rofish

Hazmail, nice to know you have managed to "trick" mylar foil into covering round surfaces. After a failure, I did not try it anymore. I think I am being too lazy. But since it can be done, I think I will try it again. You know how crankbait makers are ...

I had the same problems using foil which is not made out of metal. Once you bend a metal foil, it will stay so. This is very helpful when you cover round surfaces in metal foil. When wrinkles inevitably appear, you can "fold" them down and smooth them, even though they do not have glue on the upper surface of the foil. You simply cannot do this with foil which is not metallic. The Mylar can be used on flat surfaces, because the contact cement will keep it on the surface. I wanted to answer the post written by Hazmail, which was indicated by Vman, but missed the opportunity. I will do it now. Hazmail, I have used both contact glue (I hope we are talking about the same kind of glue here) and spray adhesive (which I finally bought in another country). Both have "tricks" which you need to learn, in order to have the best results. When working with spray adhesive, keep in mind one thing: when you think you have put enough glue on the bait, it is already too much. I also had the problem with glue not "landing" evenly on the surface. When I saw that the first layer of thinned epoxy, as topcoat, was very uneven, I thought I was unable to remove the air bubbles from the epoxy. It was only after a long period of time that I realized the air bubbles were not the culprit (since they did not exist in the topcoat). The culprit in this case was the spray glue. I solved this problem this way: immediately after spraying the lure body or the foil, I wipe the body or the foil with the edge of a little piece of printing paper. This way, the surface of the glue will be even, and very thin. BopP says the same thing referring to contact cement

Quote: "I spend about 12 hours out of every day thinking about fishing related things." I envy you for that, Palmetto. I can spend only about 10 hours a day to this end Speaking about epoxy, I remember having answered a question about Devcon epoxy, on the time when I did not even once used it, based on the repetitive answers about Devcon, from those who have experience with it.

I am not familiar at all with foam, but I guess that if the screws could stay in place for some time, they would be surely safer if you would put them in place using epoxy. You could even put some epoxy between the bill and the body (after sanding a little what can be sanded there). Others may have better ideas.

Mark, tight lines!

Mark, First, I don't know how this (having a sinking bait) may happen to you if you want a floating one. When I choose the right weight for the lure, I make it more floating than I want it to be, because I still have to add some weight to it: foil, glue, epoxy or other clearcoat. I guess you weight your lures in a similar way. But if you have lures that you want some led out of them, then I would use your idea about dowels. After having made a cross hole in the body, with a steel ball in it as rattle, I use dowels which I make myself, I sand them a little bit trapezoidal (?), so the end diameter just fits the hole, then the diameter immediately increases, so that when I push the dowel into the hole, it can go inside only about 2 or 3 millimeters. I use superglue to glue the dowel, then cut off the dowel. I do not know what Zap glue is, so I have nothing to say about it. But I think there might be another way to solve your problem. This is an idea which was posted by someone on TU, and I remember it because it was so funny. The guy said that if he has wrongly calculated the necessary weight for a lure, and it proves to be a sinking one instead of a floating one, as intended, he would just recategorize the lure into a sinking one.

Boskabouter, I forgot to say, but I am no expert in foiling. Still, I have some experience. I think you are right on the spot with your previous post. When glued to the mesh, the adhesion foil has no strength at all. Try the contact cement. You will tell me more about.

You may have answered your question already. The explanation seems simple to me. The self adhesion foil has not enough gluing force. Something similar happened to me, when using adhesive foil for the eyes. Using a clearcoat which I diluted with thinner, the eyes had the tendency to go off the lure, because the thinner was dissolving the glue of the self adhesion foil. Don't use self adhesive foil anymore. Instead, use what you call contact glue (I think). The kind which you have to apply a thin layer on both parts which you have to glue together, wait a few minutes, then press the two parts together. I have recently found a similar glue in a rattle can. I am sure you can find many brands of such glue.

I removed some polycarbonate lips using a cut off wheel and a hack saw. Taking care not to damage the clearcoat. I put the crankbait in a small vise, between 2 pieces of leather.

Spare tire, What happened to you, happened many times to me. I always try the lip before gluing it in. So I can try many of them, to see which one seems to be best for a specific crankbait. The round body has nothing to do with your problem. In fact, theoretically, a round body should have a better action than a flat body, because the lateral resistance of the water (whent it wobbles) is less. Your problem lies with the distance between the tow eye and the lip, and also with the angle of the lip. I do not know what really happens there in terms of hydrodynamic flows or levers, but I know that if 2 conditions met (distance from the tow point to the lip and angle of the lip, but it could also have something to do with the size of the lip), you will have a crankbait that goes straight through the water, without any wobble at all. The crankbait reaches an equilibrium point. In your case you should try one or both of the following: - shorten the distance between the tow point and the lip - bend part of the lip downwards. I should try this first, because the lure has a metal lip.

I preferr to topcoat such lures with 2 thinned epoxy clearcoats instead of one unthinned. This way, you have less possibilities to leave uncovered spots. Also, the thinned epoxy flaws better. Try to go inside the eyes with the small paintbrush which you use to apply the epoxy. Then, before putting the lure on the wheel, clean the eyes with toothpicks or something similar. Before applying the epoxy, you must dry the lure, and it is better to apply the epoxy while the lure is still warm.

