Vodkaman

Steel pins in an aluminium mold are always going to be a problem, as dissimilar metals will always corrode one of them, depending on its position in the periodical table. Is this a common problem? Are the alternatives, non-metal pins? Aluminium is actually a very corrosive metal (remebering back to metallurgy class), it forms a protective thin layer of oxide (corrosion) which protects it from further attack, exactly the same happens with lead. Lead corrosion happens so fast, you can see it.

With a smaller hole, it is much more difficult to get the resin in. I deposit a few drops with a tooth pick, then work it in to 'wet' the surface inside the hole. Then I place the loop in the hole and feed the resin in drop by drop, until filled. The surface tension of the resin is strong enough so that I can do all the eyelets without spilling. The time available before setting, allows me to do about half a dozen lures, in front of the TV. The larger hole gives a larger contact surface with the body material, less chance of it pulling out. Plus, it is compatible with my resin bodies. I did a 24hr pull test, started 1 hour after pouring (12Kg), with no problems. Even the loops did not distort, though that might be a problem. I don't twist the wires, they go in straight, works fine for me.

That's the problem, they could not train me! Sorry guys. I use 0.032 SS wire, formed in a loop, in a 3mm dia hole, fixed with resin. I looked resin up on the web, it too is not water proof, but apparently, nothing is!

When did YOU get married, last week! I've been wed to two too many!

Plaster picks up more detail than people give it credit for. This is a plaster cast from an alginate mold.

I cast a block of resin, in which I drill a hole and cast the lead in this. I use the same drill bit to cut the hole in the lure. This guarantees a perfect fit every time. Even though this is essentially a one piece mold, with a few light taps, the lead slug is removed easily, as the lead shrinks as it cools.

I may be wrong, but I think the lemon wiped on the glass was to break surface tension. If it is the same as the stuff I remember, it is very lively. A definite skill to pouring it and very embarrassing when you get it wrong. The stuff I was drinking was Erdinger weissbier and there was a dunkel, a dark beer. The weissbier was a cloudy, which was off putting at first, but after half a dozen, it didn't seem to matter. Come to think about it, I cannot remember much about that contract, except what to order at the bar.

Personally, I troll through all the forums, even though my main interest is hard baits. I find that there is a lot of knowledge that is transferable between the different fields of expertise. Just looking at the current active threads: Flexible tails for swim baits, soft plastics could provide the best solution. Anything you want to know about lead pouring for ballast weights or working with wire for hook hangers, wire baits is the place to look. Information on PoP can pop up anywhere (sorry). So you want to dress your trebles, wire baits or the tying forum will provide the information. Painting and associated equipment, tons of it in the hard baits forum. Some links have not been made yet and I have resisted jumping in, but paddle tails and lipped cranks work exactly the same way. Also, although there is a hybrid section, very little has been explored here. There is so much more to learn by not restricting yourself to one forum. There is so much more to be discovered too. Those of you that think it has all been done before, are sadly mistaken. This site is not just about looking after the new members, giving them a leg up by sharing time served experiences. It is also about the little things, tricks, techniques. These can come from anywhere. Fresh minds are notoriously good at revealing new ideas. TU is also about innovation. True, lots of innovation happens, but it doesn’t find its way onto the pages every time. We all have plans for the future. I too have stuff that has not been revealed. Nothing wrong with that. But there is enough to make it worth while even for the lure vets to stick around. The poll and associated discussions has been enlightening and has probably given Jerry lots to think about. Regardless of which route Jerry decides to take, I firmly believe TU has a bright future. There is not another forum that comes even close to TU in my opinion. That’s a couple of Ringgits worth from me!

Mine was less than six months old, they won't exchange it, has to be sent off. My first wife has still got the one I bought more than 25 years ago and it still works!

It seemed such a shame to just roll the snake up for the next job, so I went ahead and poured some PoP over it. While juggling with everything, I forgot to grease up the plasticine snake, consequently I couldn't get it out. I had to bake the mold, which absorbed the moisture out of the clay and picked it out with a tooth pick. It took about an hour! Another lesson learned. I use this clay for lots of jobs, like vent channels, locating holes, sprue funnels etc. It works really well with RTV. In hind sight, a meltable clay may NOT be the best solution for a long thin pattern like a snake in PoP. I added 5% Elmers to the PoP. With all the scratching with the tooth pick, I think it made a big difference by giving a hard surface to work with. No damage. I cut the scales with the tool shown. I cut them at varying depths and severity, to see the effect. Some look OK, others, a bit deep or undefined. It was a useful exercise, now residing in the BIN there, done that. Well, it gave you all a laugh, so it was worth it.

Welcome from a fellow Brit.

Sonny. That is the one thing that scares me, the feedback loop is years! I'll get creative with the bodies and lips, but if I am going to sell baits, I will be sticking firmly to the advice given here, by very experienced members, when it comes to glues, sealing and top coats.

I've never made any wire lures, so forgive me for intruding. But those baits with a spinner on one side and the skirted hook on the other, would'nt you have to 'tune' the skirt to get a balance? So in this case, you could not say for sure, as it would depend on the offset distances.

C'mon, I did appologise and give him some links! I'm going to work to sulk now.

