defish

Did a Google search on "tyvek envelope" It sounds a lot less prone to punctures than paper filters. DELUXE FLAT Resist tearing, puncturing and water damage with these self-seal mailers. Recommended for important documents and sensitive materials. Virtually indestructible - Tyvek® material is ten times stronger than paper. Save postage - Half the weight of paper. 14 lb. spunbound olefin.

Assuming that you're using liquid paint to paint the eyes, making a "stamp" out of a small wooden dowel or paint brush, nail head, etc. filed or sanded into the oval shape that want should work. It'll probably need to have the paint wiped off every so often while it's being used so drying paint doesn't build up to keep it the size and shape you want.

Welcome to TU John! It's easier and cheaper to modify your molds to fit the hooks that you like than to get custom molds made. I've modifyed molds for different brand hooks and to step up from a #2 to a 3/0 hook. Here's a quick "how to." Clamp the mold in a vise or to your work bench to secure it. Use a Sharpie to ink mold in the area that needs modifying. Lay a hook in the mold and use a scriber or awl to trace around the area that doesn't fit in the original hook cavity. Use a dremel tool with metal cutting bits (not the abrasive bits - they don't work as well with aluminum) and slowly and CAREFULLY remove the metal in the area that you marked. Check as you go to see that if the hook fits and that the mold closes completely. Good luck. Dan

What temp is the room that your epoxy is stored in? If it's stored where it's too cool it will thicken up on you. Just put it in front of a heat register or in your shirt pocket for a while, etc. and it should improve. You also want to use it in a warm enough location (not a cold garage.)

A couple boards that bridge from one disk to the other could be a quick way to modify your existing turner to attach securely to each half of the controller. A piece of dowel etc. screwed crosswise onto the inside of each half of the controller can be then be clamped to a large binder clip etc. on your dryer. These are what I use for lureholders on my turner. Something similar should work for your controllers.

I posted the info for making your own springs in case the ones from Granger didn't work out. (Like you said in a previous post, it's hard to order springs sight unseen from a catalog.) Looking forward to seeing the pics of the fluid bed and the lures. That's some HUGE stuff you make compared to freshwater baits!

If you have a hardware store that carries straight wire springs in the loop diameter and weight that you want, cut the spring to the length(s) you need using a dremel or a bench grinder and just use a pliers to crimp the last coil or two into the shape that you want.

Same problem here. I finally deleted my tackleunderground.com cookies (there were 2???) and some other TU ad files, etc. and it's WAY faster now. If you do the same, you'll need to log in with your password when you come back because that's stored in the cookie file.

Like Cadman said, wheel weights mixed in your lead will make it harder. Are the heads working loose on the hooks as you fish with them, or is it a molding issue? A lot of times heads will loosen on small jigs when the sprue is broken off. Cutting the sprue off, or grasping the head firmly (instead of the hook) before breaking off the sprue will fix the problem. Good luck.

Have you ever seen the really heavy round cardboard concrete forms that they sell in home improvement centers? I don't know what they cost, but they come in the diameters you want and might save you a lot of carpentry work. http://hatchbuildingsupply.com/includes/pdf/RoundConcreteForms.pdf Dan

Maybe some sort of "shuttering" device so you don't have to turn the lights on and off, but can block the light on 30 second intervals, etc. Could be as simple as a piece of wood or cardboard that you slide open and shut, and a kitchen timer or two to keep track of open/shut and total cure time. If the lights get hot you may need to vent the sides of the box for cooling. Dan

There are a couple of easy ways to deal with powder paint getting into the sinker's hole. You can heat a nail, etc. that's a bit smaller than the hole and poke it through the hole to open it, and / or you can make an "eye buster" type tool to remove the paint if it's just around the outside of the openings. If you are going to make "hundreds" of these sinkers, a few minutes spent modifying the mold, etc. will save you a LOT of time in the long run instead of drilling them. Good luck. Dan

