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quickdraw

Big Rattles For Big Plugs

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I'm looking for some big rattles that I can put into the wooden tail section of a large (9"-12") wooden plug. I'm finding small glass and a few small brass rattles. It would be nice to find a larger metal rattle similar to what is in a Rapala Clackin Minnow. Does anyone have a place that carrys such an item. Thanks in advance

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You can monkey around with ballast AND rattle chambers by cross-drilling any size holes completly thru the lure body perpendicular to the plug. For a big plug (9-12in), a 1/2in hole with a 5/16-3/8in. ball bearing rolling around, with or without a metal or plastic tube for a liner (= more sound). The holes are counter bored just deep enough to accept metal ( .015 stainless/brass) end plates that can be covered and re-inforced with a epoxy-tissue/cloth combo or something that you have confidence in. This makes some serious noise, and gives you balance and ballast options. It flat out works.

Edited by markinorf
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You can monkey around with ballast AND rattle chambers by cross-drilling any size holes completly thru the lure body perpendicular to the plug. For a big plug (9-12in), a 1/2in hole with a 5/16-3/8in. ball bearing rolling around, with or without a metal or plastic tube for a liner (= more sound). The holes are counter bored just deep enough to accept metal ( .015 stainless/brass) end plates that can be covered and re-inforced with a epoxy-tissue/cloth combo or something that you have confidence in. This makes some serious noise, and gives you balance and ballast options. It flat out works.

I think I'm going to use your suggestion. I'll cross drill a hole and insert a 9mm pistol case in from each side with a nice size ball bearing in the middle. I can flush up each side, paint as usuall and clearcoat. It should be very loud which is what I'm looking for. I got my new order of Basswood in last week so it's back to the shop to get a few built. With the size of the wood in each plug I don't see any balance and buoyancy problems.

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Good luck with the basswood. I swore off of it after blowing up many plugs when I made my best effort to seal them. Maybe some guys here have rock solid solutions to this tendency. Use Poplar or AYC! Or better yet, PVC trimboard. Sorry about getinn off subject, but I warn guys about basswood everytime, when they mention it. Pvc is the best, and requires no sealing steps.

As far as the approach youre taking to the chamber, it sounds "bulletproof" ; )I make brass discs using a hole punch so I can use the larger chamber configurations I mentioned earlier for those big plugs. I like a 1/2in hole, 9/16 c-bore .03'' deep, with a 3/8in bb. I drill as low off the centerline as I can get away with. Sounds like a car wreck under water!

Use the basswood for fixtures and keychain lures.

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The 9mm casings are HEAVY. you will be forced to use very small bearings, and mite be dissapointed with the results. The discs can be made with a punch and weigh only tenths of a gram. this way you are in a better situation to dictate hole size and bearing size. Been there..

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You can make a chamber as large as you like by drilling through the bait, putting in a bead/bearing, and covering the holes with circles of aluminum cut from pop cans, superglued to the sides of the bait and then sanded smooth. I think this will be as close as you can get to a Rapala clackin lure. The aluminum covers put out big sonic waves. Just be careful when gluing on the covers so your bead doesn't get glued! Pop cans are easy to cut with regular scissors. To refine the design, you can slightly recess around the hole so the edges of the covers match the side of the lure - but the aluminum sands easily and that isn't really necessary.

Personally, I LIKE basswood! Undercoat it with D2T epoxy and have never had one "blow up" on me. IMO, if water gets in a wood lure - any wood lure - it will eventually blow up. Yes, PVC trim board is an alternative if you like working with it and like its density. Not all of us do.

Edited by BobP
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When I've finished with all of the woodwork I dip my plugs in Top Secret Coating 1 part epoxy. It penetrates and seals well. Then onto paint, topcoat and hardware. This method produces a very tough plug. I went through the learning curve with this process and have zero problems anymore even with heavy double digit stripers beating these things up. For that reason the rattle chamber needs to be tough also. The topcoat I use has proven to be very tough and may add enough strength to thin material on the rattle chamber. I think I'll build a plug, weight the rear section, drill the hole and weigh it again to determine what the wood loss from the hole contribute to offset my rattle weight additions. The bearing will be the majority of the weight. I just ordered 1/4" bearings and should know their weight in a few days.

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If weight is an issue for you, you can use a section of plastic drinking straw as a race for the rattle balls.

BobP's idea to use aluminum can cutouts to seal the ends works really well. I use an old one hole punch, one with long handles for leverage, to cut my aluminum discs out of aluminum cans.

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The straw idea sounds good. It would make for a very slick raceway. It's just a matter of finding the right size straw and drilling the hole accordingly. I only need to wait, as usual, for the ball bearings to get here.

