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Still need more time to mess with it, but was able to change the pixel size in Paint without reducing the image size so severely. I'm old and confused and not real computer savvy. I changed and uploaded a couple of pictures, and now I need a nap.

I was very interested to see this thread, I have moved to making lures via 3d printing as well and haven't come across many other people who are doing the same. I think by the sounds I do mine different to you but that is the great thing about it, many ways to skin the cat. A couple things I have noted with mine are, - Taper the bib such that it is thicker as it enters the body of the lure. I found with my prototypes that all was good for normal use but once the bib started hitting structure the plastic (abs in my case) was breaking due to the thinner sections. The bibs on my lures are about 1.6mm at the tip and about 6mm when they enter the body of the lure. - Layer Orientation affects the overall strength of the lure. Seems via your tests you have covered this though. I do my layers opposite to yours as my lures are done in two halves and then joined. Inter layer adhesion is one of the biggest issues I have found. I tested my lures to 110lbs without the hook eyelets pulling. - Have good thickness around the eyelet inserts to improve the strength in that area. I do my lures to a shell thickness of 1.6mm and increase this around the eyelet inserts such that there is a good amount of plastic to deal with the stress. I have never fished for Large mouth Bass so don't understand the stresses they can put on a lure. Your lures look great, keep up the great work. Some of the most enjoyable lure making I have had is designing and printing mine. I would guess your lures are done in TinkerCAD by the looks, have never tried it so would be interested to get your thoughts. I use a program called Fusion360. I found that great. See link below to some of my lures if you are interested, may give you some ideas, http://mactackle.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/something-new-for-me-3d-printing-lures.html Angus

I've never made that connection before. Now I can't unsee it. Thanks Mark!

I just want to say thanks to all sponsors, creators, moderators, participants, etc on this site. Here you can find several answers to just about any question. Discussions are (usually) carried out in a fun and positive manner. Many of the questions often asked are already covered - so you don't even have to ask! All in all, this is one incredible resource.

I am in the process of making my first swimbait, a 4" crappie, out of birch. My process was to cut center line slots in the top and bottom, leaving about 7/16" in the center. Then i rough carved. Next I ran ss wire hinges through top and bottom and epoxied them in. At this point, the final carving and sanding were done. I sealed the bait with superglue. This left a slot in the whole length of the bottom of the bait a little less than 1/8" thick (Marathon saw blades are thin). I squashed some solder with a pair of vise grips and friction fit it into the slots. This allowed me to move the weights around, tweak the amount and water test for proper action, sink rate, and attitude. Finaly, they were glued in and the gap was filled with epoxy and micro-balloons. I don't know how others do it. But this seemed like a great way to tweak a bait. I am very happy with the results.

6 1 smallmouth on one if my plastics Friday night. Itvwas on the delmart 4" shz.

Nice baits. As Mark said, though, in the future, please post pics in the Gallery and link to them in your forum posts. Thanks The Fun Police

Pic attached to original post!

If the lip becomes an issue by snapping off when bounced off rocks, the solution is to design in a radius between the body and the lip. This will act as a strain relief, spreading the loads out. Cracks and tears happen at sharp corners because all the strain concentrates at the corner. Remove the corner and the problem goes away. This is why aircraft have round shaped windows. DAve

A How To video on painting a Walleye Pattern crankbait

Angus that is really cool what you have there. I tried ABS and found it to be finicky without an enclosure and contrary to what you might read about PLA being the weaker material it seems plenty strong for largemouth bass applications. Time will tell of course, but one thing I love about PLA is it is extremely easy to print. Tinkercad is a nice piece of software for someone getting started, it's not as feature rich as fusion 360 and I hope to move to fusion later. That being said I have yet to meet the limitations of tinkercad and I think instead of knowing a little about a complicated tool I've done the opposite, I've played with tinkercad till I am really familiar with all of it's features and have been able to design as desired so far, I'm sure I'll hit a brick wall one day though. The printer I'm using is a Prusa I3 clone. It's really cheap and requires a lot of tinkering but once you get it setup properly and are willing to disassemble / reassemble as needed it works. I kayak fish and my original idea was to use it as a compliment for that hobby and I've been designing some anchor systems, tie off mounts, etc that I hope to print one day. I keep printing small templates to test every orientation of the final product before I waste 36 hours of printing on something that doesn't fit. Still new to 3d printing in general but I can tell that lure building will always be a part of it if I can continue with the success I've had so far. Maybe it's beginners luck? I'm not brave enough to try anything as complicated as a swimbait yet, I figure I still have many tests ahead of me with the wakebait and it's summer time anyway. Might as well take advantage of the topwater bite.

Old lurker and new member here, and couldn't agree more. Pick a topic and search it. The info and education here is like going to bait making college. Why I didn't join this site years ago I'll never know.

Thanks or as Jimmy would say: "ratatatatatat!"

At night here all i throw all summer as far as creature baits are concerned are junebug, junebug red, green pumpkin & green pumpkin red. Worms would be a 10 inch black blue saphire tail worm like the brekley power worm. Spinnerbaits are black blue & black red when slow rolling is in order.Jigs black blue, junebug red, cumberland craw or brown orange. Needless to say i have more than enough of everything made up. lol I just couldn't stand it after i made my jigs & spinnerbaits i had to start making my own plastics too. It by far is my favorite of all to do. Way more addictive than making jigs or spinnerbaits in my opinion.

i looked there and didnt see any offered..sent a email when i hear from them ill post it

I meant to post the link in the reply. Sorry about that. Had a Homer Simpson moment. Dooohhhh Ben http://lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/Muskie-Bait-Parts/Plug-Belly-Weight-Inserts.html

Thanks for the info guys! I just made a bluegill clay master, and it actually looks decent. I'll probably try to see if I can make a better one though. I found that the clay is pretty easy to carve after it hardens, which allowed me to fix any flaws in the original. I do still like wood better so far, but I'm just trying to explore different methods to make my masters.

Man, who let fish get so picky? Hahaha

These ones from Amazon. Arcuisine Borosilicate Glass Measuring Cup / 1 Liters / 33.8 Ounces20 for four cup ones. Real nice spout. Seems longer and finer.