68KingFisher

I don't know about the Azek, but I found this info on the Trex website....... (Trex weighs about 50-70% heavier than comparable lumber sections with a specific gravity of about 0.96.)

I'm an old service tech, so taking my Dremel apart is no problem.....I already checked all the obvious stuff like bad brushes and loose wires, but still no go....it was a well used Dremel when I got it, and I guess its time to replace it.....thanks for your input. But that does bring up a question.....Do you most of you shape your lures with a rotory tool like a dremel or do you step up to a bigger unit like the wood carver guys use....the kind that the motor hangs and a cable runs down to a small pencil sized carving tool that would seem easier to hang on to and handle??....anyone use those or is Dremel the tool of choice? Thanks for the info Mark....i'll run some tests on a small chunk of the Trex before I invest too much time into making several baits....i'll let ya'll know how it does.

Well, I suppose that changes things abit......Guess i'll just wing it and see what happens.....the stuff does seem awfull heavy but it does float....I cut up a piece on the table saw this evening into some smaller blocks....my neighbor has already told me to use his tabletop bandsaw anytime I want so i'm gonna rough out a few shapes to play with...My dremel died and i'm too broke to buy another one right now so i'm just gonna whittle from that point on....That or I could break out the pneumatic diegrinder and a good grinding stone....lol.....i'll keep ya'll posted.....thanks for everyones input.

Update:.....I found a tag on the end of one of the boards and instead of being AZEK as I thought, the brand name is Trex...."Trex Accents" to be exact.....I'm assuming that all these man made decking boards are made of about the same materials?....I hate assuming....Their website does make mention of its natural wood content, so it must have some sawdust mixed in with the pvc....lol

Yup......even closer.....I bend almost all the tips of my Micron needles by bumping into what i'm painting because I'm working that close to the surface, and since a Micron needle has a really thin needle .018mm the tips bend really easy....but to get the detail I want I must remove the protective cap and work ultra close to the surface. Now your NOT gonna bend the tip of a VL needle by bumping into a lure, or even a metal bike part....lol...they are too big and tough....but the point is that to achieve freehand details, you DO need to work very close to the surface....Get yourself whats called a "paint picker" cap for your VL....this allows you to remove the protectice cap on a VL and replace it with one that leaves the tip and needle exposed....you'll find you can get much better detail then before and it makes it alot easier to "pick' clogged paint off the end of the needle with your fingers....if this isn't makin any sense i'll take a photo of mine and show you what I mean.

I know the wifes got a couple of those loops she used for needle pointing....I just gotta talk her into diggin thru her craft closet and find them....lol. With all these ideas i'm sure i'll come up with something that works for me.

So is that two of them clamped together?

I've already been wondering how to go about that very thing....build some type of template to mark the area to drill, or a jig to hold the lure maybe?

Now thats a work area.....nicely organized.....I think....lol:?....I'm sure theres a method to all that madness.....You may have to share that with me someday. Your setup kinda like a tee shirt airbrusher would be with a multiple gun setup....for production work thats really the only way....whether its tee shirt or crankbaits.....Nice mancave dude.

It means the clear came in bulk drums at my buddies paintshop and he gave me a couple of quarts of clear and cat, but all he wrote down on the can was "Clear-4:1"......So now, several months later that buddy and that paintshop have moved to another state, and I don't have a clue what brand it was....lol....I think they used Dupont products mostly, but who knows....my memory is shot anymore....lol. RayburnGuy, I do give airbrush lessons, and that was one of the reasons I built a new paintbooth...so I'd have a much nicer place to do that....but in the lure painting arena i'm a complete newbie, so I wouldn't attempt to teach that.....although we could paint a bait as part of the lesson if thats what you wanted? PM me if your interested in knowing more.

How should I go about removing those surfaces....sand them down or can I run them thru my neighbors planer?......I gave him a piece to try, but I don't want him to damage his equipment just so I can make a couple of lures.

Depending on the brand I think you can get a cap that snaps on the cup.....I know Iwata has them....I use them on both of my side bowl brushes,and my Omni 4000 has a nice cap that came with it....heck, i've seen guys make caps to fit the VL color cups....Got a buddy that works in a machine shop???

I noticed that when I sprayed clear on my bait that there was still a gap around the edge of the eye.....I put several coats on before that gap seemed to fill over, but then once it dried i'd noticed that the clear at the very bottom of the eye had ran away from the eye so its not really sealed up as well as the top edge now...I don't use a turning device to rotate the lures but I may need to reconsider?.....I wondered if i'd have problems with the eye coming off after being used for awhile....guess we'll see.....I do think i'd like to glue them in place rather then rely on the adhesive backing.

