Jump to content

eastman03

TU Member
  • Posts

    452
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    28

Everything posted by eastman03

  1. You could probably go on the mother site, (http://www.lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/Lure-Lips/Lexan-Lips-Rounded-Style.html) and order a few different ones to see what would work best for yourself? Just an idea. Looks like they sell lexan lips up to 1/8". I'll have to double check at home what thickness I used. I'll let you know. For my 6" lures, I think its around 1/8". Another good option which I do now is track down a local glass/window shop, or plastics manufacturer (this may not work for you obviously depending where you live). I found a shop in my community that does windows, they often deal with lexan for multiple different applications. The guys let me have a bunch of different thickness little scraps that were completely unusable for them. But, I could easily get a bunch of lips out of each piece. They are now my official lexan supplier, (it helps that a few of them fish, so I repay the favor once in a while).
  2. I've never done it, but I've read about guys that will stack a few blades of a metal cutting hack saw together to get the same thickness of the lip. Then you can cut it all in one shot with the top and bottom being parallel. Like others mentioned, probably all best when the blank is not shaped yet. Making a lip cutting miter box also sounds like a good plan to keep it consistent.
  3. Thanks! I'll be testing and tuning them as soon as the ice melts and I can get out on the boat. The prototype one I made last year worked great, with a nice wobble. Hopefully these all do the same!
  4. I usually just start with some fluorescent yellow, and slowly add drops of fluorescent green till I get the color that I'm looking for. I don't have a formula for it exactly. I'm curious to see if some else does as well.
  5. Very nice as usual, so clean! I'm always inspired by your work
  6. eastman03

