Microbaloons

[ItsJustB]

Hello everybody,

 

I'm new posting here but have been reading through the forums for quite a while.  I've been making wood lures for a few years. They are mostly turned on a lathe out of Alaskan yellow cedar for targeting stripers in the surf. It's just something I do in my spare time to supply myself and a few friends.

Lately I've been getting into making some jointed swimbaits and glide baits. They are fun to make but a bit more time consuming than say a pencil popper or spook. I've decided to try my hand at molding some lures using alumalite white with microbaloons. While watching an alumalite video they mentioned that the microbaloons will shift slightly during the open time of the casting resin. The slight shifting creates a ballast (I think that's the right term) where the blank will float with a certain side up. I know wood will also float with a particular side up but for my applications it usually isn't enough to worry about. 

Well that was a lot of talking before the question and sorry if it's been gone over before but I couldn't find the answer. Is the ballast created by the microbaloons enough to worry about when I'm setting up my mold or should I just forget about it?

Thanks

Brian

[Anglinarcher]

Depends on the lure.  Most of the time it is tough to get a lure to float with just Alumilite White and Microballons, even with equal volume of ballons and resin.

 

But, it can make a slight difference and then it is a problem if you don't figure that into the design.  I always just figure it into my design now.

[ItsJustB]

Thanks for the reply. If Alumilite isn't that good for floating lures what would you recommend? 

Am I correct in assuming that if you're using microbaloons you would probably want to pour from the mid point of your lure vs the nose or tail? 

[Anglinarcher]

I use Alumifoam, a little different to work with, but it has the density of cedar wood.

If I want to stick with Alumilite White and Microballons, I pour it, then I plug the mold pour port, then I hand rotate the mold (rotomolding).  If I pour 10% or so less material and do this then I end up with a hollow core.  On lures I can do this with, it gives me an Awesome floating lure.

A third method I use is to use the rotomolding method with about 20% of the required material, then fill the empty void with Alumilite 610 foam.  This gives me a lure just heavier then balsa.

Now, back to the Alumilite resin and Microballons.  Yes, best to pour form the top center of the lure, but if you do pour from head or tail, it will still work, it just requires slightly different ballast.  Never pour form the belly or side.

Hope this helps some.

[ItsJustB]

Awesome. Thank you for all the info, I really appreciate it. I'll look into the alumifoam also, that sounds like it might be more what I'm looking for.

I'll mess around with the white for a while in the mean time, I'm sure I'll find something to use it for.