Want To Make My Own Crankbait. Where To Start?

[usmc1371]

Looking to start making my own crankbaits but i don't want it to be balsa. I want it to be plastic and hollow how can i make a mold? And what kind of plastic do i use? For some reason i don't like Alumilite. just don't seem strong enough

[diemai]

Looking to start making my own crankbaits but i don't want it to be balsa. I want it to be plastic and hollow how can i make a mold? And what kind of plastic do i use? For some reason i don't like Alumilite. just don't seem strong enough

 

Only thing I've heard so far regarding such hollow plastic homemades is making baits out of old CDs(apart from readily made lure kits) .

 

Haven't tried it  for myself yet , .......guess , the baits could only be made in smaller sizes this way .

 

Linked from a German site :

 

http://www.jigfanatics.de/nuetzliches/koederbau/wobblerbau/cd.html

 

Any particular reasons , why you do not want to go with timber , PVC decking or resin ?

 

Greetz , diemai

[usmc1371]

well timber and pvc just takes to much time and about the resin i haven't tried it. just the videos i have been watching just seems to weak. I may be wrong since i haven't tried it. i have a few ideas but have no idea where to start

[diemai]

@ usmc1371

 

If you're concerned about a timely process , you've gotta go with resin cast lures , I guess , .....once you've got your mold and the mixing ratio of resin and micro balloons done , you can reproduce a particular lure model time and time again .

 

But I guess , it would take some time and trial and error experiments to get there , ......I do not have any experience with it , since I like individual wood carving .

 

To knock out timber lure blanks in larger amounts there's also the option of using a copy lathe(lure duplicator) but which must be homemade .

 

Other options would be readily glued plastic blanks or lure kits .

 

Greetz , diemai

[RayburnGuy]

As far as I know the only way to make hollow bodied hard plastic lures, such as those available from companies like Strike King, Norman, etc, is to use an injection molding process where each half of the bait is injected into a mold and then glued together. This is extremely expensive to get set up to do the process yourself. You can contract an injection company to do it for you, but it's still quite expensive. You have to pay for the mold up front which can run anywhere from one to several thousand dollars depending on the complexity of the mold. You then pay for a production run which usually means at least 1000 baits. It's pretty much cost prohibitive for the vast majority of us since we don't sell thousands of lures each year. That's also why there is very little information about the subject at TU.

 

Ben

[Travis]

There were guys making molds and making two piece cranks as you are wanting to do.  These guys predate many of the regularly active members and I believe much of their posts were lost over the years.  Shaun (Art Brush) is the one I think of first and it would have been pushing 9 or 10 years ago.   Take a look at "foamies" in general and it shouldn't be two difficult to imagine making the mold to make the blanks you are wanting.  I have not made any hollow baits but have a lot of it worked out from back then on my lure book.  Glad you brought this up something I would like to do and long forgot about it.

[fatfingers]

If time is a problem, you're probably venturing into the wrong hobby. Truly creating your own hard bait (which is generally always a variation of what can be purchased off the shelf), is an adventure in trial and error. Each trial, win or lose, takes time and a lot of it, no matter what material you work with.

Actually, wood is a great place to start because you can test the hydrodynamic properties of your design before committing to the time involved in making a mold.

The only other help I might offer is to note that I cannot recall anyone here making a mold of the caliber required for plastic injection unless they were employed somewhere with access to some serious machining equipment. If anyone did that in their basement, I don't recall hearing about it.

[RayburnGuy]

There were guys making molds and making two piece cranks as you are wanting to do.  These guys predate many of the regularly active members and I believe much of their posts were lost over the years.  Shaun (Art Brush) is the one I think of first and it would have been pushing 9 or 10 years ago.   Take a look at "foamies" in general and it shouldn't be two difficult to imagine making the mold to make the blanks you are wanting.  I have not made any hollow baits but have a lot of it worked out from back then on my lure book.  Glad you brought this up something I would like to do and long forgot about it.

 

I'd love to read the posts about that process Travis. I've only been here 4 1/2 years so no doubt that's why I don't remember it.  And like you said there was quite a bit of stuff in the archives that was lost during some of the upgrades to the site over the years. Probably wouldn't use it to make baits, but it would sure make for some interesting reading.

 

Ben

[Travis]

I'd love to read the posts about that process Travis. I've only been here 4 1/2 years so no doubt that's why I don't remember it.  And like you said there was quite a bit of stuff in the archives that was lost during some of the upgrades to the site over the years. Probably wouldn't use it to make baits, but it would sure make for some interesting reading.

 

Ben

  It is surprising the amount of stuff one sees rehashed on the site that was figured out or being done long before now.

[mark poulson]

I think a builder named Hillbilly posted here a while back with a video of how he does it.
Here's the link to the thread with his video:

 

http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/topic/20768-want-to-make-a-mold-or-reproduce-a-old-crankbait-where-do-you-start/?hl=hillbilly#entry155313

Edited December 21, 2013 by mark poulson

[fishon-son]

this link was cool   check it out