atijigs

Blue inlay/onlay wax will be solid at 99 degrees. At roughly 103-106 degrees it becomes soft. The best way is probably a water bath. In its solid state it can be carved very easily. The outcome is what matters. You can add wax in small increments by heating a small curved instrument and dipping it into solid wax. As with anything it takes practice. Paraffin with beeswax will work. Much cheaper and easier to get. As far as detail and finish goes there would be no comparison. The learning curve is very steep for carving/molding dental inlay/onlay type one hard wax. The results are very precise. This would be my solution to your question. Make your model out of clay or whatever you choose. Don't worry about undercuts. Use alginate (can be purchased at craft stores)in the area you would find the sculpy clay. You will recognize it because they use it for taking impressions of babies hand and feet.----There are some undercuts there. Now you can pour melted wax of your choice in that mold. Paraffin would work. Just get it to the point it is liquid. Pour it in and you have your wax model. I have never tried this. This is theory only. As with any mold making your results depend on the model. Alginate needs to be mixed carefully to avoid air bubbles. Water to powder ratio needs to be exact. I am sure the mold will hold up for at least one pouring of warm liquid(low melting wax). That's the best info I can share given the result you are searching for. I find it very difficult to explain in a few sentences what took me many years and mistakes to learn. I hope this is of some help and not making it more confusing. For instance-we use a special spatula and rubber bowl to mix the alginate. You probably are not going to have this stuff laying around. Good luck. It can be done.

Used it for years making crowns. As previously mentioned it is hard. Can be carved in very fine detail. For the finishing we used to use an alcohol torch that had a sqeeze bottle. By sqeezing the bottle you would get a very precise burst of flame. With a little practice you can get it fairly smooth this way. The next step to get a mirrow finish would be using a small piece of nylon(as in stockings) and gently rub the surface. It's not cheap but for your purpose you can reuse it when you are done. I used to order it in blocks. I would think you can get it from any dental lab supply company.

These were designed by musky fishermen. It allows them to swap out their heavy lures easily without having to retie every time. They are commercially available under the name of Fastach. I have been playing around with them on spoons and some different ice lures. Really handy for changing trebles on spoons and in place of a snap swivel; At least in the walleye world I predict you will see a change to longer hook shanks or separation of the hook to the head shortly.

If you have not seen this yet you will. This little wire bend allows you to twist your hook on and off. It can be attached to your line instead of a snap swivel to allow easy bait changes with just a slight spin of your lure. A swivel can be attached to the eye side. One company is using it as an eye off of the jig head to allow easy hook changes. I make a double ended one to allow an easy way to get the hook further (yes, further from the jig head). Great terminal attachment.

I am going to make an assumption that your bait rolls on the retrieve. If my assumption is correct it is a weight problem. Put it in a bowl of water with your hook of choice in it. Get it to float or sink the way you want it. Then try it during a retrieve.

Slow easy pressure on your injector.. Keep pressure for a few seconds after the mold is full. You could just top off the sprue too. The dents are from suck back upon cooling.

I was using scrap for this experiment. I was happy with the result. Left is top. Middle two are side and the right view is the bottom. The result is a nice clean laminate with very little plastic wasted experimenting.

Just a tip. I searched this and did not see any posts about this. Many 2 piece molds are mirror images and if the seating pins are the same size you can reverse one side and pour a great 1/2 bait by placing the back of the mold against the pattern. Your sprue width is 1/2 the size but can still be poured. I like to use a narrow tip adapter and injection to get a really nice laminate. It is a nice technique to test your colors with a small amount of plastic. Not all molds will match up. I was surprised at how many do. I have a small grub mold from Jacobs that had a small port in the back side to make this easy. After I played with that I saw you can do it without the port(it's a little harder)..It beats cutting your bait and replacing it in the mold. No seam either. .

I tried casting craft. I purchased it at Micheal's craft store. It is expensive. Very technique sensitive. I also found out the hard way that it will eventually set up in the can without catalyst. Best used in silicone molds. I had a very hard time digging it out of a couple of aluminum molds.. It comes out crystal clear. Dyes are available for it too.

I have been playing around with polyester resins. I can't vouch for the durability yet. The epoxy resins will yellow which should not matter if died or painted..

Add a vice grip to your round nose pliers and you will be able to make a clean wire form with a little practice. Use the vice grip to grab the eye after you form it with the round nose. Turn the vice grip holding the tag with the pliers and you will get nice tight wraps.

I certainly am no plastics wizard but I think being able to use the blade for a 3rd color on laminates is a nice option. There is no problem with seams because the color is internal. Dipping the blades is easier if you have extra blades so you can dip a bunch then shoot the laminates.

I would think epoxy should work if a person wanted fixed blades. JB weld would be another choice. I like to dip the blades for internal coloration. This obviously could not be done with fixed blades..

If you are getting flash because your mold won't close your pins are too long or too large. If your mold is closing then the pins are too thin for the weed guard recess. A dab of modeling clay will solve this problem. The pins really only have to be around 10mm long, 3mm projecting into the head and enough left to grab hold of to remove it. Trim the pins with a dremmel or a small bolt cutter. You should be able to tell if the mold is closed all the way. Just look at the seam when you close it. You can use clear nail polish over your eyes after they have been superglued. You won't get the durability of epoxy but it works ok.

If the blade is fixed you will find it a chore to remove your baits from the mold.

Don't put the loctite over the eye. Place a dot of it in the recess and place the eye. Don't get any on the top of the eye itself.

I like to brush on as thin a coat as I can. The epoxy will self level and I suggest standing your jigs upright if possible. You can hit them lightly with a heat gun to get a quicker initial set. I don't do this step but I know others do. I think you can sand them but have never tried it. I don't know how cold your garage is in California but d2t must be thoroughly mixed. If not problems with setting can occur.

X 2

Bears is an insert for an injection swimbait mold..

I buy them separate and put them on. They are light wire rings and easy to work with.

Worth company has the small sizes. http://lurecomponents.worthco.com/sites/lurecomponents.worthco.com/files/catalog-pages/WorthOEMPage98.pdf

My guess would be your plastic is not hot enough. I try to do a bunch at a time. If it starts getting bulky it's time to reheat.

I did not mean to dispute your claim, I just didn't want people to misunderstand the pricing of dental pliers. They are not a bargain here. I also have the pliers you are talking about. They do work well for bending light wire. Unfortunately here in the states they are way more than 8 dollars. You can get cheaper versions at some of knock off stores. I have tried them but they don't hold up well. I would have to agree with most everybody. If you are going to do a lot of wires spend the extra $ on a good one. Same with cutters. The cheep cutters work great for about 30 baits then the jaw tips fracture.

As a dentist I can tell you that 8 $ will not buy you a wire bending tool of any sort.

You can use the silicone skirt tabs. They work just fine. If you have round rubber skirts available they may give you a little better action. The trick is to tie them on with thread. A couple of wraps,tie it off, followed by a drop of D2t and you will not lose the legs. I don't think your cyanoacrylate will hold for long.