Downriver Tackle

To the best of my knowledge, you can thin any 2-part epoxy. The amount of solvent used to thin epoxies can vary from brand or type. Glue-types are generally pretty high in viscosity and will probably need reducing. 100% solids epoxies made for coatings applications are thinner by nature and would flow right over that foil beautifully. Even beyond viscosity, cure time is a major factor for flowing over surfaces. It needs to stay fluid long enough to wet out all the surfaces properly. That's why I preach slow-cure. As for your acetone problem, it's not just that it dries too fast. Epoxies have limited solubility in acetone. You need a blend of a ketone(s) and toluene. 75:25

No secret where I skinny dip. My backyard, in the jacuzzi.

I can't give away all my secrets.

Available off the shelf?......................Flexcoat

Me? Thanks guys. I'm a shoppin'

ACO hardware has both around here. And any auto refinish supplier carries them. Not raggin ya, just trying to help. The biggest mistake I see here is patience! If you have a turner, you need an epoxy that takes about 3 hours to cure. 30 minute epoxy is too much of a pain in the rear. Use a 100% solid, slow cure epoxy, with one coat, and you'll be amazed at how easy it can be.

Alcohol contains oxygen that will rob some epoxy's reaction and give you an undercured film. And it absorbs moisture, resulting in the same. In most epoxy sytems, it takes too much to get the viscosity you need. If you're using 100% solid epoxy and it takes more than 10% reduction to get the brushability, you're using the wrong reducer. Or wrong epoxy

Don't even go there. LOL There's so many remover formulations, god knows what you're thinning it with. some are even water-based now. As for the denatured alcohol guys. You're playing with fire. Virgin DNA will work, but it's surely not the best reducer. It could cause clouding and it will retain moisture rather well. Can lead to some ugly clear jobs in high humidity or if you're not dilligent in keeping it closed. The best reducer for almost any epoxy is a 3:1 mix of MIBK(methyl isobutyl ketone) and toluene. You'll get the fastest reduction and a nice glass finish. Acetone is way too fast and generally takes too much to get the viscosity you need. I'm still puzzled why so many people want to reduce their epoxy though. I can see for spraying, but for brushing, I use 100% solid epoxy and it flows out just beautifully. Trying to do a quickie job with multiple coats of quick set epoxy just isn't time efficient. 1 coat of 100%(3 minutes per lure) and I'm done. Put then on the turner for 3 hours and they're set-up, ready to use or ship tomorrow.

Actually,.............. I did try that before I posted and it returned nothing. It does return my post now though. Thanks! Sorry, couldn't resist.

Alright, you guys got me into wanting to paint some swimbaits to fish with. I'm not into the carving thing. Are there any unpainted plasic or balsa bodies you can recommend? I saw Jann's had some, but I wasn't too impressed with their other unpainted baits.

You guys should see my blemish box, uh I mean my tackle box. During the learning process, I've acquired wrinkled lures, cracked lures, warped lures(cured too hot ) , tacky clearcoat lures, and some of the ugliest after a 6-pack creations you've ever seen. LOL Funny part is that most of them still catch fish. LOL

That's why I lean toward the tensile and impact as data that very loosley corelates to what a lure might go through. Most likely, when a lure impacts a rock, it's a glancing blow and the coating is sheared on an angle. The failure probably occurs when the rock digs in and elongates the coating until it breaks or just looses adhesion, subsequently causing a lager failure. Same with teeth. With balsa, the tooth is going to indent the lure and take the coating down with it until it elongates and fails. On plastic baits, you probably get a shearing action similar to a rock strike. I guess an impact test could be useful because the failure usually comes in the areas that are elongated on the outer edge. Man, we think about this stuff way too much. LOL

Before I started weighing my epoxy and had those troubles also, I'd just wet sand the lure with 600 under the faucet with COLD water. I'd get as much clear off as possible without getting down to the color. Then I'd just go over it with a properly mixed epoxy and all was well. Even if I did get into the color, if you're good with the airbrush, you can generally touch it up over the bad clear and you'd never see it.

Acetone is one of the more aggresive solvents. It will dissolve almost any plastic or paint. Just a matter of how fast. The lure body is fine. Just maybe a litte out of shape. Why strip the paint anyways? Those are descent factory paint jobs and just a little scuffing with 120 will give you a good surface to adhere to. No need to make it harder on yourself than necessary. I haven't stripped a lure for years and haven't had a failure in 10,000+ baits!

Flow a thin layer of clearcoat over it.

The only thing I can think of that you could get at a Walmart or such, would be helium. Nitrogen is the prefered gas. Don't try Co2!!! Anything with oxygen will cure the urethane.

