Vodkaman

Are you just talking about one piece molds?

The screw does not cut away material to make its own hole, it merely pushes it to one side. This creates a bursting pressure that could result in the wood splitting, especially on thin sections. http://sawdustmaking.com/Free%20Charts/Pilot%20Hole.pdf There is a ton of information on the WWW. I thought the above link informative, although I thought that the pilot holes seemed a bit tight. It would be interesting to hear what size pilot holes other lure builders use.

Slightly off subject, but I am concerned about the lure trays. Don't skimp on the plaster depth. You need at least one inch thickness of plaster around the cavity. Too thin and the mold will snap too easily. This has happened to me a couple of times. OK, more than a couple of times.

Jamie, you should retrieve the ruined lure and use it for testing. You get the opportunity to experiment with different weight combinations and locations. Valuable information, normally not available, as such lures take so much effort to build, very few would be willing to committ to that amount of work purely for testing.

My sincere appologies Oldschoolbasser, I must have been dozing, or just plain dozey.

Probly some wierd form of Karma kicking in.

Unfortunately, you just missed it. Still, at least you will be the first to book the hotel for next year.

Zbass, absolutely no problem. It took me a while too. At first, I thought,"what use is this function". Now every time I click a page, my eyes automatically scan the PM box! I probably PM more than I post. I seem to be backing them up twice a month sometimes. I have too much pride to believe in zen, but I firmly believe in karma.

Bruce. Excellent post, I totally agree. I can live with all the bad stuff that goes on here, because it only takes one good gesture to cancel out all the bad stuff. Mac10, you are the man, a private thanks to a real gent.

Many thanks for the links SmokeyJ. I have to agree about the action. Something not quite right. But, like they explained, the point was not to closely imitate a fish, rather than instill curiosity. Very nice, it certainly got the fish's attention. Pity the chain idea was patented. But the multi segment idea is still on, using other techniques already discussed here, such as Kevlar etc. When I experimented with this type of bait, I used a nylon thread, it swam very nicely. I’m thinking of making another to video, left the original in the UK unfortunately. As for the hinge shape << etc. I think BobP nailed it, to hide the hinges, except I believe to catch the anglers eye rather than the fish. I’ve looked into linked chain before, to drive a very slow rotating table (1 rev/4 min). But not too sure how strong it would be for this application. http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=11943&doy=7m7#features

DSV. The chain idea sounds very interesting, not read that one before. Could you post a pic showing what you have in mind.

Through wiring a cat! I just new they would serve some purpose.

What I remember is fishing matches along a featureless canal, with a hundred other anglers. All using size 20 spade end hooks or smaller and match stick sized floats. The winning weight, quite often just a few ounces. I think the available hook sizes go as small as 32, just large enough to hide in a bread crumb. At large, professional competitions, it is not unheard of for an angler to hook into a 2lb tench and to snap the line off. Because he could catch more weight in tiddlers in the time it would take to land the heavy, strong fighting tench. My friend, a very keen angler, used a roach pole, with a short length of elastic at the end. You would dismantle the pole to bring the fish in. I myself built a 14.5 ft rod for my fishing. It looked like a walking stick next to his pole. Ah! those were the days.

A very tidy solution. Looks like you have been busy.

A glossary of words/terms, good idea Lincoya. If enough are collected, they could be compiled into an alphabetical list, all in one place. I certainly would have found it very useful at the start and would still find it useful today, especially when I wander into wire baits or plastics forums. Thinking about a lot of the engineering stuff, would it be feasible to link to external sources like Wikipedia, for more in depth explanations, should the inquirer desire? Or would you rather leave those words out of the list. Also, to get the most out of the search engine, it is best to type in multiple words. This way, I can usually get the list down to 3 or 4 threads of good information. This is probably common knowledge, but someone out there may not know.

Allowing the intrusive ads in would be a huge step backwards in my opinion. The subject of new member questions has been flogged to death (a bit like the new member questions), so I'm going to give it another kick. Personally, when I joined, I was overwhelmed by the expertise and knowledge of the members. Recognising how basic my questions were that I wanted to ask, I searched rather than asking. I think in hind sight, I should have asked, as searching for the answers was difficult because I did not know the terminology, or special words to search for. Sometimes the questions are so basic, that we have no choice but to suggest the search button. But rather than a search, we should direct the member to the tutorials section that Bruce has done such a good job with. There they can get a feel for the processes and the terminology. It is largely the new members that bring life to the forum, so we should look after them. Open a new window, do a quick search and paste a few links to get them started. Include the search words that you used. The new member would very quickly get the hang of how it works and come back with meaningful and more challenging questions.

TN, you will definately need the microspheres, because of the density. Read some of Huskies stuff. He used to do a lot of foam, but went over to resin. It pours very well in RTV. I look forward to following your success in these pages.

Hardbaits use it to reduce the density of resin to a useable floatation level, for casting lure bodies. Sometimes called microballoons. Polyester resin has a density of 1.2, alumilite resin, 1.05. Both heavier than water (1.0). It is a very light, fine powder. I was hoping that having some kind of structure inside the resin, might reduce the shrinkage problem. My tests with a lead mold was not as successful as I hoped, as after a hundred pours, the mold surface started to powder a little. This was quite a harsh test and may not be a problem with plastics. But I have to say, my confidence in the idea has been diminished. As I don't do plastics, it is unlikely to be tested properly, so I guess the idea will have to be shelved for now.

Referring to my post No56. The resin I used had micro spheres in it. After 100 or so pours, the spheres start to powder, making the lead slugs more difficult to extract. This was predictable, everything is in hind site. Next I'll try pure resin, see how that does. You could say that I should have done the pours before reporting, but it was current. Still, I felt it right to report back on the disappointment. On to the next experiment!

I really like the patterns. I've got a house full of those, only they are quite difficult to catch. They are called chik-chaks over here, on account of the noise they make. I thought about catching one and letting it swim in some PoP for half an hour, but they keep the skeeters down.

Daymon, Just amazing. Hairs standing on my neck over here. Are you going to give the new owners a set of picks? Not much privacy in that downstairs loo! Thanks for sharing.

The problem will only arise if the protective topcoat is breached and water gets inside AND the lures are not air dried out before storing for the next trip (You'll have to write instructions to insert with the lures that you give away or sell)(do people actually return freebees if they get a problem!). This assumes that you are not using '5min' for a top coat, for which it is not recommended because it yellows with time (UV light problem I think). But the worst thing you could possibly do, in light of this whole discussion, would be to leave your lure sitting in the sun, on a rock, to dry out. That is guaranteed to break the seal and let water in next time you use it. I think someone mentioned this not long ago, so sorry for the dplication, but well worth mentioning.

Zman. Sounds very interesting, I would love to see the pics. Here is a link that will help you, thanks to Supermod, Spike-a-pike. http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/site-usage-instruction/13356-adding-photos-your-post.html#post95402 This should get the pics flowing.

drinking on the rocks can seriously dammage your health!

Has anyone tried molding the resin with micro spheres. I only mention it because I've got 15Kg of the stuff and got to use it somehow. With the spheress, it has a much different texture to it and it might make the difference. It might even solve the shrinkage problem, which is very significant. I haven't tried it, just asking so as not to waste time on something that has already been done. I've posted this idea before, but I did a test with micro spheres mixed in vaseline (petroleum jelly), as a release for RTV. It did improve things, but RTV is not really a big problem anyway, but it could be worth a try with the resin.