bojon

I get my aluminum rods at local Hobby Stores that sell radio control airplanes.Hobby Town has the 1/4 inch x 12 inch tube for about a dollar.I think that is high,and like the idea of being able to weld on the handle to a stainless rod.Does the steel gather a thicker layer of plastic than aluminum when dipped for the same amount of time?I have been using aluminum for so long that I think I'm bogged down.I have used steel nails,and bolts in the past,but it has been so long ago that I don't recall the results.I know that a bent piece of clothes hanger makes a dandy small tube,but it is first lubed with Pam to remove it more easily.When I was first getting into tube dipping,twenty plus years ago,I had the neihbor weld up a three prong bent fork like thing for me to dip with.It worked,but I prefered the one at a time dip,because it was easier to keep the plastic stired.I think the stainless steel thing will be checked out by me.Thanks

Welcome to the club!The fun is just starting for you.All of us on this forum have had all kinds of bad experiences,that we overcame,with the help of the members,in this forum.Don't hesitate to ask questions,there is a lot of help here.Looking for better ways to do something is a good way to go,and don't get frustrated,If what you did would have worked,instead of failed,you could be passing on the information to help the rest of us with a better way.The members now know that what you tried didn't work,and that is helpful information.So I for one thank you!

Great work!!!!

Aaron, Try this as a starter,like a proof of principle,take a piece of wire,bend it in a 90 degree bend.Leave a length of the wire,plus,a bit more,for the body of the tube.Diameter of the wire is your choice and should be the diameter of the inside of the tube that you want.This will be the end(rod) that you will be dipping into the heated plastic.The rest of the wire will be your handle,make it at least 6 inches long.Now spray the rod part with Pam,and wipe off the excess.Dip the rod into the plastic,of the color you want for the main body.A couple of quick dips of less than a second each.Hang the rod so it is facing downward till it cools.When the second color is ready you will dip the second color,but,this dip is only barely touching the plastic.Set this aside to cool.When this is cool,turn the plastic on the rod so that the second color is now on the top of the rod.Dip into the final color,again barley touching the heated plastic,set aside to cool as before.When cool remove the tube from the rod.Now you have a three color tube. I have been working on a ebook,but ran into a delay trying to photograph the tube lure under water.About ready to admit failure and omit that part.It has cost me about two weeks. If you send me your email address I will send a couple of copyrighted pictures from the book that should get you going in the right direction.

Yes,every time.It only takes seconds.A Teflon spray may work better,but the spray mist would cause me concern.The Pam,may last you longer than one batch,but I dont know.

I would try this. Make sure your pot is COLD,and clean.Then spray with HIGH TEMP PAM,or regular Pam.Then wipe out the excess,before refilling your pot.I really think this will work.I have had excellent results with the small pans that I use to make my tubes.The pans clean up like a dream with no sticking,no matter what additives or fillers I use.This wold be a cheap safe way to solve your problem.I use the Galic flavor on my tube rods,but the flavor cooks out,but the slick stays on.

Why not take a photo of a bunch of eyes(commercial)or maybe scan them.Punch them out,and super glue them to the lure.The clear overcoat will protect it and make it shine.Just a thought.

Good one tubinator! LoL

I use the same stuff to put under my self healing cutting matt,to prevent the matt from sliding,when cutting the tails of my tubes.I use it a lot to prevent things from marriring or slipping.I even have some under my key board,because my one finger typing is rough on the keyboard.I keep it under my coffee cup as a coaster.I use it to prevent the slippege of my shims that I use for spacers for the wire handles of my dipping rods to maintain a 90 deg hang as the plastic cools.versitle stuff.

I thought about using regular artist oil paints.I belive if you removed most of the plastic film from the tube with rubbing alcohol,it might just do the trick,Using a small brush you cold get some detail,not like the pvc cement,and dye.You would have to do a clear second dip.One of the things I will have to try.Just too busy now.

