Vodkaman

Bountiful, good thread. JSC, I know it is like asking how long is a piece of string, but could you give an idea of how much business we could reasonably expect from a rep.

Your units were confusing. I assume by 'mil' you are talking about thousandths of an inch. I have not found Lexan as yet and am using some clear plastic sheet, 2mm (1/8") thick. Lexan is a superior material, but I am not selling lures, or fishing rocky waters, nor sub-zero temperatures, so it will do for now. My thoughts are that the lip material should be as thin as possible to get the job done. The lips job is to A) deflect the water to the sides and generate the vortices that give the action. Try not to spoil the aesthetics of the finished product. While regular swimming, the lip must be stiff enough not to bend or distort. The lip must also be strong enough to take a reasonable pounding from submerged rocks. Whether you should have to design the lip to withstand abuse from an idiot, casting onto rocks all day is probably debatable. As Bob stated, 1/16" is a practical thickness to work with. If you want to use thinner, you need to give it a violent work out to make sure it takes the abuse before selling any lures. If you compare a thin lip with a thick lip on the same lure body (not at the same time), there will be a difference. Not because of the thickness, but because of the change in weight distribution, average density, centre of gravity, etc. If you are looking for the widest wiggle you can possibly generate, a thin lip would be an advantage, as the inertia of the lips mass is reduced. Nothing more than just a few of my thoughts on the subject.

Welcome to TU and good luck with the foiling.

http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/member-submitted-tutorials/12431-photo-finishing-foil-faux-finishes.html This is a tutorial on the subject. Found by pressing the 'how to' button at the top, then select member submitted tutorials, top of the second page. Enjoy

I think you will hook a few fishermen along the way. The good thing is there's no bag limit, the bad thing is you can kiss your life goodbye if you try to catch too many.

It's times like that you wish you had a cat.

I do understand your point of view, that if the body is poured in a mold, it is no longer hand made. I changed my mind on that opinion when I tried pouring myself. Pouring requires knowledge and skill, both require a LOT of practice to get it right, just like any other aspect of lure making. In addition, YOU carved the master and YOU cast the mold. Sounds pretty well hand made to me.

I live in an apartment complex and don't get home until after 7pm. A noisy compressor is not an option. I bought a noiseless compressor from a craft shop. It was rediculously expensive, but that is mainly down to my location and craft shops double the price anyway. The sound was about the same as a fish tank aerator pump. The reservoir tank is vary small and pressure drop problems may be present. But, I have no experience of normal compressors as I am just learning to brush. I am away from home at the moment and I cannot recall the manufacturer. It is another option to consider.

Welcome JROCK. I think you have made the right decision, feed the habit with some proven molds and get some positive results. But eventually, you need to come back and find out what went wrong with the PoP molds.

Diemay. That glue technique, sucking to draw it into the hole, is a great idea. Reads like a well thought out technique. You could add a bunch of photo's to make it easier to explain.

Good job Terry.

Can the mold be fluxed to promote flow or would that be a splash danger. I love this type of thread, this is where you learn.

No, that's my job. It seems strange that the bug eye formed but the slight recess for the eye lip did not. I thought it would be the other way around. It could be air, but that should not be considered until all the above has been tried, as the solution is always invasive.

You know you've gone too far when you find a message on the kitchen table, "Your dinner's in the dog".

The ally foil is important to prevent hot spots. Keep the bulb away from the sides. Extra foil around the bulb position. I've lined a few boxes in this style, wall paper paste works well.

A major part of your problem is that you are working with wood and carving takes time. If you went over to foam, with say five molds, you could easily make 50 bodies a day and still have time to perform other construction steps inbetween pours. I think it would be possible to finish 20 - 30 per day. But there is something reverent about a hand carved lure. The time and effort put into it kind'a give it a special glow. The problem is that it could get boring making those kind of numbers and that 'trapped in a job' feeling could return. If the lure truly starts to take off, then you will consider a high volume solution and subcontract the manufacture to a company that can handle the mass production. The problem is then getting the plastic lure to match what you had with the carved lure. I am just starting to understand this problem after taking a hookless, paintless prototype to final finish. It's action was totally destroyed. But understanding the problem is the key to finding the solution.

Very impressive, love the woodwork.

He was using a deep diving wallet.

Yes, it is not just the speed, but also the distance of the lure from the rotation axis. I was trying hard not to go there, but it is important. The danger is that if you spin the wheel too fast, the epoxy will flow outwards due to centrifugal forces. This is the critical speed that needs to be addressed. The slowest speed that works is determined by how often you want the lure turned over. I have read in these pages that some turn the lure over every five minutes. This would be the equivalent of 1 rev every 10 minutes. To establish the high end speed, lengths of cotton could be hung at the lure position. Spin the wheel until the cotton starts to be thrown outwards, indicating centrifugal forces. Knock the speed back a few notches and you have the max speed. But why mess about, just rig it up quick and spin one or two and closely examine the result. My point is that the range of revolution speeds for a successful wheel is a lot wider than we think.

60rpm, even as much as 120rpm is OK as long as the lure lies on the axis of rotation, in other words, you can only turn one at a time. If you applied these speeds to a wheel, you will epoxy the ceiling. Over many posts we have established that the slightly higher speeds still work, so what IS the slowest speed? I hope you build it and report back.

They're all great, but the swim bait looks amazing AND the paint job. It was particularly interesting to read that it swims well with that kind of tail. Previous reading would have suggested that the tail would kill the action. Your swim bait has changed my design ideas, I like the tail.

It is OK for lips, hangers and body halves etc. As a top coat, it will yellow and would still require 24hrs to harden properly. For one off turning, I use my regular drill. I can set it to run at between 60 and 100 turns per minute. It sounds too fast, but it does work. It might not do the drill much good, it gets quite hot, so I don't turn for much more than 30mins, this seems enough to prevent sagging.

Careful there, I was not going to bring the sheep into the conversation. Tooo many sheep jokes.

I am 100% behind you on this project and offer to help in any way I can. Good project. You should document the whole process with pictures. Many would be interested in viewing.

Have a good trip Pete. That picture looks straight out of a 60's hippy commune.