Vodkaman

Progressive as I suspected Husky. Your figures are correct, 8lb/cuft = Specific gravity of 0.13 which is just a tad heavier than modelling balsa. Foam plus resin, good solution. Saves carving the wood. I've gone back to wood, gave up on the resin. Nice to work with though. I used a cake icing syringe to inject the resin/MB mix, as it was too thick to pour. It was easy to clean, just draw and eject some acetone a few times, wipe over the plunger with tissue and it is ready for next time. Dave

This link explains all you need. http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/site-usage-instruction/13356-adding-photos-your-post.html#post105544 Dave

I could not find blades for my table top band saw, but I found a shop that made them up. I had to buy 30 metres worth. I bought a set of 14 wood cutting blades and 20 metal cutting blades for $135. So I have enough blades to last a life time. On that note, I find that the metal cutting blades better for cutting wood than the wood blades. Better finish and less wander. This probably doesn't help you much, but is an option. Dave

Jeep, I think bondo is basically the same stuff. So you'll still need the mask. Please correct me if I am wrong. Dave

Wood dust can be mixed in with the epoxy, to give a thick paste. I fill a jar with the dust after a session on the belt sander. I haven't used it with epoxy, but use it often with PVA (elmers). As long as the layer is not too thick, it dries rock hard. Dave

Will, yes you got it, not as much lead. 'hard master, soft mold'. If you mold a hard master in a hard mold, you may have trouble retrieving your master, it could get locked in to the mold. An RTV mold is flexible, Allowing the hard master to be retrieved and of course the subsequent hard castings. Dave

SoCalGuy7. The lure certainly has the movement. But what I really liked, was that I didn't have to wait 20 mins to load the vid. Good job. Dave

Husky. A solution indeed. I have experimented with a balsa core, it did work, but labor intensive. What are you working on now. You are one of the most progressive members of TU. Just interested about your current thinking is. Secrecy respected as always. Dave

WillHam, first off, the action will change, sometimes dramatically. Your master of balsa probably has a specific gravity of 0.12 if you bought it from a hobby outlet, or it could be as much as 0.2 for the heavier balsas (water has a specifig gravity of 1.00). The best you are going to achieve with resin is 0.65. This is with feather lite resin, or regular resin with silicon microspheres. This large difference in density changes everything. Basically, you start from scratch, to determine the amount of ballast required and where to install it. Also the weight of the lure is more evenly distributed, whereas the weight in the balsa lure was concentrated around the ballast location, therefore the balsa lure could waggle much easier than the heavier lure, so you should expect to have a less pronounced action. Depressing, I know, I've been there. As for molds, a general rule of thumb is 'hard master, soft mold'. So you really need to be looking at RTV rubber for your mold material (Room Temperature Vulcanization). It is fairly easy to work with, but a little pricey. Do a search and read up on RTV and 2pc molds. Smooth-on sell both RTV and the resins, here is a link. Feather Lite

Lab. Teflon has been mentioned before in the forums, but nothing really ever came to light. Would you consider starting a new thread on the subject, explaining more about your mold system. I assume you are machining from a block of the material. Lots of questions need answering, material sourcing, cost, durability, use for lead etc. Of course, if it is a trade secret thing I will respectfully understand. Almost forgot, thanks for the mold pic, but couldn't see much unfortunately. Dave

Acrylics are the way to go for a first setup, but many lure artists prefer to use solvent based paints such as lacquers. If you spray solvents you need to worry some, until you have an explosion proof fan. Expensive but necessary. There are cheaper ways of achieving an explosion proof system. One way is to belt drive your fan from a separately mounted motor box. Keeping the fumes away from the motor windings is crucial. Dave

Dean, but Taters spa doubles as a lure testing facility. What can yours do, other than strip paint? Dave

I am wondering if it could be some function of the primary colours. Or it could be just coincidence that red + green = yellow, as you cannot get to green by mixing red and yellow. You did not mention the color of the glitter, was it blue by any chance? Dave

