Vodkaman

What material did you use. Sounds like you need to lighten up DAve

Diemai - awesome video, one that everyone, new or old, would benefit from watching. Personally, I was hanging on every word and soaking up all that hard earned information that you were so generously sharing. Very nice to meet you face to face too Dave

Pity you did not show the whole length of the lip. To me, it looks like the tow eye is too far back. My guess is that the lure is swimming extreme nose down. If this is the case, gradually trim the lip back from the tip (shorten), until it swims hou you want. Don't remove too much at a time, no more than a millimeter or 1/16" at a time. You will be surprised at how little a change will make the action completely different. Dave

Just about anything you usually use to fill holes would work. I generally use bondo filler. I mix up a small amount with a drop of the resin hardener. I can be sanding down in half an hour. Dave

I would have thought the tail (fourth section) would have improved the action. Check the hinges, make sure that they are totally free moving. I know from personal, that the slightest burr will kill the action. I have a different opinion to everyone else on ballasting, in that I put weight in every section. I position the weight so that every section swims horizontal, including the tail section. My argument is that if a section is lighter or heavier, it will try to float or sink and this will load up the hinge. The members here make very fine swimbaits, so I would go along with them as my method is rather tedious. Dave

My first thoughts are the front section is too short. Try a 3:2:2 ratio of section lengths. The eye position is good on the second image. High up as in the first image will get in the way. Try a flat on the top surface of the first section. This will increase the power of the vortices that drive the action. The rear hook on the first image is going to dampen the action of the tail section, but not much you can do about that without introducing hook tangle. You should skip the three section and go for a four section: Nose tow eye, section length ratio 2:1:1:1, flat on top of first section, hooks in 1 and 3. This should give you a much more pleasing swimming action. Dave

We need to see some pics and information about the ballasting. photos - top view, side view and front (nose on) view. Post them in this thread, NOT the gallery. How long is the bait, how long is each section, how much and where is the ballast. This should get things rolling. Dave

The 'holds the heat' comment in post No7 was a bit strange, because aluminium is actually the best conductor of heat. But, you want a good conductor to get the heat from the source element to the plastic. A good stirring system is essential to get the heat away from the aluminium and mixed into the plastic. A square pot would burn the plastic in the corners, with no stirring action to move the hot plastic away from the walls. Dave

Yes, the audio didn't work, but did not detract, the images spoke very clearly - good job. The wide angle lens on the camera made for very interesting views. Dave

Very sad news. I discussed lures with Bojon many times. A most generous lure designer, always willing to help. He will be missed. Condolences to his family and friends. Dave

This patent should never have been allowed. It does no more or less than describe a standard popper. Dave

I do bug photography and only ever use the pop-up flash, works fine for me. If you find the flash is too strong, you can always tape some tissue over the flash, but I don't find it necessary. If color corrections are necessary, I use Photoshop. You should be able to download an older version free (Phososhop version 7). I managed to download CS6 for free. The main thing you are trying to achieve, is the removal of a hard shadow behind the lure. The further away from the backdrop, the less shadow you get. A light box with twin lighting would be a good solution if you plan on doing a lot of this kind of photography. Dave

I have one of these pos pressure masks, they are great. Full face, so I can wear glasses underneath. Dave

How you guys can build without a test tank is beyond me Dave

That's the way I do mine too. The drill angle can be fine tuned by sanding the bottom of the casting. Dave

I haven't done more than a couple of prototypes for plastics. I used a mixture of several types of materials; a bit of wood carving, piece of Lexan sheet, a few pieces of bamboo sate sticks, you get the general idea. The problem I found with making rigid masters, is the legs tend to snap off. I solved this my making the legs or appendages separate and soft gluing them to the body. This way, if the legs came off, I could simply glue them back. I used UHU glue for this job. Dave

The lead ballast will take care of the attitude. It is possible to fix the lead in the mold before pouring, but I have never tried. I have always drilled holes for the lead. Dave

I getcha. Perhaps mix some resin filler, just purely to thicken up the mix. The resin filler is normal weight, so should still give you your design requirements and stop the leak. DAve

Oh good job Mark! Maybe time to have a look again. From what I understand, the unit will take out nearly all the fine stuff too. Your system is already built, so it would just be a replacement lid. Just something to think about. I realize that you are already set-up with filters. Dave

You do not have to expel dust onto your neighbors garden, nor do you have to use filters. Here is a link to a dust separator, home built, and here is a link to a forum that answers all the questions and even posts improvements. I never got around to building one, but Pete (Hazmail) put me onto this design a couple of years ago. Dave

Pure resin is too heavy as a lure material anyway, with a specific gravity (SG) of 1.2. Water has an SG of 1.0 so resin is heavier than water and will sink fast. When I used resin, I added as much micro balloons as I could, using a cake icing hypo to inject the thick mix. This should solve your leakage problem. Dave

Good job posting the result - we all learned something Dave

When I made a mold for crank ballast weights, I used a 50/50 filler and resin combination, using the resin liquid hardener. This thinner mixture allows all the cavities to be filled. It worked well enough for the job I was doing. The mold does soften with the heat, so the mold clamping has to be even. I suggest G-clamp between two wooden plates to spread the load. Allow the mold to cool after 2 or 3 pours. It is best to have a lot of molds for rotation if you plan on pouring hundreds. Keep the first half master (bondo or PoP), this will facilitate making more molds. Dave

I ran out of tiles when doing the bathroom. I couldn't understand it, being the engineer that I am, how could I under estimate by six boxes. Groaning under the weight of tiles, I flipped up the garage door, and there in front of me were six boxes of tiles! Dave

Your system is very good, about as good as it could be. You did not mention heat setting the paint, which would make life easier for you at the painting stage, as well as improving the integrity of the paint. You say that it only happened with this batch and that you did expose this batch to the sun. I think that you have nailed the problem right there. The pressure build-up due to heating will be very high. The fact that the bubbles appeared on the side of the lure, is more evidence to this cause, as the flatter side surface is the weakest part of the lure when exposed to internal pressure. The seal coat of epoxy is very hard and inflexible. I believe the two lures that failed may well have cracked under the pressure. You could test out this theory by doing a 24 hour soak test of one good lure and one failed lure. Weigh both on an accurate gram scale before and after. If the bubbled lure increases in weight more than the 'good' lure, then the seal coat has cracked. Sealing with Etex would help prevent this happening in the future, as it has more flex than other epoxies. The best solution however, is to keep the lures out of the direct sunlight. Dave