redg8r

Sorry for the delay, you've probably already ordered. Unless I'm mistaken, the moldmax has a 10:1 mix ratio & recommends gram scales or graduated containers to properly mix. The Omoo is a 1:1 or 50%/50% mix. much easier and forgiving IMO. have fun & good luck.

For a 2 pc mold, yes. It keeps the 2 halves from fusing during the moldmaking process. For production, not at first, but using the mold release helps the mold keep its oils longer.

Switch out the moldmax with omoo unless you have the extra time it takes to cure (overnight?) And make sure your clay is plasticine & not sulfur based or it will react with the silicone.

Doubtful All the various soft plastic paints I've tried had a shelf life. I'd say you could extend the shelf life by using a blocking agent like "bloxygen" or "extend-it" but due to the heavy solvents inside, once they escape (evaporate) the product sets-up. Maybe one of the distributors would have a better answer but I'd say its unusable.

Hi TJ, I think you will be OK. I used it to pour some thick & heavy dolphin/dorado jigheads & got about half a dozen pours before the oomoo mold distorted. Give some time between pours to let the silicone cool down. omoo isn't ideal, but again, for short runs you should be ok.

I was at the same hotel & man those ladies were swooning over Pete & Phil. The foreign accents......... need I say more. Well miss you there Pete, it was fantastic spending time with a talented luremaker such as yourself.

Count me & Mrs. redg8r in. Will we have access to that private lake again this year? Man I'm serious, the action on that lake is as good as, or possibly better than some of the famed lakes here in Central Florida. nice healthy, hungry, largemouth..... an excellent spot to test the fruits of our labor. It's rare for me to grow tired of catching fish, but after a couple dozen, I stopped counting & I know most of the other guys outfished me. Coley, We'll keep you dry this year, I promise Nate, any ideas on an itinerary? or you wanna wing it? I know you planned to include alot more how-to & luremaking techniques last year, but the bite on the water was too good to pass up. Also should we book a trip to Davids spincasting facility? maybe a trip to Shorty's hook warehouse? I promise to not lock the keys in the truck this year If KCDano is coming he better bring some extra homebrew, he makes a stellar brew. I'm tellin ya, the genuine fellowship & incredible amount of information that was exchanged last year was humbling. I learned so much & that's coming from a guy who is somewhat jaded & seen alot. Gene (Lincoya) should teach shop professionally, he is a talented carver & a great mentor. For those of you who are interested, there are pics posted from last years event: Tackleunderground Home - Luremakers Photo Gallery - Clinton, Missouri 2008 Anything you need Nathan, contact me. Jerry

Ive used Smooth-on's poyo putty..... not very impressed, I prefer the liquid, but it works nice for 1 part molds. The castaldo temp. tolerance is interesting, however. Back to Alginate, I get mine on ebay in 1lb bags, pretty cheap, its the dental variety, so it sets up fast (@ 30-45 seconds) & has a nice minty flavor Like was said above, alginate is only usable as a temporary or intermediate mold material, it's food based (made from Kelp) so it will shrink, dry-out & spoil over time, so if you use it, use it shortly after it cures. PS, Plaster is about the only material that can be cast in alginate molds, I've tried poly resin and urethane resin. didnt work & given its water based I hope no one's careless enough to try & pour hot plastisol in it

I'd go with alginate, it cures quick & captures detail like RTV. You won't have to worry about anything on the baitfish reacting with the alginate. After you have the alginate negative, cast a plaster positive from that. Then you can tweak the plaster once it dries & then cast a final silicone negative. Pay attention to the cure times, the alginate I use is dental alginate and sets off in 30 seconds with warm water. Ice cold water helps slow the cure. Even better......freeze the baitfish first to make it easier to work with. There's a thread going on about alginate right now: http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/15528-new-possible-molding-material.html Good luck.

Hi 12spot, Take scottishghillie's advice & put those pics in the gallery: Tackleunderground Home - Luremakers Photo Gallery - Gallery Your lures can be rated & commented on there. Good work, thanks.

No wait,...... I remember a machine similar to what you describe. It was made to manually controlled, but some folks have outfitted them with steppers. I cant think of the name of that machine to save my ass. I get what youre saying now.... if one axis was encoded to rotate 360 degrees, you don't necessarily need the Y axis correct? I think a search on CNC lathes will better fit what you are looking for. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Hi, Welcome to TU. Just to clear up your definitions of axi's. Most CNC machines use a 3 axis motion (XYZ). Plotters usually use 2 with the 3rd axis (tool) controlled only with an up or down command. I think you are referring to a 4 axis machine, where the 4th axis rotates 360 degrees? Those are available and pricey, but if you haven't checked these 2 resources, they are good places to start: CNCzone.com-Machinist Community Forums - Welcome Page (CNC community much like TU) John C Kleinbauer's Unique Plans for Hobbyists (sells plans on making a 4th axis, think its called the "wood turtle" or something) Woodworking Tools Supplies Hardware Plans Finishing - Rockler.com also introduced a beginner level machine made from delrin & machined steel, uses a trim router or dremel for milling, if I remember correctly. Good luck & let us know how you decide. All the best.

