CarverGLX

Thanks. I've just worried about other things, like acetone, eating the seals or something crazy so I hadn't tried it. Due you think that the oil on the needle makes a big difference? Never done that either but I know it's recommended. When cleaning the nozzle I use toothpicks and restorer currently. Anybody use other methods? Like you said it's not that often but still a pain in the butt. Had to do it once in the middle of painting because my heat gun air got funneled around and caused a lot of tip dry and nozzle packing..... I just thought it's probably mineral spirits or something that they add a drop of something to and call it something else and charge 500%

I have used createx airbrush restorer in the past with excellent results cleaning an Iwata Eclipse airbrush. My question is however related to cost. Does anyone just use something like mineral spirits when soaking the brush? I use windex between colors but here I am talking more about a end of the day deep cleaning soak. Thanks

Router and templates with stop checks for drill holes.

I'm trying to make a new batch of balsa crankbaits from an old "recipe" I have. Luckily I have made a jig for every step along with drill stop checks to make sure I can do the same thing again. The problem is I can't find my recipe! The only thing that I don't know is the weight needed for the bait and I have several sizes of molds made. So.... This resulted in me destroying a bait to pull a weight to weigh on a powder scale to find out. The horror... I propose that when you make a new bait always make jigs to use to be repeatable. Secondly, any information you need to keep type it up and send it in an email to yourself. Pretty hard to loose at that point. Also title the email the name of the bait or something easily searchable. Would have saved me some trouble today.

Nedyarb. I had considered using circuit board as a spine and didn't for that reason... Maybe use Etex epoxy. Longer time for more baits at once... More flexibility. Idk. Lots of choices. For the gorillaglue users..... Do you wet the surface? How long does it take to cure and how much expanding are we talking about?

Thanks guys. So it sounds like either work fine. I was just concerned about the acetone soaking and destroying the bond. Probably doesn't soak far enough or long enough to hurt epoxy or gorillaglue. BobP I don't do though wire either. Started off with through wire until I arrived at the same conclusion as you. I make my hook hangers from stainless welding wire and fashion into a screw. We all know that screws in balsa are about useless.... What I have done in the past is use the "screw" to hold media forming a plug. I put a drop or two of superglue on the coils and dip the glue wetted coils into balsa dust collected in the process of router forming. After a few seconds I compact the dust around the screw and let harden forming a plug. This plug was then inserted into the drilled same size hole in the bait behind 4-5 drops of superglue. The flat extension of the screw (see thumbnail) was then still exposed to allow epoxy to flow around it in the next coat. The flat nature of the two wires when hardened in epoxy resisted twisting of the hook hanger. I know its all probably overkill but I've never had a hanger fail to date. Nathan: when pressing large amount (~40) of baits just lay them all out and place a large flat board with weight on it? The reason I am going to propionate is I had 1 bait bust... Probably due to grain of the halves being parallel (a guess) which I have since corrected. I suppose I could do the hookhangers in epoxy or gorilla as well but would have to thin greatly to get it to flow into the hole as well as superglue. I didn't really want to change that part of the process but may have to due to the acetone soak with propionate.... Right?

I'm getting ready to join the halves of a bunch of balsa cranks together. In the past I have always used superglue due to it also soaking and hardening the wood when joining halves. Epoxy coat keeps water out and no trouble..... This time around I am going to be using propionate as a sealer. Worried about the acetone and the superglue not getting along.... I know others use epoxy but I wonder about this absorbing into the wood very well. Also, some use gorilla glue but wetting is involved. Any other options?

One more. Paint bait black. Use netting and paint bait white. Dry while in netting. Slightly shift netting everywhere evenly (seems hard to do) forward slightly. Half of netting on black and half on white. Paint rest of bait through netting. The thickened netting and angle spraying seems like the best option to me without trying it though. As a guess to make thicker netting: Stretch netting in a hoop (sewing hoop) and brush on Etex or some thin epoxy. Put on a turner like you would a bait.

I agree with tree_fish. You could also paint the bait white and "foil" the bait with the design printed on testors film for model car decals. Lots of people use this stuff for photo finishes on here. The printoff in this case would have the scale design with higlights and shading over background colors. Make one and then copy paste to make 4 or 5 scales... copy paste make 20.... copy paste 100. You get the idea. Just from the look of that bait though I'm gonna guess its sprayed with a net over it at the angle described. Painting that with an airbrush would be doable but tough. Worth a shot though to start..... Maybe you could make the netting thicker, as has been said before, on your own to make it easier. Looks like a shower scrubber to me. Maybe dip or brush epoxy on it to make it thicker... multiple coats of airbrush paint on the netting..... idk. Trial and error. Cool looking bluegill though. Good luck.

Have you considered heating and bending a 60*? Do this all the time with a lighter. It's about a 18-20 count for me (probably 12 or so seconds). Does make the hook weaker but it's in a poured head.... Never broken one. It is aggravating that 30* hooks aren't offered but bending hooks is a good option.

I use a dewalt laminate trimmer. Only holds 1/4" bits though. Works great. Something like $85-90 if I remember.

