Cutting A Lip Slot Im Stumped

[muskiestalker51]

I'm making a 6 in bait that is round at first then I'm cutting the bottom of the lure flat. I've left the ends on from the lathe to use the fence to square the cut. The bait is tapered from the nose to the tail.  I'm wanting a 38degree cut for the lip, my problem is with the taper of the bait I can't get a nice square cut even using the table square adjusting it to the taper of the lure. Any suggestions on a easier way to figure this out.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nathan]

What about cutting your lip slot before turning the lure while your stock is square?....Nathan

[mark poulson]

Maybe making a wooden miter box, with the proper angle cut into it, would make it easier to align your bait's lip slot.

[muskiestalker51]

Not sure about cutting the slot before turning since I want to cut the bottom flat tryin to figure out exactly where I'd come up with a square bottom. Maybe a miter box would work with a groove to hold the rounded top so I could cut groove square like Mark suggested

[EdL]

Go look in the hard bait tutorial section here on TU.  There's a how-to- for working with round stock.  It may not be exactly what you're needing but if you're building baits you must have creative attributes that work to come up with a jig or fixture to do what you want.  Beside using a jig or fixture is much safer to use than trying to hold a piece of wood with your fingers and pushing the stock into a moving blade.

Edited December 17, 2013 by EdL

[Seeking 56]

Have you thought about sanding the bottom flat on a belt sander?

[BobP]

If the bottom of the bait is flat, you should be able to use a table saw to cut the lip, if you do it before you taper the bait.  Afterwards, you'll need to take the taper into account before running the bait through the saw.  Once a bait is rounded and tapered, you might just have to do it by guess or by golly.  When cutting the lip slot on pre-formed balsa baits, I use a flexible strip of plastic  to gauge the position of the lip slot on the nose and mark it with a Sharpie, then cut it with a thin cut-off wheel in a Dremel.  That's not an exact way to do it but if I cut the lip slot wide enough, I can fudge the lip into square when I mount it with epoxy paste.

Edited December 17, 2013 by BobP

[muskiestalker51]

Yeap I do have creative attributes I'm sure I can figure out a jig, I was hoping someone here has run across what I'm trying to do. Every one here is very helpful an I'm sure when I figure this out I will every know. Thank for the input oh an the ADVICE.

[mark poulson]

If the bottom of the bait is flat, you should be able to use a table saw to cut the lip, if you do it before you taper the bait.  Afterwards, you'll need to take the taper into account before running the bait through the saw.  Once a bait is rounded and tapered, you might just have to do it by guess or by golly.  When cutting the lip slot on pre-formed balsa baits, I use a flexible strip of plastic  to gauge the position of the lip slot on the nose and mark it with a Sharpie, then cut it with a thin cut-off wheel in a Dremel.  That's not an exact way to do it but if I cut the lip slot wide enough, I can fudge the lip into square when I mount it with epoxy paste.

 

Bob,

I agree.  Getting one flat, accurate side to use to position your lip is a plus, but you can shim the lip in the slot to align it by eye. I just did that when the lip on a Lucky Craft 1.0 squarebill lost an argument with a rock, and I had to replace it with 1/16" lexan.

What brand of epoxy paste do you use?

Edited December 17, 2013 by mark poulson

[Nathan]

You don't have to complete your lip slot until your done shaping just make your initial cut when your stock is still square..Here is what I mean...Draw your bait out on your stock (including the flat bottom) so you know how deep your slot needs to be taking into account how much you will lose when you cut the bottom flat.When you have your slop marked make one cut with the bandsaw...now your slot marked and square.

When you have completed shaping your lure you now finish the slot with a Dremel tool with either a 1/16th or 1/8th" cutting bit (depends on the thickness of your lexan).The dremel will follow the cut you made with the bandsaw perfectly.This is how I do all my slots.Gene ( Lincoya) taught me that trick!...Nathan

[BobP]

Mark, I use slow cure Rod Bond epoxy paste to install lips in normal size slots.  For oversize slots where I really need lots of fill-in, for instance if I had to cut out a thick plastic broken lip and replace it with Lexan, I use an epoxy putty log.  There are lots of brands and most harden in 5 minutes - the local home store is sure to have it in the glue section.  Epoxy putty is a fast fix, holds well, and it has a density similar to "regular wood".  I completely fill the lip slot and then push in the new lip, adjusting the lip immediately and smoothing and removing excess putty that pushed out the sides.  You've got about 1 1/2 minutes before it begins to harden.  I've also used the putty to install belly weights when I mistakenly drilled the holes too big.  You want to smooth the putty surface to its final level before it gets hard.  Once hard, the stuff is tough to sand. 

[diemai]

@ muskiestalker51

 

Maybe these two videos might provide some help and input to you , ....in particular part two !

 

Part one :

 

 

Part two :

 

 

I figure out , that he must be using the angled nose plane(end grain) as a reference , .......quite finacky to keep holding the tapered lure blank exact 90° offset to the blade  when pushing through to cut the lipslot .

 

Probably try to screw two round 1/2" dowels vertically to the sliding fence(the one 90°offset to the blade) , one dowel should engage to the front part of the blank and one to the rear part , ......as far apart as possible to get the best functionality and accuracy .

 

The two dowels serve to position the blank to the sawblade , ......the pressure of the holding hand holds the lureblank in place , ........by trial and error the sliding fence might probably have to be set at a little angle to get the position of the tapered blank at exactly 90° to the sawblade , .......if the sliding fence is not adjustable , one would have to try to switch an slightly angled wood block inbetween or even use dowels of different diameters matching the body tapers to get the blank absolutely right angled to the blade .

 

 

 

Good luck , diemai

Edited December 17, 2013 by diemai

[clemmy]

I' think you'd need a variable speed lathe, but couldn't you cut the slot when all is square, and mount in the lathe offset down towards the flat bottom so the flat bottom is not touched, just the side and top are rounded? That way your lip is square and you don't have to round then saw flat...

Edited December 17, 2013 by clemmy

[woodieb8]

been building forevers.

run it thru as square stock for lip cut. turn on the thalathe. bandsaw the rest.

[mark poulson]

If you only have a table saw, make two 1X blocks of the same length with V cuts in the center of each, and glue/screw them to a sacrificial rectangular piece of plywood, so that their centers are parallel to the face of your miter gauge.  If you have made them the same length, and both V's are centered, holding the blocks even with one edge of the plywood will make the centers parallel.

Then you can put any lure into the V's, and it will be parallel to the miter gauge.  Set the gauge at 90 degees to the blade, and all you have to do is adjust the angle of the blade, and the height.  Your hand pushing down on the lure will hold it secure.  Just take the time to get the lure centered and upright.

If you're ambitious, you can attach an adjustable hold down clamp to the plywood base, so you have even better control.  it is safer than holding the blank with your hand.

[muskiestalker51]

Ok I'm going to try posting a pic of the jig I made to get the correct angle of the slot while keeping it square also. I can't take credit for the jig I found it on YouTube but I'll share