RC 2.5

Very nice! You have me curious now about trying the PVC. Does it require epoxy to hold the screw eyes well? Again, excellent job!

woodenfeather,

I use the brush on crazy glue. I drill a pilot hole that's just a little larger than the shaft under the threads, run the screw eyes in to cut the threads into the PVC, run them back out and coat the threads and shaft with crazy glue, and run them back in. The crazy glue does stay on the threads enough to kind of reinforce the threads in the hole, and there is a slight build up where the eye meets the bait that I use to lock them in place, so they can't unscrew. Other than that, the PVC is strong enough to hold hardware. I've epoxied stuff into it in the past, like ballast and even hook hangers with the weight already poured around them.

The PVC is strong enough that I've caught fish on the rear hook of my 4 piece swimbaits, which are hinged with sst screw eyes and pins, and never had a problem or failure.

I did move up a size for my pilot holes when one of my baits that split after I smashed it four times against a concrete pier (Doh!!!!) spit along the screw eye hinge line.

I had just stuck a 3lber under the pier, and I kept trying to side arm the lure back under it, but my casting skills failed me. Grrr....

My buddy thought it was hysterical, and said my pattern for the day was concrete 4' above the water.

But it failed because I had originally made it to fish with no bill, and had put a rattle in a through hole between the eyes. When I added a bill to get it to swim better, that made the nose, where the line tie, rattle, and bill were all in the same small area, very weak.

So all I got back was half the front portion, with the screw eye line tie still attached.

I found another piece of the front of the bait floating, and saw how the section had cleaved along the line of the hinge screw eyes.

So that's when I went up slightly in my pilot bit size.

When I told my younger daughter what had happened, she said, "Dad, why did you keep throwing your lure into the concrete pier?" Damn kids!

Thanks Mark !

I'll have to give it a try. I used to work for a display company and a rep. gave me some 4x8 sheets of the stuff in .75" . I'm embarrassed I didn't think of using it for lures at the time. I made a sign for our church with one on the CNC and I still have some scrap in my garage. I guess I shouldn't feel bad 'cause I never used the CNC router for lure making either. You think of all the cool stuff you can do in the shop after hours, but when your shift is over its out the door.

Thanks again for the tips, Dan

Dan,

It's hard to play fast and loose with the Boss' equipement.

Keeping a job trumps lure making.

Think of how much you value that scrap now!

.75 should be the perfect thickness for lures.

Good luck.

Mark