    IMG_0481.JPG

    I added a seven pics of some smaller cranks I finished up. If anyone is interested, I did a little bit of a tutorial in the Hard baits Tutorial section in the forum.
  7. So I figured I would take you along with my latest build. I thought I had taken more pics along the way to document how I did it. This is by no means a different or revolutionary way to do any of the steps, but I always like the how-to's when I first started out, so I figured i'd post one here. A bunch of the first steps aren't documented unfortunately. First I design a lure, in this case I wanted a smaller (6"), medium diving crankbait that floats when paused. For a down sized option for casting in spring. I ripped some (mostly) clear straight grain cedar down to 3/4", and cut them in to rectangles just over 6" long and 2" high. Then I traced the shape out on cedar, and rough band sawed out the shape. I also use the bandsaw to cut out the lip slot that I traced on to the blank. These particular lures are flat sided, so they are easier to shape than some of the others I built that have a more 3d shape (maybe a good lure to attempt for starters). I also designed a diving lip, traced it out on a 3/8" sheet of Makrolon (polycarbonate, same as Lexan), and cut them out on the band saw. I cleaned up all the edges on the lips and wood bodies, up to my trace lines on a bench belt sander. Pic 1 is of my woodworking corner with my big old bandsaw, RAS and table saw. I also love collecting old iron vintage tools from the 1950's but that is another topic all together. The next step for the wood bodies is to round over the corners. I have done this several ways. Hand chisel, or belt sander are options, but I chose to use the router because these lures have a flat side. I build a jig similar to this one in the 2nd picture in order to remain away from the cutter. I have not much experience with the router, and from what I've read, I HIGHLY recommend caution using this powerful tool. Once the lure bodies are rounded over, I gave them a quick sand with 80, 120, and 180 grit to smooth over any imperfections. Now I move over to the other side of the shop and drill the hook hanger, lead and thru wire holes. 3rd picture. I don't have a big old drill press yet, so this is all done with a regular 20v dewalt hand drill. In the next series of pics I bend .051" wire to go thru holes in the lip, then into the lure body all the way straight thru. I also bend little 'figure 8' hook hangers that will connect to the thru wire and act as the hook hanger. Some of the lures have a separate lead hole, and some will only get lead in the hook hanger hole (experimenting with different weights). I will sand the edges of the lips with 120, 180, 400, 1000 and wetsand with 5000 to get them very smooth and back to see through. I fill the lip slot and the thru wire hole with epoxy, then insert the lip and wire and hook hanger. Once this is dry I fill the rest of the thru hole with epoxy until it just shows up in the hook hanger hole. I also drill a small hole through the head of the bait all the way through the lip and use a thick wire to pin the lip in place as well. Then lead gets poured into the holes, and I use bondo (car body filler) to fill in the gaps and any other cracks to smooth it out. Then I dip the lure in polyurethane twice to give it a smooth overall surface and to seal the endgrain. You can see this in pic 12. Next comes the first layer of epoxy making sure to let the polyurethane dry completely and making sure there are no little nibs sticking up. I used and art resin called Ecopoxy Uvpoxy for the first time just to try it out (love it so far). You can see the lures on the lure turner in pic 13. Then comes the creative part. Prime all the lures with white spray can primer. I foiled some of them (pic 14 and 15). Paint in any design imaginable. There are many great resources on youtube, Instagram, right here in the gallery especially! Once painted I added lure eyes that I got from Lisa and Ed's eyes (https://lisaandedseyes.ipage.com/lure_eyes.htm). Then each lure got two more layers of Ecopoxy (pics 16 and 17)and now they are ready to fish. The lures spend the night on the lure rotator that I built out of a bbq rotisserie after each layer of Ecopoxy. This is my first tutorial, I'm still learning every time I step into the shop. It is a fun hobby ( our winters are too long anyway). I will have to take more pictures detailing some of the steps next time. If anyone has any input, ideas, questions or whatever, let me know. Thanks
  8. Welcome here. If you can get the lip out, you can get lips from lure parts online, and probably several other websites. http://www.lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/Lure-Lips/ If none of these seem to match, you can always go get some polycarbonate (not plexiglass), aka lexan, and make your own to fit.
  9. How big is the lure you made? And what is the method you used to clear coat the outside (epoxy? uv cure?) Where do you suspect the lure to be taking on water? Maybe post a pic to see if we can help you better. Take Vodkaman's ideas to dry the lure completely! You do not want to trap moisture in there. As far as finishing, probably a complete layer epoxy like etex or other popular brands should keep water out, but depending on the lure, or where the water is entering this might be tricky (like joints in the lure).
  10. Krylon Looking glass seems to get good results as long as you have a very smooth starting point, and put on very very thin coats. This video shows how it is done, (not my video), he also has an entire series on how to get a chrome effect from foil to actual silver plating. Quite interesting. I'm going to try the looking glass rattle can as it seems to do a nice job.
  11. I've not had much luck with filling small areas either. I usually wait till the epoxy is cured, then do another complete coating which often does the job. Be very careful sanding down the cured epoxy as i have taken off paint in the areas where the epoxy didn't take! Very frustrating. That being said, the lures I'm making are large musky lures, so a bit of extra epoxy is not a problem. If it is a small lure, you may want to try a small repair, I'm not sure of the best way to do this though. It seems using a UV cured product can give you good results for small voids, but that is an entirely different setup.
  12. This is a 10” musky crankbait carved from cedar wood. Wire thru. Polycarbonate lip. This is my attempt at a Lake Winnipeg ‘greenback’ walleye. They have a very unique colour. The scales were painstakingly cut in strips from foil. Foil gill plated. Several layers of epoxy under the scales and on top. Painted and more epoxy. It was a fun build!
  13. I'm not sure about markers, but make stencils! It doesn't have to be complicated. I make them out of just a piece of paper, or some tape, or a piece of thin plastic. They do the job and make the painting much easier! I'm no good at free handing stripes or detail compared to others!
  14. Very interesting read! I missed when this was originally posted. I have a large musky crankbait that I designed for shallow use but when I tried it out, the action was minimal. Note to self, when prototyping a lure, make the lip oversize so it can be paired down to optimal size. The lip was too small in my case (and thick) to produce the action I was hoping. But after reading this I think I can cut a chamfer in the backside of the lip to see if this will increase the action. And if that is not enough, I could even sand away the face of the lip producing a concave shape. I will experiment with it and see if I can get it useable! As always Dave, excellent research and information on a very complex topic.
  15. Hey Skeeter, do you have a preference between oil or water based poly? Do you cut it with anything? I see some makers on youtube using poly and recently bought some for myself to try as well. I'm not to worried about dry times as I just let my stuff hang overnight.
  16. eastman03

    3 perch.jpg

    Unreal! as usual
×
×
  • Create New...
Top