mark poulson

I make my popper out of PVC, and use a 3/4" drill bit in the drill press to hollow out the face, and get a concave shape. After I've done that, I angle the front face on the belt sander, and then return to the drill press to "fine tune" the hollowing.

I've never used whiskey as a thinner or a solvent. Interesting....I tried beer, but it leaves an amber tint. Great looking shop!

I know it's hard, and a bear to remove.

This might sound dumb (so what else is new) but maybe the top coat is reacting with the glue on the backs of the eyes. As a test, you could put a drop of it on the back of an eye, and see if it dissolves the glue, or makes bubbles. You could also wait to add the eyes until the second dipping, to be sure the area beneath the eyes is sealed, to see if that helps. I squeeze my stick on eyes onto my lures really hard, and that may help, too.

I have had very good luck with the water borne urethane I use. Others have had it peel or fail, but I've had good results. I'll PM you about it.

Thanks for the idea. I did a site search here, and found it. It looks like a piece of lexan is what I need to silicone into my pyrex cup.

Bob, Do you know what kind of lacquer or finish the major bait manufs. use?

Is that a hand pour or injected?

You make some beautiful baits. Where can I buy a split cup?

I haven't tried that particular finish, but, if I dip a lure and bubbles appear, I use an artists brush, wetted with the same finish, to burst them while they hang. I typically watch a dipped lure for the first half hour, periodically blotting off any drips or buildups, so it's easy to take care of bubbles at the same time. I only dip cranks once, and don't seem to get any imperfections from blotting or bubble bursting that way. I sometimes get bubbles at the eyes of my swimbaits, because I use stick on eyes over the recesses I make using a Forstner bit, which can leave a hollow under the eye. Since I dip my swimbaits three times, it's no big deal to take care of any imperfections that I might cause when I burst those bubbles. A little attention when you first hang a dipped lure should let you deal with bubbles.

I'm glad you worked it out. Those solvents sound nasty. One of the reasons I use both water based paints, and water borne urethane, is because they don't have the nasty fumes that solvent based paints have. Personally, I get good results with the Createx-type paints, so the only solvent based paint I use is rattle can primer, because it really bonds to the lures, fills small imperfections, makes for a good surface for my finished paint schemes, and I can spray it outside on my driveway, downwind.

The wire being thinner makes sense. I know Ray is all about performance, so I'm guessing he uses the thinnest wire he can get away with, for the additional vibration. Thanks a lot guys.

Very clever!

If I were doing it, I'd suspend the lure horizontally over my work bench, in it's swimming position, and brush on a coat of some kind of urethane or lacquer finish. Those finishes are both thinner than epoxy, so they would be easier to keep from clogging the joint. And having the bait suspended that way should keep the finish from running into the joints, too. I know, at least with urethanes, I would have to stand by with a paper towel to blot up the drips that will form on the belly, so I don't have an ugly buildup. But urethanes dry pretty fast, so, as long as I keep the coat thin, I think that would be my best shot. You might find a clear lacquer that comes in a spray can, too, but I'd be afraid it would find it's way too deep into the joints, and be hard to clean out once it's set.

One of my favorite spinnerbaits, the Revenge deep runner, has a wire the breaks after a couple of dozen fish. Right at the R bend. By that time, I've had to straighten it out a dozen times, or so. I haven't really counted how many fish it takes to break the wire, but now I have half a dozen Revenge chatterbaits, made from spinnerbaits that broke. My question is why this brand, and not some of the others? I know there is a reason they use that particular wire. Ray, the guy who makes them, is super anal about his baits and components, and doesn't use anything without a reason. But I can't figure out why his wires break, and others, like Strike King and Stanley, don't seem to, at least not as often or as fast. In trying to figure it out, I've guessed that the wire they use has a higher carbon content, to add to it's rigidity and vibration, so it's probably more prone to metal fatigue. Of course, that's just a carpenter's wild a$$ed guess. Any light shed on the subject would be appreciated.

I got impatient, so I decided to try to match the Robo oxblood lite red flake color from the Del's colors and candle colors I already have. To 4oz of plastic, I added 9 drops of purple, and four thin shavings of brown candle color. I actually kept reheating the plastic, and adding more brown, until the dripping on my putty knife blade was close to the tail on a Robo worm. I added some .015 red glitter, and it gave the plastic a red hint. I think it works, but it's not the same as the Robo, which is a laminate with a light brown back and blue belly. I'll find out this weekend if it works. If I get bit on it, that is. I did some Ikas, and some flick shake worms with the color. I made the Ikas full strength, and then cut the rest of the plastic 1/1 with new plastic for the worms, so they are much lighter.

Man, my head hurts just thinking about Absolute!

Good work Dave. Now, for the numerically challenged, like me, slow is better seems to be the bottom line.

I tried alcohol, and, with enough, you can't even see the bubbles! Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Peter, That is CLASSIC!!!! It should be posted on the top of the forum as a tutorial!

Cleaning your brush often, after every color change, is, for me, one of the big keys to trouble free air brush painting. I'd suggest you have a tupperware full of clean water next to your painting station, some rags, and a spray bottle with water and a couple of drops of dish washing liquid mixed in. When you finish with one color, drip the excess paint back into the paint bottle, wipe out the brush's bowl with a rag, dip the bowl into the clean water, and back flush it well. Do that several times. Then use the soap/water spray bottle to fill the bowl again, back flush well, and clean out the nozzle with a soft brush and the soap solution. Take the needle out and wipe it clean. Then put it back in CAREFULLY. Bent needles are a nightmare. Then flush one more time with water, and you're ready to paint again. Once you develop a routine, it doesn't take long, and it will help avoid lots of the problems we all encounter with air brushes. Have some acetone handy, and use it to backflush your brush once a week or so, and it will keep the paint from building up in the tiny air holes around the nozzle. Depending on the paints you use, how hot it is, and how much you thin your paints, you may find you need to do the cleaning routine more or less often. I do it a lot, and don't have to do an acetone cleaning very often at all. I do use a spray bottle of Windex as a part of my cleaning routine, with a backflush with Windex between the first water backflush and the dishsoap flush, but some people say Windex, or at least the ammonia in it, attacks the chrome of the air brush. I flush it all out so well I don't worry about it, and the ammonia is good at breaking up any dried paint. The other key is thinning whatever paint I'm using to the consistency of skim milk, and just using more coats, with each coat heat set with a hair dryer. Use whatever thinner the paint manuf. recommends, and you won't go wrong.

The only difference I could see is if your wheel turns too fast, the centrifugal force on an end over end oriented lure might cause problems with the finish being thrown to the outer end, instead of being evenly distributed. My wheel uses a 1 rpm BBQ motor, and has a ferris wheel system, so the farther out on the faces of the discs I mount the lures, the faster they go. But, at only 1 rpm, even with 16" diameter discs, the lures on the outside don't move fast enough to be a problem. I would suggest you do a test with a scrap of wood, coated with whatever you use as a top coat, and see if there are problems before you put a finished lure on and learn the hard way.

I haven't poured lead since I used to make surf sinkers from plumbers lead, back when drain pipes were cast iron, with lead and okum joints. But I read here that tire weights are a harder lead alloy.