FishPA, what I really think you meant to say was 'you got it Hazmail'. It may seem that everything has already been discovered, but it is not so. This is my experience, so please, continue to innovate and dazzle us all. Hazmail, a true innovator. Dave

I would prefer to see a picture of the mold. The baits look good, as far as the small pic will allow us to see. Dave

I am interested also. I cannot really offer anything constructive though. If it is your intention to have a rear mounted hook, then you have to consider 7 strand wire as the harness rather than ss wire. Please post your findings, positive or negative. Dave

Very sorry Riverrat, but what makes me laugh (or wince) is those people who say they would not pay $20 for a bait. I guess there are very few hand mades (other that your own) in your tackle box. But I guess that is OK, after all, this is a tackle MAKING forum and not a sales forum. I suppose I should use one of those smiley thingies, just to demonstrate my emotional state . Dave

Breading you own hackle stock, now that is serious. No point in warning you about the addiction risks of tackle making, you are way too far gone. Welcome to TU. Dave

I brought the subject up and I am glad I did. Lots of usefull information has been forth comming. I am glad it did not become a whinging session for people with negaive opinions. There is always a danger of some competitor reporting you, as has been highlighted on some of the other lure making forums, SAD, but it happens. Also, and I am speculating, that a tax official could take you on as a special project. Probably paranoid, but possible. I, my self am a limited company based in UK. I simply add my lure making functions to my company articles and I am covered, paying UK tax. I need to look into it in more depth, as I get closer to production, but my intent is to keep all the authorities happy. Sorry if this addition to this very informative thread has been a pain, but it is very important. A line has to be drawn between the hobbyist, making a few baits for friends and those selling for business. At times a fine line indeed. My problem is that I am a UK base business, manufacturing in Indonesia and selling in the USA, headache for sure. Not to mention patent issues. I have a lot of BS to sort out before I ever get to market. The message is, if you don't want to be looking over your shoulder, SORT IT OUT. Dave

Spoopa. I can send you a solid model of my lure body to try out the machine, if you would like. If so, talk to your CAD administrator about the export format that you require and let me know. The body is modelled in CATIA V5 R17. See my avatar. Yes, it is true, I am a cyber space android! Dave

The extreme curvature along the back of the lure is acting like the curved surface of an aircraft wing, giving the body lift. This causes the lure to point down and dive. Good solution Pete. I experimented with a body with the curvature on the bottom. The same thing happened in reverse. It just hit the surface and stayed there. Dave

Yes, slow is better. When I experimented, it was with polyester resin. Once that starts to go off, it goes to a firm jelly in a few seconds, so the material clumped, but I was turning by hand. True, the wall thickness will not be even, but it should be symmetrical. However a 2pc casting of each half would allow you to control the material distribution, for positioning ballast and screw eyes. The problem is that no one has tried the rotation method, so no one can really answer your question with any confidence. The speed will be the critical factor. Too fast and the resin gets thrown out to the deepest parts, leaving the sides too thin walled. Too slow and the resin will just clump around. You will need a variable speed setup and do lots of tests, making notes as you go. Dave

Hey Ruben welcome to TU. Great pics, you have some real quality waters around your place. I looked at google earth and noticed that your village is surrounded by a river. Do you fish that too, or just the reservoirs. Hope you find lots of useful information here on TU. Dave

Here is a post in which I proposed the idea. Post No4 http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/soft-plastics/12350-info-ultra-light-plastic-resins.html Like I say in the post, it really needs to be a machine to rotate the mold. I suggested a speed of 60rpm might give a result, however I suspect that this is still too slow, just a gut feeling. Experimentation will have to be done. It is on my list of projects, but a long time off, so much to do!!! I think the idea has merit and I hope you take it on and report back. PM me if you want any assistance. Dave

Well, the weight distribution did not slow the tail down. It swam really well, very stable, even on the fast retrieve. Dave