Leaderboard

That craw is on tackle warehouse. Bizz Baits makes it. On their website they also sell the bts 702 which makes me think bts custom made this mold.

Anyone using this stuff? Any tips appreciated. Definitely different.

They have a few others you may want to investigate... if I were buying more today - I'd be tempted to try the 5179.... seems to have a higher glass trans temp. They also have epoxy based materials that handle higher temps better than the 519/5179 - the Epoxy 5065 looks like a good candidate - but with the 49lb density I'm not sure how smooth the mold will be - might give a textured finish. The 5169 stuff makes parts that are nice and smooth provided you don't have alot of grooves from tool paths... and a little sandpaper and water helps smooth areas out as well if necessary. Also - it's hard to find - but the have a clearance section.... sometimes you'll find tooling boards in there as well - say someone gets it shipped and they drop it and bust a corner in shipping- they send it back.... it will end up on the clearance section - usually considerable cheaper. Let me know how the stuff works out for you. I've used other materials like the materials in the 400 series (REN). They machine so easily.... you can blast through that stuff... but you'll have to seal it off for making baits... the finish is similar to a POP mold... so you'll have to coat it with clear coat or sealer before you can use it. It is also worse from a heat perspective.... but if you just wanted to make something as fast as you could to test - it's cheaper than 5169/5179 and works if you can live with long demold times, deformation and sealing up a mold. J.

I just use the ProTec junebug powder paint. Comes out the way I like it. In one of my videos a buddy and I were making junebug color jigs, Heres the link if you wanted to see how it turns out.

Pretty hard to get a reply Mark?? But they are never short of a question !!!! I have never used the polyester, I went straight to Solarez "Zerovoc" epoxy about 18 months ago, its pretty thick when cold but when heated and you get it on and it levels out (on a wheel) the finish is brilliant,,, problem is this nice glass finish stays tacky on the surface for ages--- so in short, I gave up on it and now it's in storage waiting for another idea or process. I see they now sell an epoxy finishing resin (top coat) but I think it cures to ''satin OR maybe matte''. All variants are still a bit hard to find here, I think there is a SH-T fight between the importers / agents. Pete

You're welcome Pourboy. And here I thought I was coming out of left field.

There are materials.... Check the Freeman Supply site... they make urethane boards for a whole lot of different applications and most of these items DON'T need coolant running and cut much faster and easier than aluminum. I use the REN 5169 for all my stuff. IT IS MUCH MORE FORGIVING than aluminum... so for a hobbist that has a little benchtop TAIG, makes mistakes and still learning - it's a good material. There are some downsides to this stuff though.... Assuming your cutting cavities to pour/shot into and not making masters.... It will warp/deform slightly as it takes on heat - so you need to make sure you clamp it reasonably tight as it takes on heat. I have some molds that never move/warp as they are relatively small baits - and I have some test baits (BIG AND THICK) I cheeped out on using a proper sized block and those distort more... never to a point they won't work - but you need to make sure you aren't sloppy when clamping. So if you use a proper size piece of material for the bait your cutting - you'll be fine in most cases. I said it takes on heat.... so your baits will take longer to cool down slowing your demold times. It's not as bad as a silicone mold - but has nowhere near the ability of aluminum to dissipate heat. Probably close to Plaster of Paris. While it is slower as the mold heats.... There is a benefit to this... you can make baits with very fine appendages or thin sections and almost ALWAYS fill them as the mold won't close off sections as fast as aluminum. Also - you can cut/glue this stuff if necessary. They sell a special glue - but clamping two pieces with some epoxy works just fine as well. I've filled parts of cavities I screwed up or wanted to change - re-clamped and machined the new areas without cutting a whole new mold... so it's friendly in that respect as well. I don't know if I would recommend this stuff for a production type mold... but it's real good for prototyping or if your a hobbist and the flexibilty/easy machining is of value to you. As for cost - it's comparable to Aluminum.... so your not gonna save on materials - you'll only save by not breaking as many end mills, machining a bit faster and having the flexibilty I spoke of. J.

Chuck - those giant 10" gits in the video swim amazing. I may follow up for myself, so thanks for the link. Erick - those aren't the ones he gave me but there are some potential salmon getters there! Mark - consider her warned, lol. Actually I should warn you, she only stops talking to breathe.....