Crank bait lip not clear

[Lith74]

I know I read something about this before but for the life of me I cannot find it. I fly some cranks in a sample pack from Shelts. The lips are not clear. I cleaned all the baits work alcohol, the clean up some temporarily. I thought I saw some one day to use clear nail polish. Does this work? Any other ways to make the lips clear again? Thanks.

[JimP]

You might try "flame polish".   I always flame the lexan lips I cut to remove the micro scratches that happen during shaping and sanding the edges.  You will probably have best results with a small butane torch set to about a medium low flame.  I'm not going to try and tell you how its done.  Just do a web search and you will find several instructions.   Work quick and then quit.  Don't come back more than once and keep it moving unless you like melted plastic.

Practice on junk plastic.

 

[Anglinarcher]

6 hours ago, Lith74 said:

The lips are not clear

Do you mean they are scratched or do you mean they are yellowed or generally cloudy?

6 hours ago, JimP said:

"flame polish"

This works on scratches, but 

If it is couldy because it is a circuit board material, nothing can be done, that is the nature of the material.

If it is yellow, it is because of the age of the plastic.  I have some Lexan lips from Netcraft that are probably 9 years old and they yellowed in the packae.  It appears to be in the plastic and a solvent did not work.  No big deal, I only make for myself, but ....... good thing I did not sell them.

You might take a picture and post it of the lips.

[Hughesy]

You might try acetone or dipping them in KBS. With the acetone, just put some on a Q tip and quickly swipe the bill.

[DingerBaits]

Becareful with the Acetone, if the plastic is cheap, it could crack from it, or remove some of the glue holding the bill together. I would suggest a clear coat over the bill as Hughesy stated. KBS works great. The other thing i use some times is Aztek Clear air brush paint. Works and holds up decent on a bill, but for clearest results you will need to clear coat it or polish the bill.

[Lith74]

 Here's some pics. There are some scratches, but it's cloudy. The second pic I added spit to the bill to see it clear up some. Thanks.

[Hughesy]

I'd say KBS would clear those right up.

Edited February 9, 2018 by Hughesy

[azsouth]

KBS worked for me.... can't hurt to try.

[mark poulson]

Bear in mind I'm a hobby builder, so this is just what works for me.

If you do a quick (really quick) dip in clean acetone, that will remove the surface layer of the plastic, and make is shiny again.  I do that before I paint clear plastic baits.  Too slow, and the bait will come apart or melt.

Once I've dipped a bait, I can paint right over the newly exposed plastic with my paint scheme, and it will stick, but not bond.  My top coat protects the paint, so it doesn't need to bond to the plastic, just stick long enough to get top coated.

I've got cranks I painted this way that are years old.  The finishes are worn, but the paint stayed on them fine.  When they get too worn, I just redip them in my top coat, or respray them with it.

Edited February 12, 2018 by mark poulson