mmanolis2001

Went from Wood filler to Bondo to Baking Soda and Thin CA glue. The baking soda and CA glue is the best hands down. Just cant fill a deep hole in one shot. Dries instantly and like others said drys hard as a rock. Easy to file or sand smooth. Just be prepared for super glue fingers.

Got it. Thanks Working on a small glide bait now. This will prove helpful im sure.. Ok now for my first dumb question, How are you determining your wood density? I see you are using Body Material volume (L x W x H) X (0.265) How are you determining the Density value of 0.265? I see charts on the web listing wood density as cubic kg/m or lb/ft https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wood-density-d_40.html

I would love to try this out and provide feedback. Thank you for sharing this. I make allot of one off baits and this could prove very helpful with the design and speed up my tank testing. Currently i fill the baits with more lead than i need and drill out. Float test. Drill Out Float test...... repeat........ Until i get the result i want. Thus the baits tend to have the weight higher up in the belly and require more filler. mmanolis2001@gmail.com Thanks

I know the east Coast Surf Fishing guys would load up Cotton Cordell Red Fins. https://www.thefisherman.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=feature.display&feature_ID=1014&ParentCat=2

I took the experts advice and picked up a digital thermometer on the cheap at Amazon. I will give it another shot after I make some new molds the proper way. Thanks for all the advice.

I just tried to pour my first set of baits last week and the outcome was terrible to say the least. I think I know the reason for my failure but I wanted to run my thoughts by the experts before I repeat the same mistakes. My first issue was the plastisol never fully cured. I cooked it in a microwave on high for 1 min increments for 3 mins but did not have a proper thermometer to check and ensure it was at 350. The resulting pours remained gummy and sticky and never released from my mold thus brining up my second mistake. I had made a mold out of rock hard water putty and it came out perfect. Unfortunately in my haste to get the bait poring rolling I forgot to seal the mold.......... Does the 50/50 Elmer’s glue method work with water putty or is that only viable with a POP mold? My third mistake was thinking the plastic was not fully cooked and placing it back in the microwave for another 2 min burst. The result was some smoke and my nice clear chart plastic turned into a dirty brown mess. I pored one more bait just to see if it cured and the same gummy sticky mess happened. Possible Cause I think the issue with the plastic curing was related to the fact that I did not mix the plastisol at all before pouring it into the Pyrex cup to heat up. I was worried about introducing bubbles into the plastic and went on my merry way. Question 1 Is the gummy sticky uncured plastic a result of not mixing the plastisol in the source container before heating or one of my other rookie mistakes listed above? Question 2 Is there any method to remove the gummy plastic from my unsealed water putty mold or do I have to trash it and make another the proper way? I learned allot about what not to do on this first pour.

When mixing the body filler with the resin can you just use the resin hardner or do you need to mix the hardner 60/40 as well?

I thought about this as well. Im not worried about the master locking into the mold due to its shape but you did get me thinking about the shrinking resin cracking due to the hard master.... Now im worried about that. I guess all i can do is give it a shot and post the results. Its only $18 down the drain if it fails.

I am attempting to make a 2 piece mold out of Fiberglass (Bondo) resin for the first time and have a question for the experts here. I have read that polyester resins like bondo tend to shrink when curing. I’m planning to make a two piece mold out of a hard master (Baked Sculpey). I will have a mold base filled half way with leveled clay and the master embedded half way into this clay base. The master is cylindrical with no overhangs to catch or lock it into place while casting. I also plan on embedding marbles half way into the clay at various locations for the mold keys. My main concern is the shrinkage during curing and possible miss alignment of the mold keys? How do you handle keying these types of resin molds to ensure they mate properly after curing? Should I cast both half’s without keys and drill holes through both pieces before separating them, then glue rods into one half to act as the keys? Can the cured resin even take a small drill bit without cracking? Thanks for any tips.