cadman

Why don't you buy one at Wal-Mart and measure it????? I too use the same stuff Jig Man uses. You definitely want to use stainless steel wire, and preferably coated like mentioned above.

Now mind you my molds are about 4 years old so they may be a little worn from usage, so some hooks may fit easier in my molds than a brand new mold, but here are my answers 1/8 = 3/0 Mine fits however the hook shank by the eyelet side is very close to the cavity wall. So you may have to bend the hook shank a little in, so you get more clearance for lead to pour in there. 1/4 = 3/0 Yes 3/8 = 4/0 or 5/0 4/0 Yes........5/0 Maybe 1/2 = 4/0 or 5/0 4/0 and 5/0 Yes 3/4 = 5/0 Yes 1 = 5/0 Yes

Hello Marc, Welcome to TU. A lot of great guys here with a lot of knowledge will greet you shortly. I can't comment on jewel cases, however I do know that xylene is not good for the respiratiory system. Also I don't ever recall in my past that lacquer thinner will thin nail polish. I do know that acetone will. Anything that is sprayed on with lacquer thinner or acetone should be vented properly, to keep your lungs safe and also to keep it from combusting inside. Now putting all of that aside, many of the guys here use powder paint. Probably the most durable paint for lead jigs. If you want to clear coat a powder painted jig for extra protection, I would suggest an epoxy based topcoat with no smell. Devcon 2 ton, (D2T) would be my first choice, followed by E-tex, and there are others if you want to check out the hardbait section. That's it in a nutshell, and a lot of info to read here if you're looking for something to do.

Those are beautiful. I still like cork and I've seen some guys make some beautiful designs. I have never had cork handles decomp on me. If you take care of them, clean them and seal them they will last for ever. JMO. I've had cork rod handles that have lasted me over 20 years and the hadles are still good. Now the rod is a different story, as the new rods are much nicer to fish with.

Skimpy, To add to what Jig Man stated you can usually go up one hook size and down one hook size per cavity as a general rule. Also if you are looking for good mold prices, check out zeiner's out of Wichita Kansas. They have always had the best prices on the i-net. Call if you don't see something on their site and speak to Jim Zeiner. If you are going to buy molds, get yourself some mold release, it is worth it's weight in gold. Finally read all the safety tips in the pinned posts in the forum, and if you would like some tutorials on how to powder paint or make a fluid bed. PM me your e-mail and I can ge that out to you...................Good Luck, stay safe and have fun.

Hey guys thanks for all the great ideas. Very much appreciated

Smalljaw, I have used it and yes I really like this color. I was in the process of buying a pound from Pro-tec, but was waiting on if I had other colors to purchase. Anyway, the color isn't really watermelon and black spots for pepper. This is more of a dark metallic glossy green. I personally like this ever since I've seen it over green pumpkin, because it is closer to the dk green /black side. I got about a 1/2 ounce to try out from one of my customers. I can't tell you if it will work in a fluid bed. But if you haven't seen it, I think you will really like it.

I have the 16 oz bottles of E-tex. Is there an easy way to dispense this to pour out equal amounts? I was thinking like another screw on cap, that has a flip up nozzle. Like the small Createx paint bottles. I clear coat jigs, so I'm only squeezing out about a dime size glob of each. The resin and the hardener. Thanks in advance for any help.

I can't give you an answer on the 3D printer, but I have programmed, turrets, lasers and waterjet systems. On the three that I mentioned, everything that I have done revolved around sheet metal, aluminum, stainless and lexan. The cam part of it uses a 2d .DXF file. The laser and the waterjet takes the .DXF file and once you create a path a piercing point and an ending point, they will follow that path and make as many parts as you need. Very simple and very accurate Laser and waterjet programming are the easiest to learn. *****Note: Do not burn Lexan on a laser. Fumes are very toxic.***** On the turret, similar principle except you have to assign different tools to cut the pattern out. Definitely a bigger learning curve, because of tool and die clearances you will need to know for different thicknesses.

That is a good deal if you are inteested in learning something from these guys. Nice to know guys like that. Thanks Bob. However who or what is Hoss?

