Hughesy

If you use material of any kind, the top and bottom edge has to be bound or folded over to pevent tearing in between the segments. Take a piece of christmas ribbon, fold it in half and try to tear it.

I just posted pictures (in the gallery under hardbaits) of my new swimbaits that I designed for Bass Pro Shops. The are very similar to what you guys are talking about. They have 8 segments with a material similar to Kevlar as the hinges. I turned in these baits almost 2 years ago and they are just now getting them on the market. It really does take that long. I have 5 more different baits that should be out in the next year. They call these swimbaits ZR9 swimbaits

Hey RiverMan, I have just been so busy that I don't have the time to check in very often. I have designed some new lures for Bass Pro Shops and between that and my painting biz, it just about takes up all of my time. Good to talk to ya again. God Bless!

I'm sure that it would work out just fine, but if I were you, I would ask the boys in the soft plastic forum.

That was an article that was written about me many years ago. It was originally in Bassmaster Magazine. It is now at www.bassresource.com/fishing/Painting_bass_lures.html By the time Field and Stream did their article, There were 6 of the old bicycle wheels spinning.

I know that I have posted this picture before but here it is again. This is my dryer. It is now in a large framed in box with an angled plexiglass lid. This way I can control the temperature inside the box.

I buy mine on line. I don't remember where I bought it last time but any clear heat shrink works. The last stuff I bought was 3M. You want to measure the diameter on the lure and then buy heat shrink that fits snugly over the lure. It only shrinks so much so a larger heat shrink will not shrink around the lure properly.

That is a perfect way to make long lasting stencils. Thank you for sharing it with us. Let me share the way I make them and by no means am I trying to put down or upstage your way. It is truly awesome:worship:. I buy large diameter heat shrink tubes. The kind used on large electrical wire. The smallest I use is like 1/2" up to 1 1/2". For an example, say I wanted to copy a wiggle wart pattern. I slide the heat shrink over the wart. Heat it very slowly so I don't warp the lure. I use a heat gun for this. When the heat shrink is tightly conformed to the lure, I use an exacto knife and begin to cut out the pattern. Since I use transparent heat shrink, I can see the pattern through the heat shrink and just trace around it with the knife. Then, I cut down the bell and back and I have my two halves. I then put the two halves back on the lure and simply put a piece of masking tape down the belly or back to make a clam shell out of it. Usually, as the bait tapers toward the tail, there will be excess heat shrink. I take a pair of pliers and smash the excess together while it is hot to form a place to hold onto the stencil. The heat shrink forms around the bill and the hook eyes to give you perfect placement every time!

Just a quick heads up on the bench models. Try to get one with a top loading door. The ones that have the sides that open up, are a pain because the media spills out the sides when loading and unloading. The shop vac attachment works but clogs very quickly. I vent mine outside. You lose some media but not very much. It also pays to buy blasting clear film to tape over the windows. It last a long time before it fogs up. Then, you just peel it off and tape on a new one. Kinda like the ones used on windshields in Nascar. People often have a hard time with the media clogging up the gun. Most of the time it is caused by moisture in the air line so its best to have a moisture trap .

I do use fine glass for blasting. I get it from Grainer's. It will not work on wood only plastic. It also does not work well on etex or d2t. It does work great on most factory finishes. You will loose some detail but not hardly noticeable. Since the glass is recycled it becomes finer and finer with age. After a while, you will loose no detail at all. Use heavy duty masking tape on the bills. The glass seems to bounce off more than penetrate the tape. I run about 100 psi. The only time you damage a lure is if you hold it too long in one spot. After blasting, Wipe clean with a Qtip and acetone. You may want to re-tape the bill because it makes for a cleaner edge and gets rid of any sand that is trapped in the tape.

Kandy bass is right. Spray the light grey scales then Blue glimmer sold by Wasco for about $9 for 8 oz. Done deal!

Here's how we build ours. It turns about 4 rpm and will handle hundreds of lures. It stands about 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide. The motor is your basic 1/4 hp 1175 rpm hooked up to a gear reduction and then its reduced more from the small pulley to big pulley belt drive. Its very strong and can handle lot of weight.

I'm pretty sure it was painted over a chrome finish. I always remembered on the back side of the finish it was chrome. If you start with a chrome lure, you can buy some paint made by dupli-color called Clear Effex which is a holographic style paint that produces the closest thing I've seen to the G finish.

We could do it in one coat. The thickness was determined by how much you would let drain off before curing.

If you go to the site I listed above, you will see that they do make epoxy coating for fishing lures and fishing rods. Ours is set up to where we have a tray of epoxy that the lure is dipped in and then it is hung up on a conveyor hook system that runs the lure in front of the light and rotates the lure to give it complete exposure to the light. It dries in about 5 seconds. The light is very hot I think about 1600 degrees at the bulb. The lure passes in front of the light about 6 inches away and is only there for 5 -7 seconds. It does have a reaction to lacquer but they make a water base clear that you spray on before you dip to counter act the reaction. If you are just doing a couple of lures, you can dip them with long hemos and just hand rotate them in front of the light. You must where long sleeve shirt, gloves, and a face shield. The unit also has to bee vented outside and we also installed a small fan to help remove the heat. It does make a nice clear coat but it is thinner than etex or 2ton. I did notice some yellowing but all epoxies yellow. I have a luckycraft catalog showing them using uv cured resins for their clear coat. Since I am designing lures for Bass Pro now, we are not doing any production work so I just went back to my original clear that a chemist buddy of mine that works a 3m whips up for me. I know that this company has sold clear coat to Mann's Bait co.

This is the company we have used when we were in production of balsa baits. EPOXY COATINGS CO. -- Established 1956. We do have one of the lamp units for sale.

Wood for prototyping. Plastic for production.

Mine isn't a skirt but soft plastic claws that just super glued to the belly. I like the legs also. Its suprising how long you can fish it before it gets torn up. This is on an old Rebel Super R.

I don't know about using a uv lamp for a heat source but I do use one with uv curing epoxy on certian applications. The lamp heats up to extremely hot temperatures. I'm talking about hundreds of degrees. I think the manufacturer said something about 1600 degrees on the suface of the bulb. The lure is rotated in front of the lamp for only about 5 seconds and is completely cured after that. Pricey unit though. About 3 to 4 grand. Great for production work. It would seem to me that a uv lamp for heat is a bit of an over kill.