Problems you encountered are probably,no lubrication,or not enough.Spray the rods with Pam,then dab with a paper towel.Leave enough on the rod and it will come off easily.When you dip into the plastic,don't leave it more than about 1/2 second,repeat 1/2 second if you leave it longer it won't help,remove itfor about two seconds and then redip if you want it thicker and make sure the curve of your rod is covered,and do not shake.leave the excess plastic run down to the nose of the tube and you should have a point of dimminishing plastic,that you trim off. Two color, to four color tubes, are easy.If you want just the nose a different color then do the partial dip in the Pyrex cup.Works best for me. If you can tell me how you got that neat blunt nose on that tube that ,I could duplicate ,please tell me.My buddy would be happy.He said they push more water,and make more noise.I don't know. Send me a privite messege with your email address and I will send a copy righted photo from my book,showing about Fourdifferent muticolored tubes.

Nice Job !!!!!

MAN O MAN! My Lord you could of got it a bunch worse.I tried to imagine you getting cut,and it gave me chills.Get better soon!!!

Printertom,what a fantastic offer.I may take you up on it.I planned on putting the book on paper,if and when,I got revenue from the ebook.I don't know how many copies could be sold,because the market for fisherman making there own tubes,I'm guessing ,is rather small.But so far it looks like at least 50 people are interested in the Ebook.This project went from a photo lesson for free on TU,to a ebook,and now maybe on paper. HOW NICE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN!!!!I have been taking still photos all along,so the transition to paper would be easy. Thanks again Tom.I will keep you posted.

The ebook is coming along just great,I just finshed making a video ,about 15 miutes ago,to show how to make a tail cutter from 28 mm blades.This project is nearing a end.I want it to be the ultimate in Horizontal tube lure making.I have tried to cover all the questions I have been asked over the years in great detail.Remember this is all done by a amature who types with one finger. A kind gentleman has been helping to put it in a proper format.He lives about 2 thousand miles away,so we are at the mercy of the mail system.I have been copyrighting the material as I go along.So the end will be rather quick.I'm checking the spelling,and wording and it is about ready to return to North Carolina,along with a couple more videos. THANKS ,for the nice words about my help,but cash ahead will not work to speed things up. It is always nice to hear when someone makes some tubes under my direction.One gentleman went into it in a big way,for muskie fishing.Go to redoctoberbaits and take a look.Josh is a fine person,and a heck of a muskie fisherman.

Thank you Mr Reeves I will check this out. Are you related to Dave Reeves?That gentleman has helped me a lot over the years.

I have made thousands of tubes,and have instructed many on how to make them,and how to solve thier problems.I have spent countless hours emailing instructions,so I have decided to write a ebook,that covers every aspect of tube dipping,and how I have been doing it for over 20 years.The biggest problem I have with answering the questions is I have trouble understanding the questions,but I never ignore even one Question . The best I can do on the tempature question is to instruct you to take Four onces of well stired,repeat ,well stired #500 plastic,.Pour this into a 2 cup,Pyrex measuring cup,stir with a tounge depresser,or a large craft stick.Leave this stick REPEAT LEAVE THIS STICK in the plastic,then set a micro wave timer to at least 3 minutes.Stir every 15-to 20seconds.The plastic will thicken,almost to a point that the stick almost wants to stand up.Watch very close now,and stir ,and then heat in small periods till the plastic drips from the stick at the viscosity of maple syrup.Make sure the stick has stayed with in the plastic the entire time,REPEAT the entire time.Now using the stick to allow the plastic to flow from the cup spout to a pan,that has bee lubricated lightly with Pam,then wiped down lightly,the plastic will flow down the stick into the pan.Set aside the cup(not on a cool surface),and stir the plastic that is in the pan.the pan is sitting on a hot plate,with a variable thermostat set barely on low,REPEAT barely on low.Stir gentle for about 10 seconds and the bubbles will dissaper,LEAVE the stick in a far corner of the pan inserted into the plastic were it will act as a heat sick.Now take a aluminum rod,which a wire handle has been bent at 90 deg and fastened with JB WELD to one end.This rod will be lubed with Pam and wiped gently with a paper towel.Too much lub,the plastic will sag on the rod too little and it will be hard to remove,giving the tube a wrinkled look.This rod will be dipped horizontaly into the plastic with a quick dip of less,REPEAT less than a second,turned ,so the rod is nose pointing down,NOW if you want a thicker ,tube dip again,thicker yet? Dip again,and set aside to cool for about 10 to 15 minutes.When cool slide off the rod,and you can repeat.Now cut to length,and slit the tails.Go fishing. There is no way,that there is a easier way for home tube making.Want a multiple dip just space 2 or 3 rods apart on a common shaft.You decide.I prefer one at a time.

