Vodkaman

With difficulty. Mine has adjustable blocks each side of the blade, above and below. These prevent the blade from deflecting or wandering. They should be adjusted very close, but not touching. There are also thrust bearings above and below that require adjustment in a similar way. With the side open, the tension is judged by plucking the band and tightening until a definite musical tone can be heard. Side still open, then you spin the wheel by hand and check that the blade sits in the centre of the wheels. If it gets close to the edge, there is another adjustment for this. Read your manual for all these adjustments. Your bandsaw may have variations on mine. Look after your eyes, ears and fingers with appropriate precautions, again, read the manual for suggestions. Dave

Ironic, I pretty much typed the same reply about 4 hours ago and then deleted it. I realised that it would not work, because you would be introducing up/down play in the hinge. I agree, the concealment hides all the sins, but it would be nice to get the slot clean. Try a dremel router bit, but still hard to control, better than a drill bit though. Dave

Have to admit, I felt good about that one, lol. Introduction to color mixing This link is an excellent read, worth the time. Dave

I could not get the link to the vid, to work directly, but it worked by pasting OK. Here it is anyway. YouTube - 4swimbait's Channel Dave

You are correct, we need more tutorials from start to finish, for different types of lure. As it happens, just an hour ago, a swimbait construction tutorial was added, exactly what you are talking about. I remember LaPala did a tutorial for seluang, but we need more. Dave

Great tutorial, very comprehensive. This is what we need more of, start-to-finish lures of different types. Especially for those new to lure building. Dave

Congrats on your success. Sorry I kept you on the other mold, nearly drove you away from PoP and cost TU a future molding expert. Like I told you before, experience is everything in this game. Dave

Jim. This link Lure Fishing UK references a number of resources on the front page, including Lurebuilding 101, quite a good resource to get you started, but lacks a lot of detail. To be honest, TU can provide all the help you need. I suggest that you have a read of the various resources, get a feel for what you need to do, then come back, try a few searches and ask a few questions. The TU members will have you producing fish magnets in no time at all. Dave

Never tried it, but I think the traders post is free. Just try it and see. Dave

You need to do a few quick test pieces. One with the kilts, another the old way, both using the syringes. If this does not reveal the problem, it could be some lube thing that the syringes have installed as a standard. Could be silicone to reduce friction. How do the syringes feel to the touch, inside? Try cleaning the syringes thoroughly in a solvent. Take care if they are plastic. My money is on the syringes being the problem. Dave

Undecimalis, congratulations. Great result. Dave

Has the glitter turned green or just appears green in the light. Cut one open and scrape the plastic off a piece of glitter. There is an explanation: Red and green light make yellow. Yellow and blue light make green. Dave

If you just started having the problem, then it must be something that you changed in your routine, a method or a product. Have a think. Dave

Even drilling and tapping a block of brass, is not beyond most TUists. Dave

Thanks Sagacious for your contribution. It is very easy to become an alarmist, as I did, after googling. Dave

I believe Palmetto uses a light vacuum for sealing with prop. When the vacuum is released, the prop liquid gets drawn in. I am hoping that he will jump in here and give more details. Or maybe it should be discussed as a separate thread, being ever so slightly off subject, as we are discussing clears. Dave

Hawnjigs, I was not thrilled by what I read either, regarding zinc. This is why I quickly eliminated it from my list in post No7. I also read that it also negatively affected the water food chain. Their is no doubt that it is far safer than lead, but it is still not the ideal alternative. I guess the search is still on, with tin being so expensive, but it is my choice so far. Tapout, no one is going to hound you for using zinc, just take precautions yourself when handling it. Be aware of the symptoms, vomitting, stomach problems, metallic taste in your mouth. Dave

12 hours only represents roughly about 10% dry, so the plaster is still very soft. A mold of that size would take at least a week to fully dry at room temperature, maybe longer. You have not wasted any time, consider this all learning and experience. Dave

I think we may be chasing a lost cause here. Unless the mold can be pulled off straight, without catching the bait, the plaster will always chip. Your master is still slightly die locked. It could also be that you are not letting the plaster harden enough. There was a discussion a long time ago, about how soon you should remove your masters (sorry, I could not find the link). From what I remember, the experienced PoPpers, let the plaster dry before removing, anyone have comments on this?. Maybe it is time to cut your losses and take Nova's advice and make new masters, only do not bake, use while still soft. This way, the masters can be removed without hurting the delicate PoP mold. This time, learn from your experience of the plaster wrapping around the master and shape the master accordingly. You can still apply a fillet of wax as extra insurance. A basic rule of molding is hard casting (the master in this case) / soft mold, soft master / hard mold (PoP). Basically you have broken this rule and ended up with a die locked condition. Dave

Being an engineer who uses CAD for a living, I really REALLY wanted one. But managed to talk myself out of the idea. My arguement being that, unless I need hundreds of masters making, the thing would never be justified. A plain crank body master takes me say 30 minutes to make. The compucarve is not going to be any quicker, but it will be absolutely symmetrical. But we can hand carve by eye, accurate enough for it to swim straight. The only way to justify the cost of this splendid machine, is if you had other jobs for it to work on, like a chippy who needs to carve fancy panelling and signs etc. Or if your wife has a rich Daddy. I will just continue my search. Dave

Man that is a looong bait, nicely carved. My thoughts are that the tail is going to totally kill the action (like Bob already said), because of its resistance. Try moving a dinner plate through water, flat on, it takes a lot of force. This force will cancel out the forces generated at the lip. But even without the tail, you will need a BIG lip to move that body from side to side. But, until you try it, we'll never know for sure. I really hope it works for you, but if it fails, you could cut it in half and make a two piece jointed bait. Go ahead and try it without ballast, but I think it will require some. If you do add ballast, it will need to be concentrated around the CoG or maybe a tad forward, say around thr 9" in the photo, would be a reasonable starting point. But be prepared to experiment with this. If you spread the weight out, you are adding inertia, which will also kill the action. The belly is very flat, this does not give much room for ballast, so the ballast will have to be fitted as low as possible. Maybe horizontal strips, inset. This relatively high ballast is likely to be the cause of excessive roll. Another option, is to loose the lip and make a jerk bait or glider. This will require a different ballast distribution, but I know very little about this option. You could probably keep the tail with this option too. Reading what I have put down, it comes across as negative. This is not my intention, I just like to anticipate problems. I do this with all my projects. If I thought your project was a non-starter, I would not have taken the time to post. I hope you post your progress. Dave

LMAO, the Firechief being warned by his missus, not to burn things. Dave

Firechief, sorry about that. Now you need to compile a list of materials that do and don't work. Try the plastic milk carton material, ref a recent thread on molding a template. I can visualise your house in a weeks time, PERFORATED! Dave

I found this article on the web. Making Stencils Tutorial It stated that it was particularly good for mylar, but the acetate forms ridges as it melts. Mylar should be a good stensil material though. Dave

I read through the patent (thanks LP). A lot of attention was paid to the deflector. This appears to work like a ventury, but I was not really convinced. If the innitial trials do not achieve what you are looking for, you could try something similar, with a lump of 5 min epoxy or similar. New ideas! there's tons of them, not so easy to come up with though. Believe it or not, it takes practise. You thought this one up yourself, so you have the right kind of mind and attitude. Just keep searching your mind. Dave