lying around, and does this in whatever space happens to be available at the time, at least in fly tying, this little invention of yours will most definately come in very handy. I for one would love 26 bobbins of thread! I like it a lot, and would love to see the finished product..

Cheers..

[Gael]

[QUOTE=dpammenter;25656]
2. do you really need place to hold 13 (26 if you go 2 high) bobbins of thread? surely you're not going to use more than about 6 at one time, and then you can go 2 high with your vinyl rib and/or lead/copper wire?
QUOTE]

I think 13 bobbin holds is fine, say 6 spools of thread, 2 spools of lead, couple of spools of copper wire and you'll fill up the 13 easy.

If you are going to make the spool holders able to hold 2 spools (one on top of the other) then maybe move the spool holders back and the tool holder’s forward, otherwise getting at the tools will become more difficult.

Depending if you're going for beauty or functionality, an option for the 16mm level si white melamine, helps with contrast to make seeing you fly easier and also makes finding things on the surface easier, though definitely not as pretty as a natural wood though.

The width of 600mm will also enable you to place the workstation on your lap (tying with SWAMBO in front of the TV), so if you're happy it's portability then great.

I’m interested to see how your planning in making your flash rack, if it’s quiet high to allow for long flash, then making the rack removable will assist in portability

Othwise it very nice

[Wiets]

This specific tying station is for my yacht and is based on living conditions and available storage space - I hope to upload a picture later tonight. However, I am seriously considering to start manufacturing a host of fly tying gadgets, tying stations, fly boxes, my unique "Fly Animated Photo Shoot", caddies, etc. I will then in all probability introduce various models, for pedestal and clamp vises, shapes and sizes, left and right handed products to accommodate some issues mentioned above. Thank you for your ideas! They are all helpful.

Watch this space for a free portable fly tying station once I have everything sorted out - soon.