redg8r

I appreciate that tip, I never saw that specific warning myself, a good bit of info to know, for sure. Thanks.

Hi Bob, It may be both Its tricky getting all the bublles out of such a thick material, but stirring slowly will help. Adding a layer of silicone straight to the master before you submerge it will help isolate bubbles also. once they're in there & close to the mold surface, heat will cause them to expand & make "female" indentions on the bait. If you can find em & fill em it might be salvageble as is, but if not, you can always cut up the mold & use it as "filler" for your next try. good luck

Ow, I wear contacts also, but fortunately didnt have this problem. I guess I need to put better precautions & warnings on the tutorials, but I honestly didnt see that one coming maybe something like that lure labeled "Harmful if Swallowed" Seriously though, I think soft contacts are made from a silicone, so your contacts are probably trashed. A warning to all 1 part & 2 part silicones carry catalyzing chemicals that may be harmful until cured, I seriously recommend use an instrument other than your hands, like I did in the tutorial. If you must use your hands, do protect them. Thank you for the warning.

Are they pullin any weight outa there? its been unusually cold down here lately.

cool, let us know if it works out for ya.

Hi HD, Yes redg8r.com is down, I meant to redesign it, but due to the popularity of this site & my othere clients sites, I havnt the time to set it back up. maybe someday you can PM or email me using the buttons below. thanks for the interest

yeah when you mention running it through a kiln, you mean to "glaze" it right? its added to the piece before its fired. you can get good results with epoxy coatings, resin coatings, ive even used high temp spray enamels before. I recieved some great plaster molds from our recent mold swap & looks like the guys brushed on a light coat of devcon epoxy, works pretty well.

Im pretty sure he's speaking of hard plastic lure bodies.

ahem..... http://www.tackleunderground.com/shop/product_info.php/cPath/21/products_id/54

Check around some taxidermy shops or sites, some do carry a rigid foam that you can carve. I have no experience with it though.

Water does thicken it, Heat will only make it cure faster. You can use it straight out of the tube (no water) but you can only do 1/4 inch layers at a time. Ive seen a thinner for silicone but the cost will make it higher than RTV, so if you want a thinner viscosity your best bet is to bite the bullet & buy some RTV. Good luck

Yes, very. RTV is a superior molding medium. RTV is usually a pourable consistency kinda like waffle syrup in consistency household silicone is like caulk whan catalyzed its as thick as taffy. add more water & stir thouroughly. you can also work in batches, using a layer effect. silicone will adhere to silicone even after its cured. Superior? depends on what you consider "superior" the aluminum mold life is virtually indefinite. compared to RTV but your bait detial is restricted to the mold designers CNC skills, both below are very skilled CNC wizards. Del of "Del-mart.com" & Robert of BTS baits "bobstackleshack.com" are the only 2 manufacturers of soft plastic aluminum molds that I know of. we have reach an agreement with both to carry thier lines here (soon) or you can go directly to thier site. Good luck

Sure, Youll have to suspend the original by either haging from a pin, or propping it up from underneath using a needle or pin. That will eliminate the pour-hole on the short (vertical) side. then cut the mold along the long (horizontal) side. This is basically what I did in the clam mold tutorial, only difference is with using RTV the original master will want to either sink or float (im guessing) so supporting it from top or bottom should stabilize it in the RTV mix. After extracting the bait you can fill the mold by squeezing it like you do those old vinyl "coin purses".... remember those? the household silicone is thick enough that it will support the master in place itself. Good luck bud, let us know what you find.

Happy Birthday Buddy

yes, tell him he's all set now. Thanks

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Sorry, just saw that Ahem, its pricey, more the reason to find more suppliers. I bought 2 oz. of clear base, (the actual paint) 1 oz. blue pigment 1 oz. red pigment 1 oz. yellow pigment 2 oz. Black pigment 1 oz. white pigment + ________________ $50+ He threw in some other stuff, brushes, applicator bottles, etc. It mixes at something like 3:1 MEK so its concentrated & goes farther than it seems. I was so ecstatic at finding it after a year of empty web searches & non-returned emails, that I had to at least try it. but at that price, you cant do any real production & stay profitable.

Yeah the soft plastic paint I have has a strong odor similar to PVC pipe glue, but after many comparison tests with typical PVC glue, theres no comparison. the pvc glue peeled everytime. I tried to rub the soft plastic paint off the other bait & ended up rubbing the bait apart before the paint came off. I know theres a few suppliers for this type of paint, but its obviously a well guarded trade secret. I'm sure theres a couple guys who stumble onto this site daily who has access to it but dont share the source & they're certainly entitled to that. We accompish alot of communication here, so its only a matter of time, we'll find it

Forgetaboutit, your a tacklemaking convert waiting to happen if its only about the money, sure youll save some cash, but youll trade it back in for the effort of actually mixing & pouring a gallons worth of baits. Heres the ticker: Whether you copied a bait, or designed your own, when you put your work on a hook & bring it back with a nice fish on it, again & again, its all over with. the feeling that gives ya........ man......feels good.

yeah i like it too, I have a couple more floating around on the fishhoo banner exchange, kinda the same theme. I think all the new baits were makin is catchin the fish off guard, so they're pretty upset right now

Hi Rob, Making a 2 part resin mold is tougher than it seems, problem is, resin will shrink somewhat while curing & this leads to problems with the 2 parts not lining up with one another, or even running into one another. Theres a way to do it but the way i do it requires an RTV master/mother mold (a mold of my mold) then I mix enough resin to fill both halves of my mold & pour them both at the same time, this allows the halves to cure at the same rate & since the resin is mixed equally it usually cures evenly allowing the 2 halves to match. RTV has no noticible shrinkage, nor does plaster or putty those might be other options for ya. If you had a rigid copy of your bait (instead of soft plastic) you could bury half of it in clay & then cast resin over it. If you still wanna try it I recommend you do like you said: mold the whole bait, but dont overdue the catalyst & cure it slowly in a cool place. Heat & over-catalyzing will encourage more shrinkage. Sand away half, Drill your keyholes, Apply a wax based mold release to the sanded face of the mold. Replace your bait in the half cavity & pour your second half. Good luck bud, its all a learning experience.

Ha Ha, dont mind George, hes jus cold & jealous Theres some good fishin on the Caloosahatchee, & it runs up to Okochobee. Fort Myers has some good fishin waters, Lakes Park, Estero River, Imperial River & you can head down to the fort myers Pier, Ive caught many fish around that pier. I'm about 45 minutes south of you in naples, Welcome aboard!

"Limit" brand is what Barlows sells isnt it? Al when you say calhouns takes longer to harden, you mean after the pour or did you mean settling in the container? Mike, since your spendin time on the salty seas, Id take als advice & get some hardener regardless, your plastic will fare better in the saltwater. Lurecraft makes a mixture specially for saltwater baits, but my guess is that its simply a harder plastic is all.

Hey Cavu, heres a tip: embed your master halfway into some clay, then pour the putty onto the master. My findings on the watter putty is that its as fragile as plaster while its still curing, but once all the moisture has left the putty its alot more durable than plaster. actually feels more like ceramic. You can cure it in an oven, but use low temps & long baking times (eg; 3 hours @150deg.) Heres a cool tutorial from crankenstein.net on making a water putty mold for lead casting spinnerbait bodies: http://www.crankenstein.net/content/articles/Making%20a%20Spinnerbait%20Mold.htm