Doc Nemo

Thanks! That's what I needed to know.

Hi! Where does everyone order their polycarbonate for custom crankbait bills? What thickness do you all find works best? Thanks!

Hi gang, I know that most of everyone has airbrushed with chartreuse fluorescent acrylic paint at one time or another. Recently, I have noticed that when I use it, it'll often 'bleed' over the other paint after I final clear coat everything. This doesn't happen immediately, but usually after using the lures fishing sometimes weeks to months later. I first noticed on a sexy shad pattern I put on a glide bait. This doesn't happen with any other paint that I have/use (all createx acrylics). Just a heads up, for my process, I clear coat my wood lure bodies with a water-based polyurethane, prime with white then paint, after drying I dip in a water-based spar. Once fully cured (24-72 hours, depending on weather its hot and humid down here!). I final clear coat with Alumi-UV. Any thoughts of what could be making the fluorescent paint bleed like this? It's not terrible, but definitely noticeable with a black light. Cheers, Nemo

I agree, Createx colors are great! I seal my timber with a simple water-based polyurethane then paint, and protect with another layer of spar urethane, and finish with Alumi-UV.

Lureparts online makes a plastic fish scale netting. Also, at craft stores, most of them have a wire mesh, although it is metal and can sometimes scratch unprotected paint. I like to use the bathroom scrubbers, simply cutout center staple and unravel. It stretches, so you can adjust scale sizes.

Good point, if you put on turner, it'll not only even out resin but reduce the number of bubbles. Although you can't see them, the tiny bubbles accumulate quickly when curing, especially around eyes. I learned about this the hard way, so now each lure is turned for about 10 minutes before I expose them to the light.

All, just a follow-up. I ended purchasing their PURE-UV bulbs for my setup. Made a world of difference, as I can fully cure a lure in about 10 minutes tops now

I make a majority of my top-waters' on the lathe. A few nuances to it, but very fun and relatively easy once you get the hang of it. What types of questions do you have?

So, I found that distance has big effect on curing times with my current setup. At 1 inch from light source, the popsicle stick resin cured in 1 hour. At 4 inches 2 hours, and 8 inches 3 hours. Those are still long curing times for this type of resin, so I'm now looking into getting different bulbs that match frequency of my flashlight, as the black light flashlight cures this resin in less than a minute.

I've been using a black light to cure same resin on some rear treble dressings with no issues. Not sure what happened with that first batch of lures. I did find that the light source that I have does work. I played around with different distances and found that the closer I am to the source the faster it cures. I've come to the conclusion that the lights I have are high enough output but bulbs not the best UV frequency for this resin. I will look into getting some black light bulbs for the T5 fixtures in same wavelength as my flashlight. That should do it, hopefully!

I will try that, I would assume its a homogenized mixture. But some extra mixing certainly wouldn't hurt.

Thanks, I did put the lures out into the sun, and they still did not cure. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I already had a coat of epoxy on them, which may have interfered with the curing process. To test this, I put a popsicle stick with resin in the UV box I made, and it cured after 2 hours. I'll test some distance effects later this evening. I'll let you know what I find. Thanks!

I've looked into these, I contacted the grow light company about getting stronger bulbs. I could even order some black light bulbs to mimic a nail polish dryer for my fixtures.

Good point, I will test out distance effects on some popsicle sticks tonight. I did do a test run on a stick last night at the distance I have already setup (~6 inches), and it did fully cure after a couple of hours. I could hypothesize the time could be reduced at 3", given the lamp power would be increased by a factor of 8? Also, the old lures I tested, I think the curing problem may have also been related to the 2-part epoxy top-coat over them already. The residues may have interfered with the curing process, as they sat in sun all day yesterday and remained sticky. I'll update everyone on the distance/popsicle test to be performed tonight. Thanks!

Thanks! The bulbs I purchased were recommended by the Alumilite site, 365nm range. They are on the smaller side, 24 watts each, 3000k. Who knows, I’ll try a longer cure time tonight on a spare blank. I’ll let you know what I find.