Here's some airbrush links to start you off. This list is just a sample of the information available here: http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/12085-quick-painting-question.html http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/10515-airbrush-prices.html http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/8852-airbrush.html http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/8446-air-brush-recommendations.html The secret is to find the key words and then search on them. Multiple word searches will get the list down to something specific. I found the above by searching - iwata paasche compressor. There is another ton of info on compressors, as it comes up quite often. Try - compressor quiet trap regulator - these words in various combinations should get you some useful bed time reading.

Welcome to TU dan. This thread is a good start for tools required: http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/13262-tools-tools-more-tools.html But to start with, apart from simple hand tools, you should invest in a Dremel drill. They are not the cheapest drill on the market, but I hope you learn from my experience, cheap drills are very expensive. You will burn out the first one half way through your second body. You will then step up a few dollars, but within a month you'll be shopping for a Dremel. I bought a cordless, as I wanted to do waters edge adjustments to lips etc. I've had it a year and it is going strong. But just cutting one balsa body is enough to drain the battery. So a regular corded Dremel and a bunch of assorted bits is my advice for your first purchase.

I'd pay a nickel to see a high skirt any day.

The message that I extracted from the replies, is passion for TU. I suspect many of the 'no' votes were out of fear of losing TU altogether, rather than a flat refusal to pay. Those of you on tight budgets, I totally understand your concerns. I was in that position less than two years ago, not for the first time either. Jerry, I feel for you. What a predicament. I guess the poll didn't help much.

As long as the ring gives before the line and leader, you're OK. Surely swivels and other hardware is of a much higher breaking strain. To test, just tackle up and hook your lure (NOT your favourite) to the tree at the bottom of the garden, point your rod at the lure (protect the rod), wrap a couple of loops around a stick (protect the reel), pop on your safety glasses (don't forget the eyes) and walk backwards to see what gives first. You may need to phone a glazier now, as you forgot about the kitchen window behind you. Sorry!

I read somewhere about split rings that spring open at a preset load. This unclips the hook and sets your lure free. Probly expensive though, but not as expensive as the time invested in some of the work I've seen here on TU! Just imagine the frustration of getting the lure retriever snagged!

Good points Bob. Please do not be put off by the apparent complications above. I can't help the way I explain things. At the end of the day, just build something and swim it. If it does not work how you wanted it to, post pictures and give as much information as possible about what you have built, then TU will do its job and help you correct the problem. Despite all the technical knowledge, you really have to build a few, to gain understanding. Then the more technical posts may start to make sense (or not).

Wow, what a great job. You'll probably get away with that setup in the living room!

WyldOne. First off welcome to TU. Next, congratulations on your question, a very good one. However, I feel you may be just as confused after getting all your answers, as it is a subject that many builders have differing opinions. So here I am just going to give you my humble opinions. You first need to understand how the lip (bib) works to give the lure its movement or action. Rather than irritate everyone with technical explanations, here is a link to Wikipedia that explains vortex shedding very clearly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_shedding The link shows vortex shedding behind a cylinder. The same happens behind a flat plate, only more forces are generated. Vortex shedding only happens on two sides of the lip. These are the vertical edges, as vortices are affected by gravity and prefer to turn in the vertical. So the bottom (horizontal) edge of the lip, be it flat, fan shaped, or coffin shaped, has little effect on the action. A round bottomed lip will show slightly more action, purely because the vortex has more edge to work with. As for dive depth, it is accepted that steep angled lips result in a shallow swim and shallow lips are used if you want a deep diver. I personally do not believe that the shape of the lip has that much affect on dive depth, but I am sure lots of members will jump in here with contrary views. Diving is all about the balance between the lip in front of the line tie and the body behind the line tie. Forces on the lip rotate the lure forward or nose down, forces on the body rotate the lure to the rear or nose up. When the lure moves through the water, these two forces reach a balance and this determines at what angle the lure swims. Too much lip and the lure swims too steep, too little and the lure will swim very flat. If the angle is too steep, the lip will be close to vertical. The forces on the lip will be almost horizontal and will not provide any down force. The lure will have a really heavy, thumping action, but may only dive a few feet, indeed if it doesn’t roll over. If the lure angle is too shallow, the lip will be at a shallow angle and the forces will be downwards. But again, even though the lip forces are pointing downwards, the lure will not dive, because at a shallow angle, the lip is not catching much water and therefore the down forces are greatly reduced. So there is an optimum setting, which, it pains me to say, can only be found by trial and error. To get maximum dive depth, you will have to play around with either the eye position and/or the lip length, to find that optimum balance that will give you the dive you are looking for. I reiterate, these are only my views. Search through some of Skeeters early posts, he explains his views on the purpose of the different lip shapes and is a very good read. Here's a couple more useful TU threads on the subject: http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/667-need-know-about-lip-design.html http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/1037-crank-bait-bills.html

I'm interested in this question too. Does the mold have to be aluminum or can other, more user friendly materials be used. I'm experimenting with resin with micro balloons at the moment (I've got 15Kg of the stuff, got to use it somehow). It seems to work OK, but I don't know the effect of large numbers will have. I know there are high temp RTV's around. How good are they? Do they have a reasonable life span? Will they do 200 or 2000 or 20,000 pours.

If I was still married I would remove the motor from one of her recreational toys and use that!