Turbo Dubbing Twister - Home Made

[letumgo 0]

The Summer 2007 edition of Fly Tyer Magazine had a great article giving detailed step-by-step instructions for making your own Turbo Dubbing Twister tool.

 

I spent an enjoyable day making my own dubbing twister today. Here are a couple photos of my Saturday handyman project. Overall, I am happy with the way it came out.

 

 

(Thank you, James Smith, for writing the article. Excellent job!! :thumbup: .)

 

 

I decided to paint the wood a solid white color to make it easier to see how much dubbing was added to the center slot. I changed the clips by substituting a thread tensioner I bought from Cabelas. I added marking along the dubbing slot to make it easy to make consistent dubbing brushes (repeatable lengths of different colors of dubbing).

 

The white block looked a little plain (stark) so I jazzed it up by adding some Jungle Cock Nails to decorate the top of it. I had to laugh at my self when I realized that I was putting the JC nails on with a few coats of Sally Hansen Hard-As-Nails nail polish. (it seemed ironic to me... )

 

The Turbo Dubbing Twister is used to create dubbing brushes for tying flies. The dubbing is twisted tightly between two wires (actually one wire folded in half). The process of making the dubbing brushes only takes a couple minutes and produces a nice buggy looking dubbing chenille. From what I've read, the metal dubbing brushes are very durable and they also help add a little extra weight to the fly. I'm looking forward to creating a bunch of dubbing brushes with hares ear dubbing to test them out.

[lonewolve 0]

Ray,

Hi ive have two of these turbo dubbing twisters from jan siman. i love mine, my buddy bought a bigger one at the flyfishing show in somerset new jersey and his makes brushes almost two an half times as long. i use one twister for east caddis and czech larva patterns, the other twister i use for new york trib and smallmouth brushes. they really work great an also make doing flies that might get broke off or lost a lot easier on the pocket and mind. i laughed about the jc nail comment lol. i cant wait to get that olympus 770 sw i tried out at the local camera shop then i can share pics of my tying bench/area,as well as flies and fish pics. congrats

Tight Wraps & Tight Lines

Rick

 

 

[Kevin Compton 0]

In his Summer 2007 Fly Tyer article, James Smith did not mention his design's indebtedness to Jan Siman's Turbo Spinning Block -- a design, though not the first, that Siman standardized and has sold as a product for many years.

 

http://shop.siman.cz/

 

Surely Mr. Smith was aware that he did not mention Siman or the Turbo Spinning Block anywhere in the Fly Tyer "New Dimensions" column. The article's design is a good one, nonetheless, and the project, as Ray has shoiwn, is worthwhile. Surely all three work well. I just wish Mr. Smith had also offered a photo of a completed brush -- it would've added a new dimension to this truly unique contribution...

 

 

 

 

[Steeldrifter 0]

Very nice job Ray. Alway's a joy to make your own tools that actually preform a valuable step in tying

 

 

Steve

[letumgo 0]

Sorry for the omission, Kevin. I had intended to mention of Jan Siman's tool and great website, but I was rushing off to dinner earlier and ended up forgetting to add Jan to my post. Jan's website has a video showing how to use a dubbing twister tool and a downloadable Adobe .PDF file showing the instructions. Well worth checking out.

 

For those people who do not have the time to build their own dubbing twister, Jan's looks like a nice product.

[Kevin Compton 0]

Ray,

 

Certainly no apologies needed; thanks for sharing your project. The omission belongs to someone else.

 

I think it would be interesting to see some of the brushes others are making with the tool. How dubbings are being prepared for the block, and which core wires, threads, etc. are being used. And how these brushes work with different hooks sizes. And photos of finished flies...

[letumgo 0]

No worries, mate.

 

I posted a fly (copper rear hares ear) to the pattern database yesterday afternoon that was made with a couple dubbing brushes. If you look at the tying instructions it shows the materials and how to tie them. I was able to tie four flies from a single dubbing brush. :headbang:

 

I'll be sure to post other dubbing brush creations in the future.

[Kevin Compton 0]

NIce fly and photo idea. Thanks, Ray.

[oatka 0]

I love these, but I have not made one yet. My buddy made one up a few months ago, but he used a motor from a small fan, and I'll tell you, if you want real "turbo" to your dubbing, add the motor. once he's laid the wire and dubbing, a few quick hits to the power switch (not fully turning it on, just quick bursts of power) and in about 5 seconds it's spun up and done. not too bad.

 

I think I'll combine the nice look of yours, with the feathers with the speed of the fan.....when I get around to building one.

 

here's some photos!

 

 

 

[VERN-O 0]

letumgo....what size wire are you using to twist them??is there a specific gauge or where did you buy it?...if you don't mind me asking....looks sweet.....I have a similar homemade one too

[Faster Fish 0]

I love these, but I have not made one yet. My buddy made one up a few months ago, but he used a motor from a small fan, and I'll tell you, if you want real "turbo" to your dubbing, add the motor. once he's laid the wire and dubbing, a few quick hits to the power switch (not fully turning it on, just quick bursts of power) and in about 5 seconds it's spun up and done. not too bad.

 

I think I'll combine the nice look of yours, with the feathers with the speed of the fan.....when I get around to building one.

 

 

The only thing better than building your own stuff is building it with power. BTW Oatka, I think that motor would work well for a furled leader twister as well. Just an idea.

 

randy

[letumgo 0]

oatka - That has got to be the manliest dubbing twister around. It kind of reminds me of something from the show "Home Improvement" where the Tim character was always souping up a devise to have some sort of turbo power. Maybe we could start a new thread called "Pimp My Twister" to see who can come up with the most powerful dubbing twister ( :hyst: just kidding :j_k: ).

 

 

VERN-O - I have been using a fine stainless steel wire and also a couple different sizes of Ultra Wire (small seems to work best, but medium also works if the size of the fly can tolerate the added bulk of the heavier wire). If you are tying flies smaller than size 8, I recommend that you stick with the fine stainless steel or small Ultra Wire.

 

J. Stockards carries the both types of wire. Here is a link for the stainless steel wire.

 

http://www.jsflyfishing.com/cgi-bin/item/T...Steel-Wire.html

[camoham 0]

yep,

 

saw this one in the summer issue as well.

 

good to see it constructed. i might have some trouble finding the bearing...............but its on a "to-do" list.

 

camoham

[letumgo 0]

camoham - I actually stole the bearings out of one of the wheels on an old pair of in-line roller blades that my kids had. I built mine with two bearings instead of the single one listed in the article. I put one on each end of the Xacto blade holder to make it more stable.

 

I found the other parts (pipe strap, handle and screws) at a local Ace Hardware store. I think I spent around $15 for the components. I could have cut this down to less than $10, but I used the more expensive thread (better?) tensioner.

[JayMorr 0]

Nice twister. I to ran out and made one after the recent article in Fly Tyer. Here is a link to my thread on F3.

 

http://www.flyfishermanforum.com/forums/sh...read.php?t=1147