Vodkaman

As long as the pattern is not die locked and it is sealed to prevent the resin soaking in, it should be OK. I would apply a light smear of petrolium gelly, just to be safe.

If the edge of the lip is sharp, this could also grab you an extra half a foot. This would also give extra action to the lure. It's that vortex thing again.

I took plenty of pictures!

Dmay4. I doubt that you will find an answer to your question here, other than the answer that you have already received. This site is all about building your own. You should have a go yourself, it is not dificult, nor expensive to get to the point at which you would have bought. The self satisfaction of catching a fish on your own creation will more than pay for the time that you spent. All the help and how-to information is here on this site. If you cannot find what you are looking for with the search engine, just ask and the responces will flow. Good luck and get stuck in.

I have not tried either. But what I have done is a latex splash of my thumb and cast it in resin (for a keyring). The resin thumb picked up every single mark, including the finger print. So my guess is that it would work well. There is a significant shrinkage problem, but this can be eliminated by having the master at the bottom of the pour, the resin will shrink down from the top. Confused? Husky covered the mould thing very well. After pouring, the resin is a bit tacky, it is best to let it cure for a couple of days at least before putting it to work. I would be interested to hear if it can be used for casting foam instead of RTV. I cannot source RTV in Malaysia and the resin is very cheap.

Longball, yes, last week I caught a Philipino mermaid, about 45Kg. It was tempting to keep her but I did return her to the water as I firmly believe in catch and release. Pikeman, the action starts at about 0.5 m/s, the same speed as for normal action (waggle, wobble) as it is the same forces causing the hunt. Fatfingers, too soon. I want the chance to get some production out there before everyone else.

Here's a video of what I have been up to lately. http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x36/folicallychalled/?action=view&current=80665449.flv Hope the link works, I cannot view it from this computer.

The wire guys use hook guards, there is no reason why such technology could not be employed on a crank. I can only remember seeing one 'hard bait' with such a device.

Sorry! 1mm towards the body.

Take a deep diving lip angle of 10 deg, a tow line angle of 35 deg, increase the diameter of the eye from 3mm to 5mm. This moves the attachment point exactly 1mm towards the front of the lip. This is enough to throw the lure into death roll territory.

Has anyone used fibreglass resin for making moulds? Does it work?

Paint is scarey stuff!!!!

I am going to make a crank using the middle finger of my right hand. I have already done the latex splash. Should any big manufacturer wish to copy my bait, I can show them the master!

Once you have uploaded, you display one photograph, right click on it, copy and paste onto TU. Works for me anyway. If you want to go the URL route, right click in the address field at the top, copy and paste into your article. The pasted text may appear to vanish, do not worry, it is still there. Good luck.

For the ultimate smell, ask Swede to send you a tin of Surströmming. This Swedish delicasy is rotting herring in a can, to be eaten raw with crispbread and boiled potatoes. I had some Xmas just gone, this means that I now qualify for Swedish citizenship. It did wonders for my crappies!

Technically, it is a wire bait. But I have no objections, I read em all anyway.

Willie. I much prefer your new avatar. Could you post a pic of the lure, I'm sure many members would be interested.

Mr MC. Thanks for getting back in touch with me. First of all, I am not looking for a free ride, I am prepared to pay for your service. What I had in mind was e-mailing a DXF file from my CAD system, which will represent my 3D model. This file would be used by your processor and the tool path would be created. This method would involve minimum work on your side and provide me with the mould that I had in mind. I am assuming that you are using a CNC machine. If it is a manually operated machine then all is lost. Give me your thoughts. I can receive PM's but cannot send, best PM me your email for direct contact.

I started six months ago for exactly the same reasons that you have stated. This is a fascinating subject and there is enough to keep you busy for the winter. I was working in Sweden, lodging in a very small lodgings. I started off with spoons, but quickly realized that noise was going to be a problem. With just a small kitchen table to work on, I settled on basla wood lipped baits. Balsa is very easy to work and does not need great carpentry skills to get a result. As far as painting, I have not got that far yet, but many here use aerosol paints, or just get some decent brushes and acrylic paints from an art shop. The tools are as basic as it gets, but I would recommend a mini drill and a bunch of assorted bits, most use Dremel, good quality kit. I use a battery powered Dremel, this allows me to make modifications at the waters edge. This hobby is largely about ‘suck it and see’ trial and error. But search on the various aspects of the lure and you will find a wealth of information. If you cannot find the information or require further clarification, you have an army of helpers at your disposal. Good luck and post your results.

I assume DXF files ase OK. Do you want models of the mould with cavity, location spigots and sprue etc or just the model of the lure, or both. I can put together a model in the next week or two for testing.

I must have read a hundred posts on rotisserie motors by you guys and I just cannot understand why they are failing. Motors that size, geared down to 4 - 6 rpm should be capable of driving half a dozen wheels. Is the problem the balance, like Dean said? But a well balanced wheel, even fully loaded with a dozen of fatfingers lures should only require ounces to turn it. My guess is that the motors are burning out on start up, the initial load to start the wheel turning is killing the motors. They are designed for turning small chunks of meat located on the axis of rotation. You are rotating smaller weights but mounting them 12 inches off centre. It's a force times distance thing. The solution would be to either drive the rim with a friction wheel, which would mean finding a different geared motor, or assist the motor on power up by hand turning the wheel for a second.

JR, did you find any problem with the epoxy travelling along the string, a bit like capillary action. I found that it soaked along the thread a couple of millimeters. Not a big deal, I just needed to compensate the application. I made some five segment baits hinged with a nylon thread. I cut a knotch in the top and bottom of each segment and epoxied the thread in the knotch. I held the thread in place by superglue prior to epoxy. Although successful, I decided that it was too time consuming and fiddly and moved on to one piece lures.

Above is a link to another video clip sent to me by Clemmy (thank's Clemmy). It is another visual explanation of vortex shedding. I have posted it because it demonstrates that the effect is present without swirls of vortices being present. Pikemans point about, the lure still turns, even when it starts in line (zero angle). In this instance only vortex shedding could start the side movement. As many members have stated the importance of the rear portion of the ballast, I must conclude that the walk the dog action must be the result of a combination of effects as both the vortex theory and the momentum theory are working in the same direction. Reading back to the numbered points made by Riverman (page 2), points 2, 4 & 5 all basically refer to the same feature, there must be significant width at the front. This is required to forcefully part the water and initiate the vortex shedding. Point 1 increases the momentum for the walk the dog and point 6 would resist movement like trying to push a flat plate through the water. These two points would appear to contradict each other, but the rear mass creates momentum, once created, it takes force to stop it. A bit like pushing a truck, once it is moving it only takes a fraction of the energy to keep it moving. A fat rear end would provide that resistive force and dampen the action. I have always found that a fat rear end dampens my action! Point 3 is interesting. Vortices have a minimum speed of about 0.5 meters per second. Any slower than this and laminar flow occurs and the lure travels in a straight line. A longer lure would be heavier than a shorter lure, thus it has more forward momentum and would thus glide further.

Clamboni. The momentum idea is entirely reasonable. It would tie in with the tail weight, adding momentum to carry it past neutral and zag the other way. I still have not had a chance to view the posted video's, I am presuming the motion under constant retrieval is a slow 'S' action.

The blade works exactly the same as a crank bait lip. I experimented with the floating lip idea, thinking that I was onto something totally original. It is very dificult to come up with original ideas, but not impossible. Back to the drawing board!