BaloneyTony Posted June 26, 2008 Report Share Posted June 26, 2008 (edited) Im trying to find the cheapest, easiest way possible to make a mold for a lure shape that I dont have....so i cant just like....pour up some bondo and stick a lures into it and pull it out quickly... Ive never done this luremaking stuff before, but heres what ide like to try to do... So I saw one of those videos on youtube about this Doug Hannon snake lure, which looks really neat....but at 40 bucks...yikes. Plus they're about 11 inches long or something and he says he doesnt catch fish often, but then fish that it does catch are usually huge. Here in RI, there are almost no 'huge' bass....so Ide like to make a smaller snake-shaped rubber lure....maybe something more like this.. I had the idea if cutting up some old floating worms that I have, melting them and pouring them into that shape...but then Im not quite sure the easiest way to go about making a mold for a shape I dont already own. I thought maybe I could just take a plank of wood and use a dremel and slowly carve out the shape into the wood, and then cover the carved portion with a few layers of tin foil and press it down into the shape, and pour into that. Would this work? Also, if I melt a floating rubber worm, repour the rubber...will the resulting bait also be a floating bait? Thanks guys. -Alex Edited June 26, 2008 by BaloneyTony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nova Posted June 26, 2008 Report Share Posted June 26, 2008 The cheapest way to do it is with plaster of paris (POP). Do a search for this and you will find tons of posts about it. www.novalures.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HJS Posted June 26, 2008 Report Share Posted June 26, 2008 Alex - Not sure. Two things: I'm assuming the snake lures pictured are not in your possession. Also, when at rest, do the snake lures have a wavy set to them like the ones pictured or are they straight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloomisman Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 see if you can find some rubber snakes in the toy section at walfart or kmart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 (edited) It may sound silly, but why not make the master out of plasticine, I think it's called silly putty in USA. Simply roll it out (get the kids to help), you can easily carve the markings on the surface, even press some netting into the surface for instant scales. I molded a tarantula a few months ago, just as an experiment. The spider was made of plasticine and it came out great. You will need to bottom pour, ie. fix the master to the bottom of a tin and pour the pop over the master. Edited June 27, 2008 by Vodkaman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike-A-Pike Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 Alex, Another method you may employ is to cut existing plastic worms and use a soldering iron or plastic superglue to piece together the "snake" shape/style your looking for. OR I under stand guys use wax as a medium to carve masters and make mold based on those molds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delw Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 A piece of nylon rope and a lighter will make you a great master for a mold. use the lighter to form the head ( make sure you wear glooves cause nylon is nasty when it gets hot. when you say remelt floating plastic , if its the strike king worms that doesnt work very well. remelts do work from a few different companies, like cabelas and brass proshops own stuff, some of them use calhoun plastic and its remeltable. zoom, berkely senkos and a few others use additives in there plastic and you will never get the same hardness softness, plus it stinks alot. Not to mention you can get a quart or gallon of fresh plastic for around 30 bucks or less from any of the companies who sell it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loco Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 i have that mold. its a lurecraft snake. i beleive its only 15.00. you might want to save yourself some effort and just pick one up from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 This took about 15 minutes. I tried to cram it into my mold box, but just could not get it in. I'll have to make a bigger box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cthulhu Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 I've used an oil-based clay for my new designs. Very easy to eork with and the detailing is excellent. Just sculpt the shape you want, then pour some plaster or hydrostone over it as per instructions on other threads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDC Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 That's pretty good for 15 min Vman. Like Gloomisman said I'd go to a toy store and get a plastic snake to use for a master then do a search on how to make POP molds. You could have a mold poured and coated and be pouring baits in about a day and a half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaloneyTony Posted June 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 Alright so I tried using a little Bondo I found in the garage to make a mold last night...just to test some things out. The lure im trying to make DOES have permanent bends in it, so when at rest, ide like it to re-coil up. I took a rubber worm I had, glued it to the bottom of a container in an 'S' shape, and mixed up and poured the bondo over it...Let it sit for the night.. This morning, I flip the bondo hunk over and take the worm out and theres a great mold of the worm in the S shape.... So I melted up some old rubber lures and poured it in...gave it a few minutes, took it out and the worm came out pretty nicely...BUT...They're straight....they dont hold the S shape that I molded them in. As for that silly putty idea...Did you mean use the silly putty to shape a snake out of, or can you litterally pour this molten rubber into silly putty without the sillyputty melting? Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 shape the snake out of. My picture shows that it is possible. Obviously spend a lot more time than I did. One thing I learned, after rolling, cut a flat before getting into detail work, or you'll destroy the work trying to cut a flat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSC Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 Sounds like you took them out of the mold to hot .. laid them straight and they staid that way. They need to cool down in the "S" shape. JSC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weighinalimit Posted June 28, 2008 Report Share Posted June 28, 2008 I'm surprised nobody's told ya the true low buck way....drop a 10.5 or 11 inch paddletail worm into boiling water for about 20 seconds, pick it out, lay in the desired S shape & let cool. Just the reverse of straightening swimbaits with boiling water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaloneyTony Posted June 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2008 haha yea you guys might be right...I was eager to get those things out of the mold the first time. Ill let one sit for 10 minutes (or longer?) next time. Thanks again for all the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDC Posted June 28, 2008 Report Share Posted June 28, 2008 Once you take it out of the mold, let it sit overnight. The plastic will cure and will hold it's shape better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HJS Posted June 28, 2008 Report Share Posted June 28, 2008 Once you take it out of the mold, let it sit overnight. The plastic will cure and will hold it's shape better What MDC said. I extract them from the mold about 10 to 20+ minutes after pouring. 2-piece molds take longer still. The extracted plastics are set very carefully on a cookie sheet in the exact position I want them to look like. Then don't mess with them for 24 hours!!! Popping them into the frig will speed up the posess but still takes hours. Sometimes I'll even put the tray of lures in the freezer. Or if it winter I'll place the tray out on the woodpile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 It seemed such a shame to just roll the snake up for the next job, so I went ahead and poured some PoP over it. While juggling with everything, I forgot to grease up the plasticine snake, consequently I couldn't get it out. I had to bake the mold, which absorbed the moisture out of the clay and picked it out with a tooth pick. It took about an hour! Another lesson learned. I use this clay for lots of jobs, like vent channels, locating holes, sprue funnels etc. It works really well with RTV. In hind sight, a meltable clay may NOT be the best solution for a long thin pattern like a snake in PoP. I added 5% Elmers to the PoP. With all the scratching with the tooth pick, I think it made a big difference by giving a hard surface to work with. No damage. I cut the scales with the tool shown. I cut them at varying depths and severity, to see the effect. Some look OK, others, a bit deep or undefined. It was a useful exercise, now residing in the BIN there, done that. Well, it gave you all a laugh, so it was worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