Finzz, I need to find a job at your place. Yes the 3d printers are awesome and can save a ton of machining time and money. You can rapid-prototype a part, and make changes as often as you need. This will give you a final part before you decide to machine your molds. Then you can physically see a 3d part of what you will actually get. Finally once you see it, you can then do all of your tweeks. Don't quote me on this, but I beileve it uses a plastic similar to delrin??? Anyway I don't have one here, because we only do sheet metal parts. But if you are doing machining proto-types, that is the cats a$$. Let us know how that works out. I am soooo curious and jealous. I also believe that Solidworks worked with one of the first companies to develop the 3d printer. My friend has one at his company, and although I have no need for one for what I do. I would love to have one so I can make crankbaits and all kind of cool stuff. More of a tool for making things. However I believe they start at around 10K, a little too rich for my blood

I can only answer for what I currently use and that is Solidworks. It's about $5000.00 for one seat. Now you also have to remember that this is a solid cad software, where you can design a solid chunk of aluminum, and then eventually take it to a machining center. There are other softwares cad systems that can do that as well, and others that are just 3d wire frame packages. I have in the past used Auto Cad and Cadkey. Auto Cad solids format I believe is now Inventor. Cadkey has also changed to I believe Key Creator. I can't give you prices on those because I don't use them. I believe David Aery and Bob La Londe will chime in as they also use a cad package.

Finnz, After reading David's post, there are soooo many things that I didn't cover, that he did and there is much more that either of us didn't cover, because the scope of how much info needed to create someting from our heads down to an actual finished piece. This shows you the magnitude of how much is involved if you were actually designing and machining your own molds.Like David said, cad software will calculate many things for you providing the info you put in is correct. Without the software, it is very time consuming and tedious. It can be done by hand but you will devote a lot of time to it. The good thing about doing it yourself, is you will learn a lot from trial and error and sometimes this information is invaluable. Trust me I used to draw on a drawing board, and the amount of hours, of drawing and redrawing and changing things was staggering. I do not wish to draw on the board ever again. However doing it that way teaches you a lot of basics and prepares you for the next thing to come around and that was computers. So without dragging this on. Start out small, learn as much as you can, and let us know how it goes down the road. I definitely would like to hear how your whole concept develops from start to finish. If you have questions regarding cad profiles or math questions or machining questions, I'm sure a bunch of the guys here will try to help you with their years of experience.

You can buy it from CSI. They sell it by the sheet cut to your size. I can't tell you what the technicle name is, however I know it is very pourous. It is the same material they use for airstines in aquariums.

Finnz, No offense taken. It is hard for me to tell someone how to do something, as I do not know what your capabilites are and how handy you are. Realistically, you can make your mold out of plaster of paris, durham's wood putty, bondo or anything else that will take some heat. The only problem with using these materials, is that they are limited to a certain amount of pours. So let's say you have something you want to copy and you make two 1/2 molds out of plaster of paris. When the mold is all dried, you will be able to use it like an aluminum mold. The only drawback is that you may get 100 pours out of it or maybe 500 before it cracks from the expansion of the heat and contraction of it cooling. So as you can see, aluminum is the way to go, because it will never crack. As far as using wood, pine is the easiest tio carve and work with, but it is soft and will not last as long. For a prototype it might be fine. You can use oak, but you will have to use a dremel to remove the material, as oak is very hard. Also keep in mind that the harder the wood, it may crack easier. I am not a wood expert, so I can not give you sound advice on this subject. However take it slow plan things out and get your idea on paper and go from there......Good Luck.

Finnz, I don't even know where to start here. I don't have any secrets on how to go about doing this. I have been doing this for so long, it's something that I just know. So let's start with the basics. #1 Do you have a good math, geometry, trignometry background? #2 Do you know how to read a micrometer or a Vernier Caliper? #3 If you do then can you take accurate measurements to with-in (.001) #4 Do you have all the equipment to measure all of this and other components? #5 You will need some type of cad system to do this and you must be accurate and proficient at this. If you can answer yes to all of this, then you have a very good starting point. You will now have to find a style of jig you want or design it yourself. You can then use that as your master and scale your other jigs up or down to get the other sizes. Now keep in mind, that you will have to get a volume formula to find out how big you need the jigs to be in regards to weight. I can't calculate that for you, because you will be the one doing the design. I would strongly suggest making a 1st piece prototype out of wood. Carve it out and then pour lead into it and then weigh it. Just rememer that lead is very hot and that you will burn the wood from the heat, however you will get a first piece to look at. Next you will have to measure out where you want the hooks, what size and how to hold them in place. You have to understand that there will be a lot of trial and error on your part until you figure all of this out. Once you get your first prototype complete, now design all of this on a block of aluminum with your cad software and then adjust all the other differeing weights. This is it in a nutshell, but there is so much more that I can not even begin to cover here. Note: I will not be responsible for any and all info posted here. This is only an example of how much info, work that needs to be done. The rest is up to you to find the correct sequences and make it work.

