jonister Posted October 13, 2014 Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 So I was making a lexan lip for a crankbait and wondered how companies make perfect lure lips, I mean the lures you would buy that are handmade like some sold by TU members, and I was also wondering what the clearcoats are on the store bought lures that are super thin and are probably airbrushed, Auto clear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wchilton Posted October 13, 2014 Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 For mass-produced parts they are probably punched out with a die (similar to a hole punch for paper). The cost for making such a die would be prohibitive for anyone making a few or even a few hundred pieces. They could also be cut with a cnc router or laser cutter. That's gonna be more expensive than a die if you're talking millions of parts but could be the best option for prototypes up to several thousand pieces. For making a few as a hobby, I find that making up a drawing on the computer helps me with symmetry. Then I'll print it out and paste the printed image onto a piece of the plastic sheet then start cutting and grinding using the printed image as a template. Lots of commercially-made baits have the lips molded in as part of the bait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted October 13, 2014 Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 Figure out what shape you want, print out a bunch of the shape on paper, cut it to the line, glue it onto the bill material, and cut and sand it to the final shape. Believe it or not, close counts, as long as your lip slots are square and semi-tight. You can fine tune the bait after the bill is installed. Just be sure the bill and the lure body are a proven design, so you're not swimming upstream. With square bills, it's hard to screw it up. They are very forgiving. For deep divers, if you have the line tie space right from the nose of the bait to the tip of the bill, it's a matter of tuning the line tie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonister Posted October 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 (edited) Any ideas how or where to obtain the punches or how to make them, also is the thin topcoat on the plastic lures auto clear? Edited October 14, 2014 by jonister Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAWGFAN Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 You can talk to a machine shop in your area about making a punch. I'm not aware of any that are made for sell. This would more than likely be a custom item, made just for you. Like wchilton said, you may find that the cost is more than you're willing to bite off. Go with Mark's idea of cutting and sanding, or buy commercially available lips. 1/16" Lexan and circuit board can be cut fairly easy with a good pair of heavy scissors. As for clear coat on factory baits, I'd suspect a urethane of some type is fairly typical. Many on this site use Dick Nite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimP Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Jonister: I have been cutting my own "Lexan" dive lips for a while with a CNC machine. Works very well for prototyping, come up with a design that you think you need. Cut a half a dozen to test and install them in test lures. For the test bait no fancy paint job is required, on fact all white is best so you get a good view of the action. The only downside with a CNC machine is it takes a while to program a design. The first one takes longer than the next 10. They will come off the machine with some mill marks but usable as is. I like to give the edges some sanding with 220 grit sand paper then slightly de-bur the corners with 500 grit wet/dry paper. Takes less than a minute per lip. If you are making bass size crank baits (2" to 3") and need 1/16" "Lexan" I probably have something close to what you are wanting. I'm not in the dive lips business but willing to cut a few to help if you can use 1/16" Lexan. Jim P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonister Posted October 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 @ JimP, Thanks for the offer, but for small lips I just use scissors like Hawgfan said, the lips Im referring to are the thick lips on musky lures or deep diving saltwater cranks. I just want a more "professional" look on my bigger lures since their bigger and easier to spot bad spots. Also, does anyone have a good source for dick nite moisture cured eurethane? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAWGFAN Posted October 15, 2014 Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 I think the best, and possibly only source for Dick Nite is direct from them. I think this is the stuff. I'm sure somebody can confirm this. http://www.dicknite.com/s81.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted October 15, 2014 Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 Dick set up a special web page just for the members of TU so he could give us a discount. Sorry I don't have the link since I lost everything to a computer crash recently. If you go to the site shared by the rest of the world you will pay full price. I'm sure someone will be along before long that has the link and will post it for you. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
