MAKING A ROTATING FLY DRIER

As with a lot of you fly fishers when I started fly fishing not long ago I got hooked big time, and I found myself purchasing all these new little gadgets, vices etc.

The time came when I got into epoxy and silicone for making flies such as prawn imitations, surf candies etc.

Fly driers are available but at a pretty expensive price and I just did not have the money to purchase such a tool when I could be made so easily and a cost of next to nothing really appealed to me.

Using a microwave motor from an old dumped microwave it is the perfect choice, one being you do not need any power supply because these motors run off direct 240V and 2nd being they rotate at a about 6rpm. Perrrrrrfect

What you will need.

1. Motor from an old microwave oven (found thrown out in front of houses, tips or ask your nearest tv/vcr/microwave repairer)
2. A casing to house the motor I used an old power supply box from a computer you will find these in old computers that some people leave out on the street or walk into a computer shop and ask for a dead power supply you will probably pick it up for free.
3. Various tools such as electric drill, drill bits, soldering iron and some 240v cable. (You will find plenty of this cable in the power supply).
4. A round piece of wood anything will do I used a piece of mdf cut into a circle.
5. A power cable for the power supply box.
6. Foam to glue onto the mdf cut out
7. Some electrical knowledge (if you are not comfortable with it get a mate with some knowledge to wire it up for you).

Procedures.

Unscrew the cover off the power supply and take out everything except for the power connections on the back of the power supply.

Once you have unscrewed the motor off your old microwave which will be found underneath, there will be a connector which plugs into the microwave cables, you need this to determine which will be Active (+) and Earth (-).

Some will be colour coded like black and red, my microwave has blue for active and black for earth either way the coloured cable is always the Active (+) power.

Remove the motor and keep the 3 screws that hold the motor in.

Once you have taken out all the old circuitry from the power unit try to centre the motor and drill a hole for the shaft to exit (Picture 4).

Make sure the hole is big enough because you don't want the shaft rubbing onto the case and causing unnecessary stress on the motor.

Once the hole is drilled mark the 3 or 4 holes that will screw the motor in with a marker pen and then drill the holes, now you can screw the motor in. (Picture 5)

Cut a round piece of wood approx 100mm wide or a block whatever you like. (Picture 2)Now we have to mount it on the shaft.

I personally did it the hard way I got a piece of steel and welded a nut onto this so it will screw in to the shaft, this way I can unscrew it whenever I see fit, to do this you will need a tap and die set to make a thread on the shaft.

The easy way is to mark the centre of the wood circle and drill a hole way through the wood, when the hole is made fill this with epoxy or any of these tough self adhesive glues, place the wood flat poor in glue and put in the shaft try to fit something under the power casing to hold it straight while the glue dries, it is preferred to leave it 24hrs to dry before continuing.

My power supply had a on off switch if yours does not it wont matter just means you will need to use the power point to turn it on or off.

This is the diagram of the Active/Earth/Ground sections of the power unit looking from the inside; this is where you will solder the cables to your motor (Diagram 1)

• Solder the Active cable to Pin 1
• Solder the Earth to Pin 2
• Solder the Ground to Pin 3

If you have a switch or you want to fit a switch you can purchase a switch at any electrical shop or hardware just explain you need one for 240 V.

It will have 2 pins on it, instead of soldering the active cable straight to pin 1 you will solder it to pin1 on the switch.

Then from pin2 on the switch you will solder a cable from here and solder it to PIN1 on the direct power input.

If there are any cable joints that are exposed tape them up with an electrical tape to stop your fuse box from smoking. (Picture 3)

Once everything is checked, double check it, never play with electrical if you do not know what to do at the worst scenario install the motor etc and take it to an electrician, it will take him 2 minutes to wire it for you. (Picture1)

Tidy any cabling and screw the cover back on.

Find some foam or polystyrene and glue it onto your round piece of wood, you can use any glue for this. (Picture 6 above)

Plug the power cable in, hit the switch and watch your flies Dry evenly.

Article by Sportsfish Member: Stevo

Steven Pourniotis