128 replies to this topic

[XLR8n]

Any body had any luck with any homemade lure making machines?

[redg8r]

Xlr8n, I know this post is about 6months old with no replies, so know that the board has moved here. we might get some creative juices flowin.

I'm gonna start some topics in here for the "most wanted tools"
keep an eye out. (or 2)

redg8r

[daffy_duck]

I wait, no mater how long...............

[hazmail]

XLR8N- I made a copy lathe back in the 80's, before digital cameras, so don't have any pics - had trouble with money (wife) and finding suitable cutters, would be easy now. pete

[JBlaze]

Hey Pete, how does a copy lathe work. and what would I need to build one?
John

[redg8r]

Heres a peek at one we've been working on.
This prototype was made simply for proof of concept, it has many flaws & it's quite dangerous, please dont attempt.
Once we're happy with the design, we'll make it available here.
Our prerequisites were that the materials be readily available, affordable & be able to build & use in a small shop.
Feedback welcomed.

8oSMf_1nLqE

[Spike-A-Pike]

That falls right into that group of "toys" that Mom said I'm not to play with... That is a cool tool to watch; any idea how long before I can get one at the local Tackle-R-Us store?

[hazmail]

Red- strait away, that blade looks ' the goods', I used a router and always had trouble with the cutting bit rotation and direction of travel, it always gave a too rough a finish.. great video and keep us up to date on that thing, they mesmerize me.
John - this is a good demo of how they basically work. LaPala posted some movies of the 'Rapala' factory tour, which gave a brief insight into the copy lathes they use. If you get to see it, you will notice they use square stock, which can be held in a square chuck, so as a lure is cut and discarded, the stock is continually fed into the machine - very simple to make and this part on mine worked O.K. I made mine with a couple of bought bearings, a router and assorted motors, chains and junk I had on hand, just for such an occasion- It did not cost much but time.
Every time I get a glimpse (don't see too many) of one, I wish I had kept at it with mine. Pete

[hazmail]

Red- the original copy lathe I saw was a leftover, WW2 machine, made to carve rifle butts (303), it had a bed, as big as a small bedroom, and had a cutting head similar to this, but the teeth were about 2" inches across, evil bit of machinery, never saw it working though - If you know a gun manufacturer (or cricket bats), it would be well worth a look, to see how it all works. pete
Pro-4 Woodcarver

[JBlaze]

Redgear, that is awesome. I really hope you can make this thing safe and affordable for the small time builder. Thanks for sharing.
John

[MTfishingrods]

That was absolutely AWESOME!!!!!!! Scary as all hell :eek:but damn cool! I want one and I want it today. Safe or not. I have some well not so good friends I could invite over and let them try it first. Just kidding. It is a neat little machine though and what a time saver. I am seeing dollar signs. Now to just speed up my painting abilities.

[redg8r]

Yeah, I had my employee do the first run.
What we're working on now is setting it up to feed a full stick instead of loading each blank.

As-is it cuts @ 3-4 inches per minute. I'm working with my blade sharpener to modify the teeth from a alternate bevel to a triple chip.

Another idea being passed around the shop is to switch to a router to increase safety. We have another machine sitting just for that purpose, but we're waiting on cogs/gears.

Hey Pete,
I've seen the machines your speaking of, actually I've researched this for years, There are alot of duplicators on the market, some commercial & some homebuilt, but every one I've seen requires a router & manual control.
The one you're referring to has one tracer & like 20 belt driven heads, quite a beast. They've been upgraded to CNC but this is the only one I've seen that can run without manual control (without CNC)

Thanks for the feedback.

[gofish,ill]

just awsome!! what kind of blade were you using?.think your going to have problems with using a router....laminate cutter might be better but either way bits arent going to last as long as the blade,and can see issues with depth of cut...great idea,never would have even thought it was possible lol

[tc-lures]

Looks good.
Todd

[redg8r]

The blade is a 6 1/2 Avanti...... 40 tooth I think.
I used it because it was labeled to endure the most RPM's, its rated for 10,000

The grinder does 14,000 which is why it's run thru a speed control. I put an aluminum blade guard on it but still, if someone just walked in & fired it up, it could get hairy, which is why I stress "dont try this at home"

That particular blade looks to do a 4x4 piece of wood & I made the linear slides over 2 feet long so in theory it will do a sizable musky plug (havn't tried it yet)

I agree there would be more maintenance with a ball tip router bit, but Im having some issues with the grinder bogging down near the tail & a router (1-3 hp) wouldn't have that problem, but I could always upgrade to a table saw motor & throw a 10 or 12" blade on there. (I actually think thats how Lee Sissons machines run)

[redg8r]

hazmail said:

you will notice they use square stock, which can be held in a square chuck, so as a lure is cut and discarded, the stock is continually fed into the machine - very simple to make and this part on mine worked O.K.

Hey Pete, I scored a few small lazy susan bearings which had a 6 inch ID, only problem is the bearings have a little play @ 1/16" (I know the US standard measurements are killing you ) do you know of a place to score some large ID bearings to pass the square stock thru?

[kelly]

ESI bearing has up to 3" with set screws. I was going in another direction with smaller bearings untill I see this. Good job redg8r!

[hazmail]

I think I used something like 2" bearings, 6" is going to the extreme. The only bearings that big (and cheap), would be truck wheel bearings, or 'Catipillar' (expensive). From my experience with this (and a lami trimmer), you would need something solid like roller bearings, because of the harmonics/vibration. Vibration was one of the problems I had.
I'm testing the memory now, but I think I used tube and 2" bearings. As long as you are not turning the chuck too fast, I reckon you could use 6" tube and 3 bearings, placed evenly around the tube, so the tube rolls evenly inside the bearings - or even 5 bearings, see below??????????????. pete

[hazmail]

RED-Most of my motors, chains and sprockets etc, I sourced from an old printing machine (I think) – it had a chain drive both for the rotation and the cutter feed, both off the same motor. Another problem I remember was, the rotation speed was too fast at about 50 RPM, and the roller (about ½”) on the pattern, used to bounce (minutely) which was enough to put the blank slightly out of whack - this was on a 2” lure.
I like your idea of the big wheel on the pattern, and the rotation looks slow enough. pete

[redg8r]

Pete, we think so much alike its scary.
I actually tried that & agreed, it would work given the low rpm (@ 60rpm) & you're right a minimum of 3 bearings is all that would be needed.
My issue with that design was axial load. In order to feed the stock I needed both sets of bearings, (or tubes as you have drawn) to house a one-way ratchet type system that would allow the stock to feed in one direction, but not the other (or back itself out)
The lazy susan bearings are actually made for an axial load, but again I don't like the 1/16" slop, if you double that (one set stationary/geared & the other fixed to the Y gantry) that makes for 1/8 of play.

You could scratch the whole ratchet design in the "thru" bearings if you could push the stock from the rear, but that means running a rack & pinion or something similar outwards to 8 feet from the business end.

I hope that makes sense, i'm starting to confuse myself
Damn, I figured Vodkaman would be all in this by now
I wanted to bring this contraption to the MO gathering but it weighs almost 100 pounds & would have to go freight.

We still have 20-some days to slim her down
If I wouldn't have made it to do big game baits, it would've been much smaller.