Lead is really "grabby" to drill as you found out, and it's going to be especially tough drilling it with such small bits. You can try grinding a "chisel point" edge on the cutting flutes of your bit (essentially flat spots instead of the usual cutting angle) so that the drill doesn't pull itself into the lead faster than you want. It works for brass, but I've never done it with lead. If these are sinkers that you cast yourself, it would be a LOT easier to modify your mold to use a 1/16 dia insert rod, than to drill the sinkers. Good luck. Dan

Hey Cadman. With Etex's reputation for being fussy about being mixed just so or being sticky, I did like rodmakers do with their finish that needs precise measuring. I drilled the bottle caps so that the plastic end of a veternary syringe fits as a "stopper." Fast, easy, precise measurement - just draw the syringes back slightly when you're done so they don't stick, and DON'T get the resin syringe crossed with the hardener syringe or they will REALLY stick. (You may also have to trim the outside of the syringe to get down to the "inner barrel" and you probably want a smaller syringe than I used - it's what I had on hand.) Dan

Interesting stuff. I wonder if four 45 second or six 30 second cures, etc. would make it even smoother? If this all works out I can see making a UV curing box with a timer to control the on/off cycles.

I wonder if it continues to "cure" if exposed to sunlight for extended periods and possibly get brittle? Sounds interesting! Thanks for sharing!

Jann's Netcraft has the mold and supplies for making bladebaits. You'll probably get more replies if you post this on the Wire Baits forum since most people powder paint these lures. Good luck. Dan

Cabela's

When you're doing your no-hook warm up pours do you remove the hookless pours right away, or do you leave them in for a bit? Leaving them in for 20 seconds or so gives the mold a chance to absorb the heat better from the lead. I also leave the newly poured jigs in the mold to keep it hot while I skim the pot, or anything that will delay the next pour. I also do at least 3 GOOD hookless pours that fill out completely before I put in hooks. With a tough to pour mold it also helps to just pour one cavity at a time, and after things get going better start pouring multiple cavities. The mold stays hotter pouring a single cavity because it's open a lot less time to just remove one jig and place one hook. It's slow, but it's better to get one good jig at a time than a handful of mis-pours... Something else that's helped me is paying attention to how much lead is in the pot. Too much lead in the pot can cause pouring problems. Good luck. Dan

I agree Smalljaw, using an oven like I described is a SLOW method for applying multiple colors, but Frithy's post said that he planned to use an oven for his baits. I didn't make it clear that I'm not curing the baits between colors, just reheating them enough so that the other color powders bond to the bait. Slow going without a heat gun, but it works. The baits still have to be cured once all the colors have been applied.

An oven works fine for multicolor baits, but a heat gun is easier than shuffling the baits in and out of the oven. When I use an oven for this, I heat the lures to the recommended temp to do the base coat and then turn the temp down to the recommended "curing temp" and put the lures back in the oven to heat them to do the additional colors. You will probably have to shuffle them in and out several times to get all the colors on that you want, and sometimes more than once for just one of the secondary colors if the lure gets cool enough that the powder doesn't stick. Hope this makes sense. Good luck. Dan

Check out the powder painted spinner blades on this post that must be made using stencils. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/23900-lurelayoutscom/

Thanks for the replies. It looks like I'll probably lean toward the variable temp as being more flexible to use for other things like rodmaking, and unfortunately house painting... And Cadman, it really is questionable if I know how to do multi-color powder painting or not, but the fish don't seem to know any better - they try to eat the lures anyway! LOL!!! (I know what you meant Ted, and got a chuckle out of how you worded things so carefully so as not to offend.) Thanks again. Dan

Is it worth the extra money to get a variable temp heat gun or is a regular Hi/Lo style gun fine? I plan to use the gun mostly for powder painting multi-color baits and will still use the oven for heating the baits for basecoating. Thanks. Dan

Looked at a new in the box one that I have in my "strategic supply" and the main difference between the "G-finish" and the standard flat Bomber finish is a gloss clearcoat with fine glitter in it. Bass Pro and Lurenet.com still offer a "G-finish" at least in the "G-Fleck Bengal Tiger" pattern. Dan