That pretty much says it all.......I personally don't use the lower pressures,but i've become accustom to painting at higher pressures then most folks....i'm also using solvent based paints which act alot different then the waterbased stuff does when it hits a hard surface....it wants to stay wet longer so its harder to stop the starburst style blowouts......but its doable...its all in trigger control. And "Yes" using a gravity feed airbrush will allow you to run lower air pressure for details.....you can't really get Createx to flow thru a siphon feed brush on 10psi....at least thats been my experience.

Order a braided hose with your airbrush.....don't mess with those cheapo vinyl hoses.....if your so inclinded, you might concider getting a hose that has a quick disconnect, then get the male end for your airbrush......I use one 10ft hose and all my airbrushes have quick disconnects on them, so I can quickly change from one to another and dont' have a mess of hoses.

I've never heard of washable filter cloth......what is it and where do I get some? PS.....yes i'm a neat freak.....just can't help myself.....I hate a nasty dirty unorganized shop.....If I walked in your garage I'd probably start helping you clean it....lol...just the way I am.

Most of you have probably seen my paintbooth build in another thread.....but for my work area i've always prefered something mobile.....What I use mostly is an old engine stand that I mounted a steel shelf from some industrial duty cabinet I salvaged one time.....it makes for a heavy duty mobile work bench....Its the perfect height for me to stand and work on something which I do alot of.....I even stand alot of the time i'm airbrushing....guess that comes from years airbrushin tee shirts on an easel. Anyway, I have a moisture trap mounted on the end of the stand that feeds air into a mini regulator/water trap thats mounted down below....i've also got a 5gal bucket mounted as a waste can to pour solvents or paints into.....i've got several Paasche style airbrush hangers mounted around the stand so I always have place to hang an airbrush......I use an old Plano tackle box as my airbrush box....it sits on top and holds all my airbrushes, tools, parts, pens, pencils, knives, pipe cleaners, stencil material, etc.....My lamps are also mounted on mobile stands so they can be rolled around easy also. From my attached photo you can see how I just pull my paintbench up besides one filter tower and I just sit in front of that and spray away......For general airbrushing I have the ability to close off either of the exhaust filter towers and just pull from one side or the other....this helps keep me from exhausting out all my conditioned air from within the shop....In fact, i've built a restricter plate or dampener so to speak so I can restrict the amount of air i'm pulling from either side.....When I shoot the full sized paint guns i'll open both exhaust towers, but for airbrushin its just overkill....I guess I could have a second artist sit in front of the second exhaust tower and we both could spray away...lol Having a mobile workbench and rollaround lighting really helps me utilize the small space that I have.....If nessasary, I can roll everything into the corner or out the door and bring in my motorcycle stands when I need to paint those.....the mobile workbench also can be removed and a motorcycle frame can be mounted to the stand and rotated 360 degrees.

I snagged a piece of inch thick pink foam insulation board from my neighbors remodel job today....got a small chunk outta the dumpster along with AZEK....i'll put something together in the next day or two and when I know it works i'll post pics of what I ended up with.

Not on my first one....but thats comin....lol

Well, i'm about as new around here as they come, so about all I can tell you is that your at the right place.....just start readin, and be sure to use the search engine....you'll find tons of great info and lots of helpful folks....Welcome

If you didn't already know by my new avatar, I finally sat down in my new paintbooth and played with a couple of cranks over the weekend....so this is officially my first repaint of a factory bait....a Rapala shadrap that started out chrome with a black back.....I posted a couple of pics in the gallery section and heres a short video I made that helps show off the prism flake effect. I'd love to hear your comments, and i'm looking forward to tryin my hand at more.....For the record I used Hok paints and a no-name automotive urethane clearcoat.....all sprayed thru an Iwata Eclipse.

Well, you got my curiosity up, so I ran some water in the tub and sure enough it floats....not on top like a bobber, but just below the waterline....but it floats.....I'm guessing a crankbait sized peice will float better?? Thanks for the heads up on the sawdust.....I'm terrible about not wearing a resperator when I sand or airbrush for that matter....but then again look at my paintbooth....hehehe...don't need a mask unless i'm shootin clear with the big gun. Now should I use screw in hook eye's or does this stuff need a wire thru design?

Yup...thats the deal...your Badger is a single action brush and that cone shape deal is your spray width adjustment.....with a dual action airbrush the cone shaped fluid cap thingy turns into the nozzle thingy, but its located internal now, and you now adjust the spray width by pulling the trigger back further.