Travis

I made a few this way as "joke" gifts for some guys I fished with off and on. They were big believers in lures make the anglers where I am from the other camp. As mentioned just tape the leads directly to the battery essentially making a "throwie" without the magnet. At one time a lot of how to videos on making throwies (way of tagging bridge overpasses, street signs, etc...) Should get one to two weeks of continuous use if just wanting to prototype something initially. You can add colored plexiglass in places to get spots, eyes, etc if so inclined. Trip to dollar store for a few of their LED nightlights or flashlights is where I got my materials.

365nm is the wavelength you are looking for.

I had a lot of the Excalibur stuff at one time (still probably have several dozen) as the local Kroger's grocery store hand a shopping cart full of them for some reason when I was in college in the 90's. I think they were between 0.25 to 0.75 cents a piece. I sold a lot of them during those years.

Model is BD5F. Agree with Salty.

You are much more forgiving than I am. Delete their entries and give them the boot. The instructions are not that hard, lets not reward stupidity.

For bass lures; 19 gauge soft temper stainless steel from the local hardware or order from McMaster Carr (0.041 302/304 stainless down to .032 or so for smaller baits).

Reason I have a 3D printer sitting in box going on 9 months.....

Jig the way to go. Doesn't have to be too complicated either. Personally would just take two pieces of wood and make and L with them then attach it to a base. The round dowel will nestle in the corner and be supported vertically by your jig. The base should clamp to your drill press table and positioned so the drill bit will be centered on the dowel. I would just hold the dowel in place with my thumb and drill knock them out in short order. With this set up can knock a bunch out quick. You can also make a holder similar to a lead weigh mold out of wood. Just drill a slightly smaller diameter circle than your dowel. Use a hinge on one end and can open and close the handle to hold the piece. Will still need to make a stop system to register the holder so always center. The first option just much easier and quicker.

Most will seal the balsa first. Superglue or thinned epoxy both popular choices. I dipped a lot in dissolved plastic solo cups or the propionate dip. Personally superglue is the way I typically go. After sealing I then lay down a base coat/primer then paint. I still prefer Devcon 30 minute for a topcoat.

I have always sealed with thinned devcon. No issues and no loss of detail if done properly. Tried various other methods... well still use the devcon method.

My wife has it on her craft table. I assume the just wrap strips of it around the bait the paint and then unwrap. Someone on the site (many years ago) was wrapping baits and painting to get wacky patterns.

I have observed what you are seeing in the past once based on your newest description. It was with some Gorilla Glue Epoxy being used on a wood working project. I first thought it was my mixing (however never had this occur with the D2T 5 or 30 minute) so mixed some more and still had it happen. Very minimal amount of the product would quickly cure and was granular in nature. I chalked it up to degradation/contaminant in the initial product; likely slightly different related chemical pre/polymer in the epoxide portion or potentially small impurity in the "hardener portion" that chemical reacts at different rate with the product. Either way based on the amount of epoxy I had used in the past just chucked it.

Pictures of the bait, if you can get good pictures of the top coat, will help. Bristles are too easy to see and would easily be removed during top coatings. Bubbles never resulted in a finish that I think of as protruding particles as usually just the opposite with little smooth craters/dimples.

Usually I just use stencils or a modified comb and either do solid stripes or mottled/stippling with the air brush. Never used wonder web but sounds interesting.

Either will work... For normal paint jobs a lure is dry enough to handle after spraying a few other baits. I dried crackle paint jobs to speed the process but the product I used seamed slow to dry but the undercoat I was using was brushed. I have never been in a big of enough hurry to use them with any consistent basis. As I may paint a dozen lures, then go build a dozen lures, top coat the painted lures a day or two later, paint the new lures, install hardware, decide to pour some baits..... Hopefully I go fishing instead of doing any of it as no point in making lures for kicks. I started cleaning up my garage and found baits that need clear coats. They were signed and dated 4/21/12.

He was talking how to paint the LC Table Rock. Hughesy may have painted one or two Table Rock Shad over the time as everyone has their knockoff of his. Everyone has their interpretation of his color pattern. Here is an old post of his from 2004. First of all let me thank you for the nice compliments. As far as my "create your own colors page", I did try using my own colors but they didn't look right because of places like where the back color faded into the side of the baits looked real funky, the color of the paint behind the scale pattern would show up and many other issues I came across. It was a real pain. I just put that page on there for the fun of it. I doubt if anyone uses it to really design colors all though I have received many orders with the little pictures as a sample. I might change it around if I every get time to play around with it. As far as it increasing my orders, its killing me the way it is now. We are running about 5 to 6 weeks on deliveries of orders as we speak with no end in sight. On patenting colors schemes, I don't think its possible because you could add 2 drops of white to any color and barely change the color but I'm sure in a court of law it would be considered a new color even though it matches your to a T. If you notice that most of the Big Boys that copy my stuff do not get the colors right. Lucky Crafts Table Rock Shad is a real faded chartreuse and almost a flat purple, Normans Sour Grape has purple flake and the they to can't get the right purple and chartreuse. The same with Pradco's Mark Menendez line. All of those colors are a copies of mine but they just can't get the colors tint right. Plus the quality of their work could use some help. Thanks again clemmy for the great ideas but I'm just gonna stay right where I'm at and just keep on shootin that paint.

