Stash Baits Posted May 30, 2014 Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 Hi there folks. Having some issues with my Alumifoam cranks and hope someone can help. This is my process: pour Alumifoam in a 2 part mold. After it dries, there's a mushroom of excess foam where my pour holes were. I sand those down flush and fill in the "scar" with wood putty. Sand that, prime, paint, and do 3 coats of etex on a drying wheel. What happens next is what I believe is off-gasing. My paint bubbles under the etex and then cracks or splits(see pics). I just did a batch and sealed the foam with spar urethane like my cedar lures. Haven't painted or applied etex yet. Any help or suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stash Baits Posted May 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 Also as you can see in the pics, it seems to be off gassing around the eyes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted May 31, 2014 Report Share Posted May 31, 2014 I don't pour foam baits, but it may be that you're not letting the blanks rest/offgas long enough, so you baits aren't fully cured. You might be able to speed up the offgassing by using a hair dryer to heat the blanks periodically to accelerate the curing process. If I were using the foam, I'd make some samples, try different curing times and heating, and see if there is a way to prevent the offgassing that is ruining your beautiful lures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stash Baits Posted May 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2014 Good advice. I'm gonna try that next. Thanks Mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robalo01 Posted June 2, 2014 Report Share Posted June 2, 2014 I tried making foam baits a few years ago and gave up because of the gassing problem. I probably didn't try hard enough, but I made tests with baits as old as 2 months and about 1 out of 5 still gassed and messed up the paint. I was told later that if you seal them with epoxy before painting it will fix the problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
