Vodkaman

Alman. On a lure, it is safe to say that everything has an effect, it is just a question of degree. The following is just my take on what is happening and because I am constantly changing my opinion on certain aspects of the lures mechanics, what I have to say cannot be counted on as the absolute truth. The main influence on how deep a lure will fish is mainly down to the position of the eye. As the water acts on the portion of the lure in front of the eye (mostly lip), the lure rotates nose down. As it does this, the body rear of the eye rotates up and into the flow of water. A point is reached when the forces in front and behind the eye are equal. This fixes the angle at which the lure swims. The lure then takes the path of least resistance, this means that, although the line is pulling the lure upwards at say an angle of 10 degrees, the lure could be swimming downwards at an angle of say 15 degrees. As the lip/body ratio increases, the dive angle increases. However, there is a limit. My current thinking is that once the lip swims perpendicular to the tow line and still has not found equilibrium or a balance with the body, then the lure will flip over or roll sideways in a ‘corkscrew’ fashion. This is what I understand to be death roll. The maximum diving capability of the lure is when the eye is positioned to balance with the lip close to perpendicular to the line. The position of the ballast weight relative to the tow line is quite critical also. When the lure is in its dive attitude, the ballast will raise above the tow line. There is a critical point, beyond which the ballast will cause death roll. Also, if the weight is in line with the tow line, the lure will become very reactive and can suffer death roll. In order to achieve the most action, it is necessary to flirt with these instabilities as it is the edge of stability that reveals the most action. This is the advantage that the hand made ‘lure-man’ has the edge over mass production. The hand made lure can be tuned for the best performance right up to the edge, production lures have to be manufactured within a window and this window cannot be allowed to stray too close to the edge. As for the weight of the ballasts effect on depth, I believe it has very little. Yes, tie a horse shoe to a three inch popper and it will scrape the bottom of the Mariana trench, but keeping the ballast to realistic values, the balance between the lip and body is far stronger than the ballast effect. So, most lures, even deep divers, are actually floaters. This allows the fisherman extra ammunition, in that when the lure stops moving forward, it rises. Try this simple experiment. Cast half an ounce of lead weight and reel it in as fast as possible, remembering the resistance feel. Repeat with a small lure of your choice. The resistance is many times greater. Another very important influence on depth is line. If the lure swims downwards at say 30 degrees to the line then the lure would reach a maximum depth during the retrieve when the line points down at 30 degrees to the waters surface. Unfortunately, the line exerts considerable resistance to the water and ‘bows’ in the water. The lure, swimming at 30 degrees to the line therefore reaches horizontal much sooner, never reaching its theoretical depth. The thicker the line the more water resistance, the less depth achieved. The most depth that people are reaching from normal cast and retrieve is 18 to 23 feet. As for the possibility to calculate the lure geometry, I love this question, because it was the first question that I asked. Unfortunately, the lipped lure utilizes vortex geometry for its action (did I hear a groan!), this is a very complex area of engineering involving frightening mathematics. I still believe that a simplified analogous calculation is possible, I searched for it and will again, but no progress so far. I recommend that you read up on ‘vortex shedding’ on the web, this will give you a good understanding of how the lipped lure moves and it is not complicated to understand. It pains me to say that experience cannot be beaten as far as lure design is concerned, but if you can understand the theory of what is happening then the experience learning curve is greatly reduced and can be counted in months rather than years. Best advice is to experiment and keep accurate measurements and records. Do not discard the failures as they are your best opportunity to learn. I suggest that you post the failures and we will all learn a bit more.

I think the vigorous mixing effort has created a cloud of microscopic air bubbles. It may take a few days for them to disperse, but when the plastic is heated for use, the problem should go away. Try heating a cup full to see what happens.

Alman, I cannot find any reference to a 'free sliding chain swivel'. Where did you read it? Can you post a link.

Welcome Manuel. It is good that you are searching and reading. Questions are good too, even if they have been asked before. Sometimes the old questions reveal new answers as the membership changes and grows.

If the patterns where placed in the bottom of the pour, the air would rise, away from the mould face.

NNNOOOOO, don't do it!!!!!

I like the use of the Spenser Wells artery forceps, a marvelous tool with many applications. Unfortunately, my supply has dried up since Mom retired.

I can't wait to see what you came up with. Thank's for the effort.

Thank's for clearing that one up for me.

That sounds like a good idea. If you have access to accurate scales, it could be worth doing a density test to see what it is that you have. http://www.csudh.edu/oliver/chemdata/woods.htm This link is the most comprehensive list of wood densities that I have found yet. Cut off a chunk of a shape that you can measure and work out the volume in centimetre cubes. Wieght the piece in grams. Divide the weight by the volume and compare the answer to the chart. This will give a rough guide, further web searches on the likely candidates should reveal colour and grain. The density value will also give a clue as to how much ballast you will be able to add and how much action you could expect.