MY BEST GUESS IS THAT YOU ARE HAVING A LUBRICATION PROBLEM.Sorry about the caps.Try this ,first wipe you rods clean,with a paper towel.Then spray the rods very lightly with a Pam type product,then gently dab them with a clean cloth,or paper towel.Too much lubrication and the tubes will sag,too little the tube will be hard to remove from the rod ,and making it look wrinkled.If you are using remelted plastic,then I recommend buying a gallon of #500 from Lurecraft.Remelts from other manufactures rarely work,on tubes,because of additives or fill.

I could use some info on the Teflon rod that was mentioned.What temp will it tolerate?Sounds like it could be used as a dipping rod for tube lure making.A person would not have to lub the rod,but then maybe the plastic wouldn't stick to the rod long enough to cool in shape.Food for thought!

Sorry, I was thinking along a complete other liie.Thanks for clearing that up. One thing is how would you maintain the plastic tempature?Seems to me that the large out side surface area of aluminum would cool down too fast.

What is a Arizona can?You caught my interest with that one.

Many years ago I had made a three aluminum,rod tool for dipping three tubes at a time using the horizontlal method and 4 onces of plastic.I only made two of these and no more.I could keep up a better pace one tube at a time rather than three.The process of removing the tubes from the rod caused the most delay,and also the rods were difficut to lube properly.Another thing,the sweeping action that I use to stir the plastic each time I dip a rod,was restricted by the width of the rod assembly.The best way to describe what I'm talking about is like a three prong fork with the tines bent down at a 90 degrees,except the tines where 1/4 x 3 inch aluminum rods.Bottom line,it was not worth the effort to make three at a time,but with a wide pan and a one inch depth of heated plastic a person could make it so you could dip six at a time..I guess it is up to what works for you.

Aluminum rod,or tube does it for me.

I would be willing to bet that the plastic,is too soft and the same with salt.You are making a tube that is destined to fail.I never used the weedless heads in my tubes,I usually fish rock rubble,and I do lose a lot of rigs.Cut back on your salt,and start using a harder plastic.And your problems will go away.I use tubes that are loaded with a lot of salt but my jig heads are smooth,with no wire.The salt loaded ones are usually from the end of a batch.VERY,VERY FRAGILE.

I would highly recommend LC #500 for your dipping plastic.Any softer formula will be a lot of trouble,and not worth the effort.If you use a heavy concetration of salt,they will get so soft,that they tear up very easily.I have never had a nose wear through,but they get tore up by fish.A good size Walleye will tear up a heavy salt laden tube in seconds.The heavy salted tubes seem to be more attractive to the fish,but they are very soft even when using the #500.About one tube,one fish.I use a egghead shaped jig head that is inside.I recommend the slightly thicker tails,like BASS N RANDY mentioned,not because of being tougher,but because it seems to glide thru the water better.It is just as easy to make the tails thin,for me,I prefer the thicker.When I say thin I don't mean depth,but wide.DOW has outlawed scents and salt being added to artificel baits so be careful on FLY and LURE only waters.Try a 2 1/2 inch light colored tube in the Arkansas river above Canon.Trout like tubes also.