That's the one thing that's hard for most to deal with on Triple Grips. They're light wire and do bend. Honestly though, it's an asset IMHO. 90% of the time they bend so that the fish is locked up even harder. I use #6 on Shad Raps and a few other lures to SLAM 10-12# walleye in the fall. I just but them by the 100's and keep 20 or so on the boat ready to swap them out. Well worth the money to me. BTW, I just ripped in a 40" muskie on a Reef Runner swapped out with #6 grips and they held strong. No bend. And one little 1mm tooth chip on the custom lure.

Try Triple Grip hooks. Already bent inwards and it's one mean hook. I can't think of one body type that they've left a rash on.

No offense taken. Why I refered to tensile strength, is that in thin films like we use on lures, it is just more applicable and the results are more "real world". Tensile strength does somewhat relate to hardness, but I think Mike hit the key word. "Toughness"! You can take one polymer that is very flexible and soft by pencil harness standards, like HB or so, and it may have a higher tensile strength than a very hard polymer with a 6-7H harness. It would probably be more abrasion resistant also at light loads. The reason I suggested the test is because it closely resembles the true cycle test used in the coatings industry. I've used it to screen my coatings in the past and it revealed problems that the customer would not have seen for months. Even if it exceeds the working temp of the epoxy, it should still work fine. It's the initial thermal shock that does the damage milliseconds before the entire coating heats up. And you're exactly right that you're pitting the coefficient of expansion of the different materials against eachother. It's kinda like the mother-scratcher of all adhesion tests. Besides cracking, delamination is a major concern. I didn't want to get too cumbersome with the test, but normally a cross-hatch adhesion test is done at each stage. I say delamination is important because it is generally the difference between a rock or tooth taking a chip out of the clear, or a CHUNK. If the bond between layers is broken, there's nothing to stop a tooth or abrasive from tearing a chunk off. If the adhesive strength remains stronger than the tensile strength of the coating, the coating will just chip off mostly in the area that was compromised, not continue to tear. It's all a balancing act with the properties. I wish I had specs on my coating to forward, but the new lab I work in doesn't have that type of equipment available. When I used to do auto interior coatings over elasomers, I had all kinds of test toys to play with. And yes Mark, you could add UV inhibitor to your coating, IF you could find them, AND the right kind. Different types for different paint systems. They can be added either with a little solvent, or like I do and heat the part A to 85C until it's water thin, then mix them in with the other additives. You might want to check with and auto paint dealer for an inhibitor additive for automotive paints. Should be compatible if the have it. That's an excellent idea haz!

A good way to test your clear is to cycle fully cured lures 10 times as follows. You'll need a sacrificial lure. Freeze the lure for at least 5 hours, take it out and immediately immerse it in boiling water for 10 seconds. Throw it right back in the freezer for 5 hours and repeat. Sounds like alot of work, but that cycle testing should tell you if your clear can withstand the repeated expansion and contraction related to balsa lures. If they crack, you need to increase flexibility(elongation% & tensile strength). Even if they don't crack, check adhesion afterwards.

Below are a few links for your questions, but IMHO, you're barking up the wrong tree. Those specs are mainly for plastics, and epoxies in a "glue" situation. The two properties you should pay attention to are tensile strength and elongation%. A nice balance of the two is the key, especially when you're coating balsa. You're going to kill your brain trying to sort through data sheets trying to find a coating. Nothing beats real life trial and error. I formulate coatings for a living and I couldn't find an off the shelf clear that worked on all lures. I ended up finding a flexible epoxy and modifying it a little harder, adding U.V. inhibitors, and slip/mar additives to get the results I wanted. The biggest misconception is that harder is better. Impact and chip resistance are properties of a more flexible coating. I would say, for the glue epoxy guys, to give epoxy glue for plastics a try. Much more flexible than the 2ton all purpose types and should yeild much better results on balsa lures. Flexural Strength Testing of Plastics Izod Impact Strength Testing of Plastics

Generally caused by one or more of three problems. Paint too thick. Needs reduced. Tip clogged. Air pressure too low. Possibly evaporating too fast if it's solvent based and you're reducing with the wrong solvent.

I run 9-15 at a time and that's too much for me to deal with. When done, I'm ready to take a break, not spend another 20+ minutes cleaning out a mixer. I'd rather pitch a poly cup in the garbage and crack a beer.

Thank ya much!!! I'll give it a shot.

That's good to hear. It must hold up for a few if so many people are using it. If you don't leave your customs out in the direct sun, yellowing takes a long time, even with Devcon, if it's mixed correctly. I used it repair a support for my boat cover and it was visibly yellow in a week or so in direct sunlight all day. After a year it was amber, cracked, and fell off. I'm still a stickler for weighing epoxies. I made a chart with the proportions for however much I need and use yorker caps to dispense it. Takes about 60 seconds longer, but it's peace of mind having zero doubt that it was proportioned correctly and can ship lures tomorrow morning.