bass100

Thanks Wayne I will give that a try. I'm going to put a sheet of eyes on a hot plate and see if that will work. If it does work then I can skip gluing altogether and still have the freedom to use whatever eyes I want. It will have to wait a while as I am very busy with plastics for a while.

The price is for 3D eyes. A simple look at their websites will let you know. Here is just one of many http://www.unpaintedlures.com/programs/shop/browse.cgi

$13.53 per 1000 http://www.royalbag.com/3_x_4_4_mil_clear_recloseable_bags.asp

Those look great!

Per 2 cups of plastic: 10 drops white 2 dash pearl white 2 dash blue super highlight 1/2 tsp black .015 flake

Take out the blue pearl and add blue super highlight.

Ok here is the scoop guys. I had a buddy come over this morning with some soft 3D eyes and we did some testing. We used a 1 inch pvc pipe to glue the eyes on. The one inch offered enough roundness so that we could try to get them to slide. All the eyes we used were 6mm. We airbrushed 1/4 black circles onto the pipe so we could see how much they slid. We started with 3 brands of regular super glue: dollar store brand, loctite professional, and gorilla glue. Unfortunately they all slid. I am assuming it is because you have no control over the amount of glue you can put on. The gorilla glue was the worst. I will also note that all the eyes had the infamous white haze on them, some worse than others but it was not noticeable after epoxying unless you touched the eye. When we epoxied we could clearly see a finger print on one of the eyes that had been touched with the white haze. We used two brands of super glue gel: dollar store brand and loctite professional gel. I put the eyes on the way I normally do it, with a toothpick. On the hard and soft eyes, none of them slid. We then put the eyes on by putting glue on straight from the tube. We did three eyes each of the hard and soft. The all slid a little except 1 soft one. We decided the problem isn't the eyes but the amount of glue being put on. Super glue gel takes a minute to set up so if you use to much it will slid until it dries. There was no white hazing on the eyes from the gel. We then epoxied all the eyes onto the pvc pipe with D2T and we had no cloudiness with any of the glues. We then did 2 eyes each with the loctite gel and loctite regular super glue and then epoxied over them before they were dry. That is when I got to experience the sliding around that was talked about and yes that sucks. They all had a little bit of cloudiness. We only gave the epoxy 45 minutes of cure time before we called it quits. I know this is lengthy but I had to know why everyone wasn't getting the same results.

I have an 1100 and I have an 800. The 1100 is way to hard for me to get consistent results so I use the 800. I got mine brand new from Walmart for $30.

Thanks for the post Richard. I would have never guessed there was a difference between the hard and soft. I only have hard so I would have never known that.

Thanks for posting Paul. It is a great video.

Thanks Kasilotchrisn. I just use the cheap super glue gel from the dollar store. I just don't want people to think they have to buy expensive eyes to have good looking baits. As far as the 100 and 200 piece orders go you are correct, it is simpler, easier, and less of a hassle to just stick on your eyes. A 100 jig order will take about an extra 25 min to glue the eyes on and you can cut that time in half if you hustle. If you got your eyes in bulk from Barlows then you paid about .07 per eye and that comes out to $14 for 200 eyes. I paid .01 per eye which comes out to $2 for 200 eyes. I can do 400 eyes from one tube of super glue gel that I get from the dollar store for $1 per 2 tubes. I saved $11 by doing 25 min of extra work. In other words both ways of doing eyes works. One way you save money and one way you save time. All of this being said I won't lie, I hate glueing eyes on but I like saving money. For those that have some of the cheap eyes and are going to glue them on don't squirt the super glue gel from the tube to the bait. Squirt some gel onto a piece of paper and use a toothpick to put the gel onto the bait. This is much faster and you have control over how much gel you put on the bait. You don't have to put glue on one bait and then put the eyes, you put the glue on about 20 baits at a time and then put the eyes on. The gel gives you plenty of time to do that. Once you get faster you can put glue on about 50 baits before you have to start putting the eyes on.

