Pop R’s

[plasticworm]

For those that make a Pop R, how is the cupping in the face done?  Thanks.  

[eastman03]

Very painfully lol.  Welcome here by the way. 

I've made a few large poppers and have struggled to do this easily.  Easiest way I found is to "hog" out the bulk of the material carefully with a drill bit (don't go too deep, also I've only made giant poppers, so this may not be necessary at all), then i have a few ball burrs for my Dremel tool that I shape the cup with.  It is slow, but I've only made a few poppers, so it worked.  To get the final sanding and shape, I ended up gluing some sand paper to a golf ball, which I glued a drill bit into, so I could turn the ball with my hand held drill haha.  Actually worked pretty good to smooth it out (it was a giant giant popper, so a golf ball was about the right circumference).  

 

Solarbaits makes a similar tool at the 6 minute mark in the video here.  Same idea to get the cup sanded.  Wouldn't be too hard to make yourself a tool

Lure making | The popper - YouTube

 

[Hillbilly voodoo]

I have only made 2 bass poppers for a friend so take my advice for what it’s worth 

I just drilled a pilot hole with a drill bit followed by a spade bit then finished of with a round sanding stone. This is just the first idea I had and it worked well enough to catch him some fish 

pic of the sanding stone attachment. I have a few different shapes and sizes.  I use them for eye sockets and shaping

[JD_mudbug]

Like Hillbilly, I start with a drill bit to get a rough cone shape hole in the middle. Followed by ball and bullet shaped burrs and stones to get the cup close to shape. I get the final shape with a ball nose sanding cap. The caps come in different grits and sizes. The mandrels for the caps come in different sizes to match the various caps. I got some in an off-brand dremel-like accessory kit from a local discount tool store. You can find the caps and mandrels on Amazon and various websites. 

https://mdiwoodcarvers.com/t/ball-nose-sanding-caps-and-mandrels?page=1

[Big Epp]

This is probably a personal preference, but I've found it's not always necessary to make the popping face deeply cupped, or cupped at all.  This is a popper I made with a flat, angles face.  I caught a ton of bass with it last season, including one 21."  Personal preference, I like the flat face.

I have also done some more deeply cupped poppers.  If you find a shape you like that can be turned on a lathe, that's a much easier way to go about hallowing out the cup, just like you would if you were making a tiny bowl on a lathe.  I've used a gauge with some success.  using the Dremel is maybe the most common way I've heard for doing this.  I'm not very good at it yet, and I've found the bit likes to wander, which is a little nerve-racking while working with such a small bait.

[Vodkaman]

I haven't built a popper myself, but I do understand the concept; gather the water and squeeze it out the top to make some splash/plop noise.

A vertical cylindrical shape would achieve this result, particularly with a lip at the bottom of the face. Many commercial poppers show an kinked/angled side profile which hints at the same idea; gather the water and force it upwards.

Dave

[Travis]

Can tackle it a few ways but like most things in life people will use different methods.

Foredom cylinder shape ball tungsten carbide wood carving burrs.

[mark poulson]

On 3/3/2021 at 10:03 AM, Big Epp said:

This is probably a personal preference, but I've found it's not always necessary to make the popping face deeply cupped, or cupped at all.  This is a popper I made with a flat, angles face.  I caught a ton of bass with it last season, including one 21."  Personal preference, I like the flat face.

I have also done some more deeply cupped poppers.  If you find a shape you like that can be turned on a lathe, that's a much easier way to go about hallowing out the cup, just like you would if you were making a tiny bowl on a lathe.  I've used a gauge with some success.  using the Dremel is maybe the most common way I've heard for doing this.  I'm not very good at it yet, and I've found the bit likes to wander, which is a little nerve-racking while working with such a small bait.

I use a Dremel sanding drum, because it is much easier for me to control