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Let me guess - brain surgeon Dave

Welcome to TU. Great vid, solid contribution. This opens up a few ideas for using this hollow dacron. I will have to see if I can find some. Dave

X2 - anything that does that to my eyes and nose, I surely do not want in my lungs. Dave

You made your decision a few posts back and the correct decision too in my opinion. The temptation of the much cheaper and larger compressor did draw your attention towards the end, especially as it was more suited to the job, but common sense has prevailed and you will just have to ignore the rolling of the eyes of all the professional lure builders with their outside shed workshops. The noise from the mini is little more than a 50Hz hum and will not be audible from the next room. If you can afford it, definitely go with the larger tank, it will make a difference. Dave

I think both of you need to go to the hardware store, get them to fire up a compressor and then ask your lady what she thinks. Personally, I wouldn't dream of using a compressor with someone else in the house. What about neighbours; is your house detached or do you share an internal wall. If so, that is another can-o-worms. The only way that this idea might work, is by building a sound proof box. Someone posted a thread on this idea a few months ago. Dave

Excellent feedback. Many would have just kept quiet, so well done. Dave

If you are using it in the house and wifey is in the building then yes, definitely the mini. Much cheaper than divorce solicitors and hospital bills for surgically removing an airbrush. Dave

I have owned the mini compressor from the first link. It had a different brand name but looks identical. I bought it when I was living in an apartment in Malaysia and needed something that was very quiet. The price was about the same as you have quoted. The machine was very quiet and possible to airbrush with it successfully, but the pressure drops off very quickly and so was very limiting. I had to adapt all the time to what the pump was capable of, the lack of artistic freedom was frustrating. I have also owned the compressor from the second link, again a different name, but basically the same machine. Although I bought it with airbrush work in mind, I never got around to opening up my super duper Iwata HP-C box and mainly used the compressor for blowing off my work bench. Extremely noisy, but good pressure, and the tank would probably be big enough to get a couple of paint jobs done before the motor kicks in to recharge. Once you move away from the silent mini compressor, they are all going to be noisy. If noise is not an issue then great, buy the small, cheap tank and live with it. BUT, if you are trying to concentrate on creativity and the pneumatic drill kicks in half way through a difficult stencil operation, it is going to get old very quickly. I am going to be starting to set up my new workshop in a week or two and so will be looking for a new compressor. My next machine will have the largest tank that I can get at a reasonable price. It may be oiled or oilless, it may be electric or petrol, all I know is that it will have a BIGASS tank. It may seem overkill for airbrushing a few cranks, but nobody will know except us and we won't tell. Besides, compressors do have other uses that will come about with time. I am looking forward to getting some air-tools for a start. As for pressure, it is all adjustable and easy to dial in. Dave

Polishing a mold is a whole lotta work. May be a good idea to polish a test patch first, to get an idea of the size of the task, before starting in the cavities. Dave

Mark - Yes, I covered it in post No2. The weight loss from a newly poured mold to a fully dried mold is 30%. What is worth mentioning here, is that there is no need to go for a totally dry mold, especially if oven drying. There are other indicators that show how wet or dry a mold is: Hold a glass near the mold removed from the oven. If the glass clouds up with heavy condensation then it is still wet. The surface of a dry mold feels just warm to the touch, even if it has just come out of a hot oven, it can still be touched and feels just warm. If you tap a dry mold with your finger nail, it has a 'ping' sound to it, a wet mold has a dull thud if you can hear anything at all. Keep a dry mold close by for making comparisons until you build up experience which will tell you everything. Dave

Good job - lessons learned all round. Dave

I like your lure holders. I do something similar. Dave

Jay - make sure you report back what ever you try. Tell us what worked and what didn't. This way, more members in your situation will learn. Dave

It was one of these:

JB - while you are taking pics, point the TV remote at the camera and take a pic of that. You don't see any light with the naked eye, but the camera should see the IR light. Dave

The digital camera sensors are not the same as the human eye. I have noticed when shooting with a remote control, that the image picks up a white dot of the infra red trigger were the human eye can see nothing. This tells me that the sensitivity is shifted towards the IR side of things, making our eyes more effective in the UV range than a cameras. DAve

Don't fix the lip until after testing, this way you can try a few options. Just make sure the wood inside the slot is sealed to prevent water ingress. The loose lip can be wedged in with a couple of shavings off a cocktail stick. Dave

The lip length does not look too long. Dave

69 - there is a minimum speed for vortices to be generated. This speed is different for each lure. In science, they quote this as a Reynolds number which is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard to us. Just to let you know that you have done nothing wrong and your bait is working perfectly. As for the second part, were it stops wobbling and swims to one side, this may be that the lip is too long. As the water pushes on the lip, it goes nose down. If the lip passes the vertical, the lure will transition into porpoise mode and bob up and down. In the transition the occasional side wobble would catch and send the lure off to the side. Dave

X3 on the melting - great result. Dave

Testing a principle and prototyping are different things. The shape of a lure is important because it is part of the equation, but gill and eye details are not, nor is the color or pattern. Fin details are important, as is external hardware like hooks and split rings. The top coat must be represented too. Do what you can to emulate the bait, but do not waste time on details on what is likely to be a butchered piece of firewood, after you have extracted as much information from it as possible. You may want to keep the proto, even with its two lip slots, three tow eyes and plethora of ballast holes, half of which are empty, as this piece of scruffy carving lead you to your finished lure. If you ever became famous, it would sell for thousands on Ebay. DAve

JR - these were not shaped lures. I would use round balsa dowels. Whittle a nose and tapered tail, no sanding or smoothing. Flatten the bottom face, glue the ballast plates externally. Saw cut, insert a lip, job done. These were for testing principles and ideas. Once they worked and I did no need them for reference, I threw them away. Dave

Majic (or should that be Magic) - I cannot help feeling insulted by your aggressive words. Not only accusing the company of poor design and not caring about its customers, but insulting all the members who have contributed to this thread. Dave

DaBehr - A comprehensive and logical explanation, well written, easy to follow and understand. We have the same thing in car design when modelling bumper and trim panels. We call them dimples or sink holes, the cause of which is exactly as you explained. Why I did not relate the two problems together I will never know. DAve