They sell all their plastic from I believe a quart up to a 55 gallon drum.

I do what Mark does. I first mix up a batch of D2T but I make it almost like water so that it penetrates deep into the mold. The next coat I make a little thicker and so on. It takes a while with D2T but when you are done the molds are indestructable. The thinner you make the epoxy the better the detail. You can actually drop them and they won't break. Here is a pic of a Mann's jelly worm that was discontinued years ago. The mold is around 12 years old.

Also when using the little pans from lurecraft only fill them a third of the way. If you fill them past that the stream of plastic will start to go down the side of the pan. I have a cotton glove that I wrap electrical tape around the pointer finger and after each cavity I fill I wipe the hot plastic off of the spout so that there is no plastic build up from one cavity to the next. I always pour 2 cups at a time and it takes longer to heat the plastic than it does to pour the baits. If you get a small amount of flashing around the edge just run a lighter over it and it will be all gone. Only use the bottom part of the flame. If you use the top part of the flame it will leave a black carbon mark on your bait. With a little practice you will never have a bait with flashing again. Also a good bait to practice with is the brush hog. When I first started hand pouring a friend told me that I wasn't any good until I could pour 100 brush hogs with out any flashing. I poured every day on that one mold and after two and a half months I was able to do that. Once you can do that there isn't a mold out there you can't pour. I hope this all helps----Good Luck.

I have many of lurecraft's swimbait molds including this one. It is not easy to pour detail out of a pyrex cup. I use the little pouring pans from lurecraft http://www.lurecraft.com/catalog.cfm/materials-~and~-tools/tools/-special-pouring-pan:1784 I set the pans on a hot plate to keep them warm. These little pans will allow you to pour a very fine stream and almost eliminate all flashing. The nice thing about the hand poured swimbaits is the flat back. The round back of the commercial baits and the injected baits allows the bait to roll over at high speeds but the flat back of the hand poured swimbaits allows you to reel the bait as fast as you want and it won't roll over. The pictures below are of lurecraft's 885 and 916 molds which are copies of the skinny dipper. I also have the injection molds for the skinny dipper and there is no comparison in action. The hand poured swimbait's action is far better.

I have to say that there are alot of ways to add your eyes this is just how I choose to do it. They only way that matters is how you choose to do it. I have over 100,000 eyes between 3 different suppliers and they don't all stick very well. Because I do it this way I can make any suppliers eyes work for me.

To show that I am not just saying it here are some pics of baits I have been working on for the last week. I just tank tested them today. You will notice there is no cloudiness around the eyes at all. Even if you mess up and get super glue gel on the outside of the eye it won't show up after you clear coat the lure.

The super glue gel is to hold the eyes in one place so that you can use D2T over them.

I am the opposite, I glue all my eyes on with super glue gel regardless of how good they stick. It might take 3 seconds per jig or crank to add 2 spots of super glue gel. Once you put the eye on the super glue gel that is it, no more aligning or re-aligning. I agree with smalljaw and cadman if you use epoxy to put your eyes on it is a waste. I like the fact that I don't rely on the eyes adhesive because it allows me to use any eye out there.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/group/3D-Eyes-4mm/610947_251104759.html Great prices and a very consistent eye. I couldn't tell you how good they stick because that is not a factor for me.

Thanks Rock. I just ordered some to give it a try.

I am not familiar with anything that can be added but getting rid of the salt and adding a little bit of softner will give you what you want, unless you are using the salt to give them weight. I too use 502 but I don't add salt or softner.

Thanks for the report. Keep us posted as you might be on to something. Plus I am tired of getting my butt kicked, I need some kind of advantage.

Mark, have you had enough time on the water with the glow baits to see if there is a noticable difference in the fishing? You have my curiosity.

I have a buddy down there that I paint for and he swears by all white with a black back and a hot mustard color.