What kind of rubber are you talking about? Most rubber discussed here at TU is RTV, room temperature vulcanised rubber. It is my understanding that vulcanised rubber does not melt. I am not an expert and have not used the stuff before, so I will be interested what others have to say on this subject. I did ask the question once before, could RTV be re-used, but I did not get an answer.

Out2, very good advice. When I go to the studio, if I hear machinary, I always wait until the sound stops before entering. If someone disturbs you while working a machine, it can give you quite a jump, due to the intense concentration.

I'm way out of my depth on this thread, but great photo Swede.

The corner radius router bits on a standard size router are quite forgiving and rarely 'snatch'. The big problem is when you use a plain cutter and cut against the grain. You have to be totally aware of what the grain is doing and which direction the cutter is moving. Wear all the safety gear and make sure you are standing upright and square, such that you are totally balanced. When the wood catches the cutter, it can easily over balance you and accidents occur. I hate using routers. Remember, a 1/2 inch dia bit will be travelling at up to 13 metres per second, your finger will be removed in a few thousandths of a second, if your sleave catches the cutter, it will be bast your elbow in less that a tenth of a second. Sorry to harp on about this, but many TU members reading this have never used a router and they should be made aware of what they are dealing with, A MONSTER!

one hundred percent behind you Machinist.

The caution of repainting lures and covering with epoxy has been raised many times. The density of epoxy is slightly greater than water as I remember. A heavy coat of epoxy would affect the lure in two ways. (A) it will alter the buoyancy, its rise rate etc and ( it will re-distribute the weight of the lure over its whole length, affecting the action. The big question is by how much? Benton B states that he has not experienced any problems, also I cannot remember anyone actually stating that a problem occured, certainly after a single coat. So, as long as you do not apply three or four coats of D2T you should not have a problem, if you do, then you should report back and let us all know. If the lure to be repaired was a neutral buoyancy bait then problems would be inevitable. So Palmetto is right in that the lure will be affected and his point of, 'if it is not broken, don't fix it', is a good one.

Ironic Pikeman, that is the way that I do mine!

It makes sense to drill the hole prior to machining as the hole will be used for the rear mounting spike (cant remember what it's called). I'm sure that was your plan anyway. The problem drilling a lengthy hole with a small diameter drill is that the drill bit is flexible. It will tend to follow the path of least resistance and follow the grain. If your stock material is straight grained then the problem will be minimised. The second problem is finding a drill bit long enough. I have seen drill bits braised together, but none were small diameters. I would be inclined to cut the hanger slot with a dremel in two halves and glue them together before machining. But I am not a machinist or lathe operator, I hope that lure constructors with experience will jump in here with some real advice for you. I've only jumped in here because the thread was in danger of slipping way and I thought it was a good question, requiring an answer.

I agree with you, that monster certainly does qualify you as a sucessful lure designer, congratulations. It looks like a combination of hard bait and soft bait, using the soft bait as the active component. I would love to see a close up pic. This thread has taught me that action is paramount, but if the lure is the wrong colour, the fish can get fussy. I too have witnessed this phenomenom, fishing for perch. They are known for preferring red. My tests appeared to confirm this fact. All the trout that I caught were on a silver and black striped lure and the lime green caught nothing. All the lures were the same size and same model. This test was performed over five evenings, last October. I rotated the lures every 20 mins. Hardly conclusive evidence, but a definite trend.

SmokeyJ, it was a great post, it got a good discussion going, pro's, con's etc. That is what this site is about, searching for new ideas, re-evaluating old ideas. Yes, sometimes new users can get stepped on, I know I was. In fact you don't need to be a new user for that to happen. Nothing wrong with a healthy, heated discussion occasionally. There are a lot of good members to pull us back if it gets out of hand. It just appears like new users get it because they often bring something fresh to the table. This is a good thing, bring it on Smokey.

I thought the lures looked interesting, OK for one or two show lures. But producing large numbers could prove to be a problem. I would sooner see them little fishies swimming around and growing into big fishies or at least contributing to another fishies growth. Count Draculure, great reply, so true. There is a ton of stuff out there, waiting to be discovered.

most of the noise nuisance is masonry based, the low frequency travels through the floor and walls. If you mount the compressor on thick rubber mats, or a combination of rubber and foam, a lot of this noise can be eliminated. This will not solve the problem of the noisy compressor completely, but could make the diference and save your marriage.

I read your post and struggled, could not get your link to work. Then I clicked your pic at the bottom. WOW! Fantastic. Excelent solution, many thanks.

Benton B, point taken. I would be inclined to go for the 440 for the same reason, as it allows more flexibility for ballast. The ren shape 5025 with a specific gravity of 0.24 sounds perfect. At the price quoted above, it is a none starter, as even making small bodies, the cost is around one dollar a bait. But the aircraft industry pays top dollar for everything. It pays for strict quality control etc. I am sure the material will be available at a lower quality spec and appropriate price that would suit the lure designers needs.

KcDano is right. I did the same many years ago and came away with about twenty tins, each with a couple of inches of paint.