I had the same surprise (with a trial kit) & called asking if I had a bad batch. It needs to be mixed well before combining. As for "how" to mix 5 gal? That's a good question that leads me to my question to you. Why buy that much If you've never used featherlite before? If you're using a new product I highly recommend buying the trial kits first to practice with. I have quite a few trial kits of various material that have expired because it didn't suit my project, I hope yours works out! if its in a 5 gallon bucket, I'd say start out with a paint paddle in a drill....... mix slowly & don't mix the 2 parts inadvertently

The mods (all 3) are chomping at the bit to get stricter on the rules. The existing rules were drafted well enough to remain virtually unchanged over half a decade & have served us well. We've been discussing these issues & look to amend the rules and make some small changes to the site in an effort to part some of the gray areas and loopholes while serving the interest in some of the questionable content that may or may not deserve a place on the site. As for the activity being justly scrutinized here in this thread, everyone can help by simply reporting the offending topics & posts. There is an icon atop of every post: Once a post is reported, an email is sent to every moderator, giving us a heads up. I can tell you our active moderators are here daily working for nothing to maintain the site. We've been doing this long enough to know we won't please everyone. Some say we over-moderate, some say not enough. I appreciate the concern regardless. Thank you.

Hi Phil, yes, I was a newbie to the lathe when I did this tutorial. The chisels I used were a cheap brand & came dull. I had the best results with the parting chisel which is what is shown, however if you can get your hands on a sharp roughing gouge ("c" shaped chisel) it would fare better at rounding off square stock. The small imported lathe in this tutorial was bought off ebay for @ 50$ & came with the chisels. These, like many tools perform at their cost, in other words, you get what you pay for. Sharp chisels are key. Good luck.

Welcome to TU. Your machine closely resembles the ones used by Rapala, that Lapala shared with us. The only difference looks to be that yours cuts a series of 2 & Rapala's run 4 baits at a time. Do you mind sharing, generally what type of cutting head your using? is it tooled like a saw blade, or is it a milling type setup with insert tooling or a roughing type mill? Thanks for sharing.

Here Here! Thank you to all veterans who have served in the name of freedom. That of course, includes you Bruce, thank you for your service to our great country. Happy Veterans Day.

Tackleunderground - View Profile: ARMYFISHERMAN

alright fellas. He said it was a joke, I sent him info on how to properly offer it here. All's well......... back on topic. Thanks

Duly noted, He said he was indeed kidding, which answers my question. I'm all about our members helping to provide solutions for those who need it. Mike Obviously puts alot of labor into his offering & he deserves to earn a return on that labor. Prochallenger.... I don't have a clue what your getting at, but you've asked repeatedly to have your account removed.... so why do you keep coming back? If you don't like how we run the site, take your ball & go home.

There you have it. I've seen Coley's processes, he knows his stuff. I still like the foam, but all have their pro's & cons. One thing I'll say is the alumilite/microballoon combo should hold up to toothy fish better than the foam, not sure what species your targeting, but just something to take into consideration.

as for Suddeth, I couldnt tell you for sure, but the urethane foam itself forms an outer "skin" with the closed cell structure contained within. If youve ever seen the household expanding foam insulation (greatstuff, etc.) you'll notice it forms a relatively smooth skin on the outer surface as it cures. Same stuff, only much more rigid. Occasionally you will encounter a void in the skin, but it can be filled. I do believe featherlight has similar properties with a textured outer surface & sanding will open the closed air cells.

IMO, Featherlite is a casting resin with microballoons premixed. I ordered a batch & opened it up to see what looked like a can of wood filler. I called the company & asked if they possibly sent me an old batch & they said they get this question all the time. Mix the product thoroughly & it should thin out, still, it is quite viscous. My trials have shown standard casting urethanes will indeed hold a typical screw eye. predrilling is preferred. I'm a smoothcast fan from smoothon, but most casting urethanes are similar & usually differ in cure times. Thru wires can be used, as long as the mold will allow for placement before pouring. Rotocasting is also possible, but quite tricky & inconsistent. I still like using expanding urethane foam, because you dont need to incorporate a floating filler, but thru wire would be preferred unless you get a high lb per cubic foot variety. Some urethane foams are as tough & dense as balsa & even hardwoods. But just like wood, the higher the density, the lower the buoyancy. Good luck

Yep, adding water to the silicone sealant is a critical step to induce a full cure, as noted in the tutorial. This has nothing to do with RTV silicone, as my experience has shown the same problem, you get a skin cure about a 1/4" deep then the interior never cures. I'm not sure why automotive RTV is necessary, as typical catalyzed RTV or silicone caulk will endure the heat of plastisol. One spot I disagree is using "paint" (water based) to induce curing, because my experience is that the pigments in the paint will transfer onto the plastisol, which is why I recommended water. hope it helps.

You're kidding right? You gotta USPTO number handy for reference? Given that this rig was publicly discussed here back in 2003 I highly doubt it's possible. Re: http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/soft-plastics/773-frying-plastic-2.html I had this pot in use with my own stirring mechanism (along with others) years before you even registered & I'm sure others have well before us, that's why I'm not taking credit. I find it slightly insulting that a lot of your R&D has come from this forum & now you claim it as your own design, deserving of a patent. I'll give you kudos on how you implemented your own stirring mechanism on top of the fundamental fabrication process. IMO that's the only original contribution you've made to the product. Not to mention that there is multiple resources online regarding the fabrication process of this same pot all over the web for candlemakers. Your also on notice about the incessant promotion of your pot in the soft plastic forums. You can take out a banner ad, or classified ad, or list it for free in the supplier directory (you are a club member). We want to accommodate you if you provide a product or service, but I won't moderate any more of your promotional posts, we'll start issuing infractions instead. Thank you for understanding.