sallystrothers

I have had best results with certain types of ABS glues for gluing certain plastics. I assume if you injection mold you will be using HIPS? If so you can spread out some ABS glue on a flat surface and rub one side of the bait on the glue and then attach. I have seen a video of someone making hollow baits by pouring epoxies and gluing them with epoxy but I can't remember who it was.

That is a good website, they have all the relevant properties on one site!

Good info. As mentioned by other members, the best solution to painting that I have found is to put the baits in a dishwasher. As guessed from previous posts I do not use my regular dishwasher. I got a portable unit that is smaller and dedicated to baits. I would say their response to the heating question is a half truth. For any liquid, the vapor pressure increases as temperature increases. In addition, there are few ovens that can heat your bait perfectly to 150F when you factor in radiation, convection, etc. They also suggest that a mask will help. I am assuming they mean a half mask respirator with organic filtering. The problem is an organic filter half mask will not remove enough, or any of the isocyanates. I work with many veteran industrial chemists and have described my operations to them for feedback. They have all said that the best solution when working with isocyanates is a vent hood that takes all fumes (especially when heating) permanently away from the work area. They convinced me that a mask is not enough.

I couldn't say for sure, but assuming you are within 2 weight percent on the measurement of part A and part B after 7 days the risk is less. That timeframe is based on when the cured resin reaches its full strength. If you have less accurate measurements of part A and B you could vaporize isocyanates no matter how long after cured. Most manufacturers of polyurethane parts use a heat curing process step and its benefits are obvious, but if you do this it is essential to have a good system to remove fumes. A solution I have explored is using a bathroom vent and enclosing the "oven" with a hood with a dryer vent going outside.

Its been on my mind lately, and wanted to start a thread about safety regarding our various resins we use with hard baits. I personally have developed a sensitivity to certain resins and upon further research I fault myself for not using better precautions. The fastest way to end one's lure making days is to develop a sensitivity to one of the chemicals used in bait making so I will give my lessons learned with safety and encourage others to give their lessons learned. First, polyurethanes use a toxic chemical known as methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) which is usually the yellow or darked tinted liquid in two part mixes. The clear liquid is usually a diol compound similar to antifreeze and is less toxic. Studies have found nearly everyone can eventually become sensitized to MDI with enough time. 2-8 years of low chronic exposure to MDI will result in 25% or higher likelihood of sensitization. Of those sensitized, 60% will retain the symptoms of sensitization for life, even when permanently removed for ALL exposure. Recently it has been learned that dermal contact with isocyanates can be as dangerous or even more dangerous than inhalation. You may not have realized that spraying an auto clear without a mask is as dangerous as spilling uncured resin on your skin. Second, epoxies usually contain triamines and/or formaldehyde and have caused even worse sensitizations than with isocyanates in studies with Guinea Pigs. Everything above applies but even more severe. Third, microballoons are borosilicate glass and when inhaled chronically can cause silicosis (permanent scarring of the lungs). I work in the abrasives/grinding industry and have personally viewed ceramic dust under a SEM, and have seen many particles often as small as 1 micron by 4 microns. Hence, your dust mask and/or filter is not removing them. When you sand microballoon filled resin your dust mask is not enough. To protect yourself when pouring resins, at a minimum, you should: [1] Work in a well ventilated area [2] Wear nitrile gloves and long sleeve shirt (no exposed skin) [3] Use a vent hood when pouring/sanding/mixing resins or use a full air supplied respirator [4] Never heat any resin without industrial equipment designed for such a purpose [5] Forget about "it won't happen to me" because it will, given enough chronic exposure [6] Remember that even organic respirators do not remove isocyanate vapors Any other stories/suggestions?

Heating isocyanate urethane can be extremely dangerous if it has recently been poured. Most polyurethane mixes use MDI or TDI which are both forms of isocyanate and under normal temperatures have relatively low vapor pressure (especially MDI) but at higher pressures they can vaporize and pose a serious health threat. In fact, studies have shown that even organic respirators are not effective in removing isocyanates. You need either a full mask supplied air respirator or more logically a hood with at least 50 cfm of flow away from you.

I found Hexagon 3D to be useful for the modeling software. Its free and I found a really cool website with nearly 100 video tutorials on a wide variety of topics. The nice thing about the Hexagon crowd is they tend to focus on lifelike shapes/creatures which matches well with fish. I wouldn't recommend it for any serious engineering work but it certainly does its job for manipulating a fish.

Another consideration is to use the same resin as the "glue" as you did for the halves you are gluing. I have had good results doing this. With most resins, you need to be within two weight percent of the specified components to achieve a high molecular weight solid. If you try to glue two halves of a piece with low molecular weight and lots of unreacted resin you will have a poor bond. If I am using resin to glue a bait I wait until I mix the batch for the next bait, then I use the remnant to glue the preceding bait. Works out well too because at that point the resin is thickening up a bit.

Yes, I meant 3' wide. An additional consideration when testing lures is the angle of the lure to the rod tip (or line anchor). The problem with a very short line length is as the lure moves side to side the angle is over exaggerated and the forces perpendicular to the line are higher than they would if you had a lot of line out. With lures that have a large side to side coverage it really messes up the action to have anything less than 5-8' of line out. Does anyone know if a layer of padding is needed when laying down a plastic sheet? I was thinking of putting down some foam or something to reduce the sharp angles of the wood to minimize potential cracking of the plastic sheet over time.

Simple is good. After thinking about creating something like this I ended up deciding to just create a static tank. Its 3" wide, 12" long, and 11" tall. Found a nice 5' by 15' PVC pond liner to go inside. Will see how it works this spring. A bit too cold right now, it will freeze in my shop!

Your problem is probably from moisture. The main problem with featherlite is you expose a large surface area to the air and probably stir it every time you use it, which introduces moisture. I would recommend an alternative.

What container are you mixing in? Can you still smell solvent before fishing the baits? Is your compressed air dried and oilless? You may want more coats, say 4-6.

I was watching some videos of one manufacturer, looks like lots of people use it for fly tying with the UV lamp because it cures in 15 seconds. I keep some handy and a couple times a season will either scrape badly across a rock or will get teeth punctures.

I have been removing the air bubbles by vacuum. I built a small 3" by 6" vacuum chamber from ABS pipe and I have a hand automotive vacuum pump attached. Usually after pumping it down for about a minute the bubbles are gone.

I have found solarez UV cure epoxy to be very useful for any tooth punctures or other repairs on hardbaits in the field. It is most often used for repairing surf boards. They also sell a UV light that will cure the stuff in 20 seconds, otherwise it cures in 5 minutes in the sun. No mixing either!

I can try soft plastic. I definitely need something soft because I am planning a single top hook and it needs to not interfere with the dorsal fin.

Is it more brittle like D2T or soft like Etex?

I am looking at trying some swimbaits with microfibers for the fins, does anyone have any advice on doing this? How deep of a pocket should be used? How do you evenly fan out the fibers? What kind of adhesive to hold in place?