I have only bought 2 and just picked up whatever the Lowe's had at the time. They both have turned a lure or two over the past 14 years. I don't think this is one of those too critical of things to be honest or something to spend a lot of money on. Something near 6 RPM is the fastest I would want to go and typically a little slower. Etex never won me over and only did 30 to 40 lures with it. Now that being said I do have a 1/3 HP Bodine motor with variable RPM control I picked up at work (we throw away some amazing stuff). I was going to use it whenever mine stopped working.

https://www.jannsnetcraft.com/propeller-spinner-blades/312179.aspx http://www.lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/Propellers/Pointed-Propellers.html Fairly close. Likely have to bend them a little deeper. Doubt they will divulge their source however. How many you looking at getting... Worth does contract work in regards to metal stamping. https://contractmanufacturing.worthco.com/services/metal-stamping

Place your order and you should have your hands on a mold in 5 weeks or less. If not quick enough then buy elsewhere. I don't see much difference in the mold makers so just order what I like the looks of. Time... not an issue as always have been given a time frame on molds I have bought. If it doesn't show I contact the credit card company and all good.

One additional thing that will make a difference is add worm oil to the bag. While I hate the stuff it keeps plastics from sticking to the bag. With no sticking the bait will want to return to it initial shape and usually settle in the base of the bag when stored.

I am one of those that are using decade old molds. Second the PoP for practice. I do think Durham's Rock puddy gives a better mold however but cost jumps a little. To be honest one can create a PoP or Durham's mold that will give a bait with equivalent and in some cases better finish than some store bought plastics (sad statement). If you thin your epoxy to water consistency it will soak in and increase the strength of the injection site.

While there was more information shared back then to be fair a considerable more occurred off the forum and never made its way onto TU. There was a dozen or so that participated in the yahoo chat (with about half an every nigh event) event and then at one point the private forum via member invite.

People have different goals with bait making and different interests. Custom becomes a very broad definition depending on the individual's definition. Some build from the ground up. Others only paint blanks, some only repaint high end lures, etc... In regards to guys building baits from start to finish yes still around. In regards to the forum and what you see several variables are in play. With social media and the ease one can produce their own content for many makes little sense to participate on a site like TU. Why not potentially profit off your work. Frequently individuals making things are creative people over all. So recording videos and making their own content just more appealing compared to a "static" forum. I frequent a few woodworking sites and amazing the numbers of individuals that were newbies asking questions one year and three years later they have you tube channels making appearances at shows, getting shops set up with product, etc... Also very easy to be right that way as you control the content. Compared to 15 years ago their is a lot of information on various sites, you tube channels, etc.. that one can easily go to and not really have to actively participate to get the information. Early on this was not the case, couldn't search the internet about making a specific style of crank, let alone what are desirable aspects of a bait. One learned as they went through communication with others as only way to get the information was bouncing ideas off each other as no "encyclopedia" of bait making was really available. Forums wax and wane in participation and overall feel. At times they will be very inviting and draw people in other times they seam dated and not welcoming. Today most of the forums I frequent are chopped full of pictures and videos in the threads and there is a lot more activity on them. Also more competition out there and sites function for different reasons. People have all sort of time, lets not kid ourselves, you just have to have a platform that captures and keeps their attention. With smart phones, tablets, etc.. people now a days follow sites continuously. I still make baits from the ground up. Don't talk with fellow lure makers as much as I did early on and much more inclined to buy baits from guys that have "made it" and check out their product. Most baits aren't that expensive in the grand scheme of things so have no issue picking up a half dozen to fish or take out to the shop to take apart and see what processes they use.

I have worn a respirator with an organic/acid cartridge. Box fan and pour in front of a window works just fine.

Ok looked didn't have any extra pork frogs. I imagine they got chucked in a clean up. Only have a few in my tackle bag in the boat. I do have a few molds made however. Easy enough to do with plaster of paris or durham's rock puddy and seal with thinned devcon. I made the masters from clay and made a cookie cutter from aluminum flashing to get consistent masters to mold. Multiple molds will be ideal. Something like 4 molds with 5 cavities would knock out some rather quickly. Just of plastic, colorant, salt, microwave and a pyrex cup and good to go. Always can get harder, softner, etc.. as you go if need something more.