Edited by quickdraw
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For a 9-12 inch lure, I can't see any size rattle being to big for those lures. I have an eleven inch lure with one ounce of lead that floats. I also have a ten inch glide bait with 5.5 ounces of lead that barely sinks. How about a big rattle front and back? Musky Glenn

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These swimbaits are fairly stable in the front section of the plug but the rear section has a swimming movement. I have several different styles where one type has an random action but the other 3 have great movement. I also am not concerned at all about the weight but may need to pay attention to the balance. These are all made to float and depending on the design some run the surface while others may dive as much as 10 feet when trolling or being retrieved, depending on the speed. I've checked out different types of worm rattles but they are too whimpy. My 1/4" ball bearings will be here the first part of next week and I'll get a prototype built. Then it's time to make some noise.

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I got the 1/4" ball bearings a few days back and did all of the woodwork yesterday. I drilled a 5/16 hole through the rear section on the plug just behind where the rear eye screw is located. I countersunk the hole with a 1/2" drill to recess the metal plate but after doing so I realized that the metal from the soda can is so thin that there wasn't a need because the primer, paint and clearcoat will more than smooth out the edge of the metal. I corrected that step. I then cut a standard straw to run through the raceway so the ball rolls very smoothly from side to side. Now with all of the woodwork completed I dipped the wood in Top Secret Coating 1 part epoxy to seal everything and I'll let it cure for 2 days before assembling the hardware and beginning paint. The amount of weight in removing the wood with the accompanying air chamber in the raceway will more than offset the weight of the ball. I will attach the metal plates with a thin coat of 5 min epoxy and the final clearcoat will make everything permanent and water tight. The only thing covering the metal plates will be paint and clearcoat so I hope that doesn't dampen the sound too much. The rattle function will be invisible until the plug is shook.

Edited by quickdraw
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I'm looking for some big rattles that I can put into the wooden tail section of a large (9"-12") wooden plug. I'm finding small glass and a few small brass rattles. It would be nice to find a larger metal rattle similar to what is in a Rapala Clackin Minnow. Does anyone have a place that carrys such an item. Thanks in advance

Sorry , ....don't know any place of purchase either , but I make mine like this :

Please click on "YouTube" title above start picture to view video straight on "YouTube" so you could read further explanations in there .

Cheers , diemai :yay:

Edited by diemai
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That looks like a very nice rattle and being a plumber I certainly have some experience working with copper pipe. I just finished assymbling my first 2 prototypes and waiting for the epoxy to set.

I had considered about copper pipe as well , but most likely I could only gather 1/2" dia. from the scrapyard of my work , .....bit too large , I guess ?

Also the copper pipes are a bit heavier and I figure out , that also the sound might turn out not as loud as if using brass , since copper is softer , .......aluminium and stainles steel would be another option , but the latter is harder to work down .

I'm purchasing these brass tubes from local hardware stores or tool marts , ...widely available , at least brass and aluminium .

greetz , diemai :yay:

Edited by diemai
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I had considered about copper pipe as well , but most likely I could only gather 1/2" dia. from the scrapyard of my work , .....bit too large , I guess ?

Also the copper pipes are a bit heavier and I figure out , that also the sound might turn out not as loud as if using brass , since copper is softer , .......aluminium and stainles steel would be another option , but the latter is harder to work down .

I'm purchasing these brass tubes from local hardware stores or tool marts , ...widely available , at least brass and aluminium .

greetz , diemai :yay:

1/2" plumbing tube is 5/8" OD but you can get some 3/8" refrigeration tubing that is 3/8" OD. There is a definate increase in weight using the copper pipe though. Type M copper would help with that but once again we're back to water piping and 5/8".

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@ quickdraw , @ RayburnGuy ,

..............yeah , ....I really never thought about copper being the best option for this rattle construction displayed in my video , ..........thanks for sharing your experiences , Ben .

On a longtime gone German site somebody once wrote about his own rattle construction on larger glidebaits and crankbaits , ..........he'd drill a crosswise hole through the lurebody , glue in a kind of lining for the hole made out of some plastic tubing(feltpen casings or similar) , so that the balls can roll back and forth without friction .

He'd make countersunks to either end of the hole to fit in certain small value coins issued by the former German Democratic Republic , which vanished into history in 1990 , ............these coins were small and made of a kinda aluminium alloy , well suited for the purpose .

He'd carefully glue them in with epoxy and filled up the holes with polyester car putty , after curing working down flush to body outline , .........this stuff cures very hard , thus transmits the sound very well , .........I've used as well sometimes .

greetz , Dieter :yay:

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I'm using a straw as a liner and the ball bearing does roll very smooth and fast. My hole is 5/16 inch so the area where the ball is hitting is only 5/16" as well. Because the metal is secured with epoxy over the hole there is only that 5/16ths piece not touching anything. If there was some relief behind the metal say out to 5/8ths then it would create a bigger drum-head and louder sound. I think a thicker piece of material, like that coin, and a steel ball bearing would also make a sharper sound. I would also try to minimize the amount of material covering the drum-head. It will need clearcoat to seal everything, paint wouldn't hurt much but I wouldn't want to put filler over it. The new Rapala Clackin series extends their drum-head out beyond the edge of the lure body. Without filler the rattle would be somewhat visible but it would only matter to us, not the fish.

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