Dick, your lures look great. I have not made such a lure yet, but I intend to. Can you tell me how are they weighted? Do they float, or do you like them to be slightly heavier than water? After all, a twister has a better action in the water than at the surface.

Just a couple of tips which you might try and which worked for me. I do use the oven when I want to dry the wooden bodies of the crankbaits more than I can do on a heater, before sealing them. But for any other drying of the crankbaits, I use the heater of one room (it's a central heating system). I leave the lures to dry overnight, or even several days. I dry the wood stripes from which I cut out the lures the same way. Also, if you want to speed up the curing process of the epoxy, you can use the heater which you have in a room (after about 3 - 4 hours from applying epoxy, and provided you have such a heating system in your house, during winter). In summer, I put the lures in the sun for several hours. If you want a bigger temperature for your lures to dry, you can place the lures in the sun on a dark painted piece of metal, or metal sheet. To avoid any oil transfer from my fingers to the lures, I wash my hands with soap before handling lures.

A way to avoid such problems is to install the lip last, after the topcoat is fully cured. With some experience, you can tell how much 5 min. epoxy is needed to glue in the lip, without having too much extra epoxy on the lip. But even the extra epoxy can be removed with care. The real problem which I have is that sometimes removing the unneeded epoxy would move the lip to an unsymetrical position, and you have to move it again to the right position, but then you find that you have too much epoxy on one side, and less than needed on the other.

I think that theoretically it is better to turn your lures horizontally than end to end, because less epoxy could travel over the same area. In the case of end to end turning, all the epoxy tends to migrate towards one end of the lure, while in the sideways movement the epoxy would want to migrate to a line between the 2 ends of the lure. This is theory. But practically I think there could be no big difference, or no difference at all between the 2 systems.

You got the idea of turning lures ... That's the most important thing. The lure seems loose a little bit. If you will put many on the wheel, they might touch each other. I suggest that you replace one of the "s" wires with a spring, or similar. The base plate should be extended or fixed somehow to the table, otherwise accidents might happen.

I test the crankbaits in a pot of water to see how much lead they need. I use treble hooks and split rings for testing, but I just hang the treble hooks and split rings upside down in the wire eyes.

The rule which applies here is the following: if the lure rolls to the right, it either means that the right side of the lip is bigger than the left side, or the two parts are equal but the lip has a slight angle to the right. It also might mean that the lip is glued a little bit to the right (so not in perfect symetry with the body), but I don't think this would be the case.The bigger the lip, the more the lack of symetry of the lip will show up while the lure is in action. I think V-man is perfectly right. If you cannot solve your problem by bending the tow eye to the right, then you will have to shave the lip. Do as he says, cut a little bit all around (trying to perfect the symetry) then try the lure in water, and if not satisfied, shave more, etc. If the lip has an angle to one side, there is not much to be improved as rolling is concerned. My impression ( from the second picture I cannot be sure about) is that the left side of the lip is bigger than the right side, so the lure would have to roll to the left. Perhaps you should check if the lip has an angle to the right side.

http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/11769-wow.html

I think they are beautiful. I very much like the second and the third. What seems curious to me, is that the belly hook is very close to the lip, especially in the case of the third one (sexy shad). I presume you have bought the bodies. Have you tried them yet in the water? I think it is possible that the belly hook could flip over the line. Just a guess. If you say no such accidents could happen, I will try the pattern of the body.

I have a limited experience with epoxy topcoating. Even so, I have learned a few tricks. I try not to put epoxy on the wire eyes, but if it happens, I pass a toothpick through the eye. The diameter of the toothpick happens to be the same as the diameter of the eye, and so it will clean the eye while the epoxy has not started to stiffen. I think it is easier to clean the eyes at this stage, than when the epoxy is already cured. I have topcoated a single crankbait yet, using unthined epoxy, and it came out perfect. But for the other crankbaits I have used thined epoxy, and the surface is rough sometimes. I think it is because I could not get rid of air bubbles, even though I thought that thined epoxy could better solve the air bubbles problem. I started to use a hair dryer immediately after brushing, and also from time to time when the lures rotate, and then I could see much improvement in the smoothness of the topcoat.

philB, Not only the picture looks very good and realistic (not very much your work here), but the way you applied it to the lure seems perfect to me. I can see no wrinkles, and the overall aspect is awsome. I think you are already an expert from whom we could all learn.

Yake Bait, If I can understand you correctly, sometimes you may have problems with the drill bit going off a little bit when it goes through the lead hole. If so, why don't you make the hole for the lead after you drill the head to tail hole? You could make the hole for the lead shorter than needed, then drill the long hole, then continue to drill the lead hole as needed. On the other hand, I do not understand why you need to have a wire going through the lead. If you epoxy the lead in place, it will stay there for eternity.

I just hope that Husky could be proud by the work of one of his pupils:

After a secong thought, I think that my first way of thinking may not be right. Maybe the pressure indicator does not measure the atmospheric pressure (14.696 PSI) but what is above it. So when it indicates zero pressure, it means that it has exactly the pressure of the air outside it. Same thing happens with the pressure of the car tyres. It must be so, otherwire my brains would be unable to understand it