Finnz, In all reality if you have no machining skills to cut your own molds, then you will have to pay someone to do this. As far as designing the mold, I have done that however designing time is expensive. I have written about this in another thread. Machinist about $50/hour. Designer about $40.00 per hour. So you can now see why it is so expensive. Unless you can do this work yourself or part of it, you will have to stick to store bought molds.

You can also try McMaster Carr and Grainger. They carry a lot of thicker stainless steel wire. I am sure you know that when you start getting to thicker wire, it will be near impossible to bend loop wraps for bottom bouncers. Also you will have to mod your mold to accept the thicker wire.

Hey Guys, No problem. Glad to be of help. Probably a nice winter project to keep you busy and frustrated as you try to bend the wire in all of those configurations.

x2. Ever since I found that this works so well, I have never gone back to metal pins again. BTW you can also use another set if you want to use them for pouring your weedless jigs. Much easier to take out. I have been stuck with hook points too many times in the past trying to pry out metal pins. Not no more

Yes I have done this many times. I heat up the blade with a heat gun with the finished side up. I will then dust the entire blade until it is all covered up. Heat until you melt the paint, let cool and then rack and put in toaster oven. This works very well when you only want to do one side. This is a slow process. I'm sure you can spray on the powder as well. Since I don't spray on powder I'll let someone else help you there. If you would like to see some pics, PM me your e-mail address, and I can show you some finished painted blades that I have done.

Yes pure soft lead will do that sometimes along with removing a hot jig too quickly from a hot mold . Let your jig solidify in the mold before you remove it. Also once you paint them they should tighten up.

I posted a separate thread on this.

I decided to post a new tread about how to bend or make this spinnerbait this way guys know that there are plans available. I can tell you I have only made about a 1/2 dozen of these years ago, and then a couple at the beginning of this year. They all worked, however I can't remember if I caught any fish on the (1) that I made for myself, the others were given away. To be honest with you guys, the amount of work it takes to make these is probably not worth it as you can easily make a regular spinnerbait and still catch fish with it. What I am trying to say is if you think this will catch more fish, then don't waste your time. If you want to fiddle around and make something different, than by all means have at it. I used a wood board and nailed nails in the appropriate centers on the drawing to bend the wire around. The wire diameter I used was .035" and nail diameter was .062" +/- to give you the correct radii on the drawing. If you plan on using heavier wire, you will have to adjust for that as your centers will change and your radii will change. Once nails were nailed in, I cut them down so they were sticking up about a 1/4" above the board. The rest is slow and tedious work of wrapping the wire around the inside and outside of the nails to get the desired shape. So below is two drawings to show you how to make them. Sheet 1 is a 1:1 profile of the wire that was formed. Make sure you print it 1:1 so if you use that as a template it will be correct. To check if you printed it 1 :1, I gave you two dimensions, if you take your printed copy and measure your printed copy to the dimensions on my drawing they should match if not enlarge your copy accordingly. If anyone needs an actual cad file or any other help on this, PM me and I will help you out as much as I can. With that I leave you guys to have fun and spend some winter months if you choose to make these. **********Just a note: These drawings are an aid to help you make this wireform. I will not take responsibility for any incorrect information. Please use your best judgement when making these and ask first if you don't understand.********* Garg Wire - Sheet2.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet1.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet2.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet1.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet2.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet1.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet2.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet1.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet2.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet1.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet2.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet1.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet2.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet1.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet2.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet1.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet2.pdf Garg Wire - Sheet1.pdf

Glad to be of help on the hook samples. As far as your other questions. The 91768 hook is thicker than any of the above, also as you mentioned it is an EWG. As far as hook up ratio goes. I have heard both sides. Some guys like them myself included and some guys say they miss too many hooksets. I am a slower methodical jig fisherman. I will let the bass pick up the jig and swim off with it for about 5 to 10 seconds and then set the hook. I also use very thin weedguards, which in my opinion, is thin enough for the bass to compress and enough weedguard material, to keep the weedguard pressed against the inside of the fish's mouth so the hook doesn't shake loose. I think EWG versus round bend is a personal choice and if you can adapt and it works for you so much better. Here are some specs on the 2/0,3/0 and 4/0 #91768 Mustad EWG hook 2/0.........1.850" long from hook eye to hook bend........from the hook shank to the top of the EWG is .944" and a .050 wire diameter. 3/0.........1.932" long from hook eye to hook bend........from the hook shank to the top of the EWG is 1.039" and a .053 wire diameter. 4/0.........2.131" long from hook eye to hook bend........from the hook shank to the top of the EWG is 1.135" and a .057 wire diameter.