And for the Duco Cement: 1 oz costs about $2. But thats fl oz (30ml) from MSDS sheet: Specific gravity of Duco Cement = 0.9.......... so the 30 mL weighs ~27g (or a little less if they are using the actual fl oz conversion and not the rounding conversion which is 30) Cellulose nitrate component makes up 10-20% of the weight. So therefore is in the range of 2.7-5.4g per 1 oz tube. Middle of the range is ~4g per 1 oz tube @ $2 per tube... (1 g is 0.00220462 lbs).... 0.00881848 lbs cellulose nitrate per 1 oz tube or ~113 tubes per pound @ a cost of $226! Kinda rules this one out unless making a small batch. The major weight component of Duco Cement is acetone however and it may be a good option when making a small batch or having availability issues and need it today. Very easily disolved as its already basically there just at a way higher cost.

Further research: -tabletennismaster.com- "Table tennis, an Olympic sport, is commonly known as ping pong in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The ping pong ball is completely hollow. It had been made mandatory that the diameter of the ping pong ball should be 40 mm and the weight should be 2.7 gram. Further, the ping pong ball must have 0.4 coefficient of restitution. The ping pong ball is made of high bouncing celluloid material and is gas filled. The ping pong ball is normally colored either white or orange and is matte finished. Depending on the bounce, roundness and consistency of the ping pong ball, single star, two star or three star ratings are marked on the ball. A ball with a three star rating normally implies highest quality ball. Originally, the diameter of the ping pong ball was 38 mm. At the end of 2000, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) changed the rules and officially announced that balls with 40 mm diameter alone should be used" So a ball weighs 2.7 grams... a gross (144) costs roughly $15..... 2.7g x 144= 388.8g n-cellulose...... convert to oz..... (1g = 0.035274oz).... ~13.7oz. for ~$15 So.... propionate: ~$30 per pound..... Ping pong is looking like a better option to me. Once a ball is crushed the extra surface area should allow it to melt quicker as well. The white pigment would also allow less base paint coats and the addition of a little titanium white to the mix should eliminate the need for base coats of white paint. Wouldn't be able to do a clear topcoat with this set up like the propionate pellets but this stuff is better suited to a balsa sealer anyway so the white ping pong sealer should be a good option and maybe even better for simple painted baits unless I am missing something. The balls are supposedly pure n-cellulose with pigmentation (which might be the only source of solute issues). Think I might give this one a try.

Thanks Edl...... found it in your link from a TU user named Tref: "Try to melt Table tenis bals. Most off them ar still made out off Celluloid. It melts quite fast, livig you with great stuf for sealing wood. Hard but still flexibile. To test Celluloid you can burn it, it burn rapidly with no ashe. By ading Titanium oxide ( Stuf that painters use for wightening canvas) solution will bee snow white and ready for painting Funy part is that it smels yust like old rapalas Sry on my bad English"

Lol. Yeah. I'm not sure if we are catching bass or fisherman. Reaction Innovations is something else on marketing, bait names, color names....

Right side coffin bills are Tennessee killers. Bottom right is a Gulp Other than that I'm lost. Look good though.

Big fan of bone as well. May hold off on painting that one until I see I need a backup.

Think so. Just not clear. There are better topcoats anyhow. Just thought it might be easier to come by. White and so on.

3d is goodOr for paint maybe black/bone/black pupil. Or add accent color on throat... Red, orange, Chartreuse, and match eyes.

Thanks guys. Brighter color might be good. Maybe a hot bluegill. Already have a bone one or I'd definitely paint it that. Hard decision where I'm mostly in a clear water area but do come across some dirtier water on other lakes from time to time.

I've seen that one too... Maybe mentioned as a side note in one of the solo cup posts? Definitely saw something on ping pong balls. Remember something as well about adding more acrylic white to it to have a good white base and not having to basecote....

Above suggestions are the best option for a mold. Cheap way without a mold mod...... Select a mold u currently have that is close to a minnow mold. Select appropriate hook. Place about 1/3 of a skirt collar on the hook and position in mold so the collar of the mold won't pour (if it has a collar keeper. If not skip this) Take a peice of wire and bend the end left in the head to keep it in place when poured. Place wire in skirt collar as well. Leave straight for now. (Or skip this if you want... More later) Pour. Trim Place crane swivel over hook and keeper wire. Bend keeper wire to hook shape (see examples on a lot of new do it molds) Paint Attach bait... Fluke... Whatever. Could also leave out keeper and push swivel into fluke and then slide on bait and glue. Holds swivel straighter. Once again not nearly as good as the mold mod due to collar and staying issues with the trailer but a good quick cheap fix to try.

If it's really close you can lay the hook in where you want it, close the mold, lay on hard surface, cover with peice of scrap lumber, hit with shop hammer. Doesn't work as well with cross eye (flat eye) hooks unless the mold already takes flat eyes and just need a little bigger size. It's alluminum... Soft to begin with. Great way to add wires as well for spinnerbaits.

Seems like I remember seeing something on here about sealing balsa in a mixture of acetone and dissolved ping pong balls.... Can't find it by searching ping pong. Ping pong balls are: nitro cellulose ... Good Dissolve in acetone... (I think) good White... Good for base coats Cheap ... 144 is somewhere around $15 Seem like a good option but can't remember why or why not... Maybe additional solids? Also for those who have tried... How does this compare in cost, sealing, ease of use with duco cement? Also nitro cellulose. I know it's all on here but can't find the ping pong ball thread and don't know about a comparison. Like some feedback before I'm having nightmares of avalanches of a little white Chinese invasion.

So for a bait with the line tie on the nose there is only so much bill you can have at a certain angle before you have a bait that won't work at a certain speed(faster, more pressure... Blowout.) the line tie must then move lower on the bait and out on the bill to rebalance the pull and decrease the force acting on the lip of the bait causing diving and wobble.