Jointed Baits Copy

[danehc]

I have been making jointed swimbaits for a little while now, and I have had a few come out great, and others not so much. As much as I enjoy making the baits themselves, I would also like to be able to copy some of my better baits. What do you guys recommend for reproduction materials? I have made molds of some of my best baits (I used oomoo mold material), but I have yet to find a "pourable" material to recreate the baits. Any suggestions? An exact copy would be nice, but a copy that would allow me to make minor tweeks (carving,sanding) without having to start from scratch would be best. Ill try to upload some pics of my baits to the gallery section.

thanks!

[danehc]

I have no intentions of selling my baits, or even copying any one elses baits. My favorite bait is SO BEAT UP!!! I dont want lose her!

[Vodkaman]

The problem with the pouring of resins is that the density of the final result is quite a bit heavier than your original wood bait. This will inevitably affect the action and the amount of ballast. You may get lucky and preserve the swimming action.

Some of the commercial pouring resins already have micro-balloons or microspheres already mixed in or you can mix the plain resin with micro-balloons to control the density to your own specification.

But, the more MB’s you add, the thicker the mix becomes. I had some success pouring the thicker mixes using a cake icing syringe. It takes a little practice to clean up after each pour, but the syringe can be used over and over hundreds of times. I bought two syringes and never opened the second.

If you choose to try the syringe, let me know and I will write a detailed procedure of what I learned and save you some grief.

Dave

[danehc]

Dave, if you don't mind, I would love to learn what worked/didn't work for you. I appreciate the help, I can eventually respond as well with what worked for me.

[Vodkaman]

Cake syringe for resin/microsphere injecting

The first time you try injecting, you spend about half an hour trying to clean everything up and soon realize that this is not the way to go. Also, the pour is not efficient, with a lot of waste filling the gaps and crevices. The three images show two identical syringes, one unused.

The secret is to fill all these gaps and crevices. This serves two purposes:

1 – greatly reduces wastage, improving efficiency.

2 – clean-up is reduced to a minute or two after very little practice.

First job is to fill the end of the plunger. Image No2 shows the recess in the end. Fill this flush. You can use the resin or some other filler.

Second job is to fill the unused space inside the barrel and nozzle, as seen in image No3. The best way to achieve this is to have a dummy run. This also covers the clean-up procedure. You need half a jar of solvent, I use cheap paint thinners. An old rag and a scraper, I use an old knife.

1 - Spoon in some mixed resin, insert the plunger and squirt out of the nozzle.

2 - Pull out plunger, scrape off excess and wipe with the rag.

3 - Re-inset plunger, draw up some solvent and squirt back into the same jar, repeat about 20 times.

4 - Remove the plunger and allow to set.

The syringe is now ready for injection. The clean-up solution can be used many times. The sediment settles and can be decanted. You can see in image No1 that there is a build up over time. The syringe in the image has been used more than a hundred times, so you can see that the syringe is good for at least 500 operations. You could extend this life by figuring out a way to efficiently wipe the inside to prevent the build up, but I didn’t bother as the syringes are so cheap anyway.

You never need to remove the nozzle.

Hope this helps, I am not famous for explaining things clearly.

Dave

[Matt Moreau]

I fight with this topic and i have not found what i like yet. I have tried 2 ways;

1. Syringe method... I have cathetar syringes and they get eaten up by the thinner. You only get about 10 uses out of them but they are only a buck or two. They resins i use also set up very fast so mixin in MB's and then sucking it into a syringe and then into a mold takes valuable time and is a real pain for me. Doing it this way i can only fill 1 cavity each time i mix so i hav eto make a new batch for each segment. If you use this method i would opt for a resin that has a potable life of 15 mins not the 3-6 as i find the work time is only about a minute here in California... Now that its colder i may get a little more tho.

2. The other method i use is just pouring it in. You have to find a resin that has a low viscosity becase as VM said the more MB you mix in the thicker it gets. I like Dascar Plastics rp 40 but i cannot do it with this method unless i make a decent size pour hole because its too thick. I have been trying a few of the alumilite products and the super plastic white is a good one but not nearly as hard as the dascar. I find with a 1-1 ratio of MB the alumilite SP white is still very thin and you can pour in small holes. Note....YOU HAVE TO GET THE WHITE as the other ones are thicker. Also the alumilite cost much more.

I would love to hear what others do and what products they use. For me the second method works better but cost a little more

[A-Mac]

I've been mixing the mbs into each part of resin separately first.

I then pour each one into a large 20ml syringe with a 14g needle.

I cover the tip of the needle with my thumb ( I cut off the sharp portion first) and put the plunger in.

*Notice I have not mixed the two parts yet.

After the plunger is in, I shake the syringe for a few seconds (it doesn't take much) and shoot out a small bit that doesn't get mixed in the needle.

I then inject into the mold slowly.

After injecting, I'll normally rotate the mold some to try and work out any airbubles that might be trapped.

FYI, clean the medical syringe first with DA or acetone to remove the (silicon?) layer. I use syringes for mixing paints too, and you must rinse them otherwise you will get fish eyes after spraying on the lure.

Edited October 25, 2012 by A-Mac

[danehc]

Thanks for the help guys, I'm going to order a few things and i'll report back with my results!

[mark poulson]

The two part structural epoxy we use for anchoring bolts in concrete, Strongtie by Simpson, comes in a two tube dispensor, and has screw on tips that mix the two parts as it is injected. That way, the epoxy and catalyst only come into contact in the disposable mixing nozzle, and we can save any unused epoxy for the next job.

Home Depot carries both the epoxy and the nozzles.

Maybe you could find a setup like that, so you could add your micro balls into both sides separately, like A-Mac, and be able to inject it. That way, you might only have to replace the mixing nozzle, and you can use the dual tube setup to store unused portions of your resin and catalyst.

Just something to think about.

[stretcher66]

this contour guage is a great tool for duplicating. and it costs less than $10.00

Edited November 4, 2012 by stretcher66