Wire Bender - Specific Loop And Gap Sizes

[Wishingiwasfishing]

New to making inline spinners for trout/bass.

Trying to emulate rooster tail design and have made a few.

Looking at wire benders so that my son can get involved (can't make the loops with pliers).

Commercially produced rooster tails have a fairly small loop and not much distance between loop and body.

So I guess my question is, if you have a bender (Twist tech, hagens, etc.) could you measure the distance of the closed loop that it produces with .024 wire and the smallest distance that can be created between the closed loop and the top of the body and post the info?

[Apdriver]

I can show you what the Hagens will do. The short answer is 5mm. Close ti 1/8 inch maybe a little more, 3/16 possibly. Anyway, the limiting factor on how close you can your closing loop to your material is how the machine is built. Your wire is laid in a machined channel and then an arm is lowered to hold the wire as you make the twist. Here's some pics of the machine, process and completed loops as close as I can get them to some material (beads) that I had handy. The pic of the small machined part is the block that is attached to the lever you lower to hold the wire as you twist your loop. Hope this helps.

[LimpNoodle]

With practice on the Twistech you can get almost no gap on there.  I don't have any wire that fine though to test.

 

One key with the Twistech is to build the spinner from the bottom up.

[smalljaw]

I have a Hagens, I make Rooster tails and here is what I can tell you. The Rooster tail has a small gap from body to loop because the hackle on them is tied to the wire and not the hook. The Hagens allows me to make a spinner with the lure body on with enough gap for me to actually tie hackle onto the wire and make them very close to the original.

[Wishingiwasfishing]

Thank you. Great info.

Measured some commercial rooster tails and loop size is 2-3 mm. Gap runs from 3-5 mm depending on size of lure. So it looks like the Hagens gets close to that.

I had seen a photo of a twist tech loop compared to a rooster tail loop. The twist tech was 10 mm which is fairly large on a 1/16 oz lure body.

Limpnoodle - do you know if the loop can be made any smaller on the twist tech?

Any other wire benders that will make the smaller loops/gaps?

The first one I built, I made from the top down. Trying to make the bottom loop with pliers and attaching the hook underneath the hackle was not pleasant. All the ones since have been made bottom up.

[Apdriver]

Not sure how you intend to attach your hook but the Hagens will allow you to attach it right in the loop without the use of a split ring. The size of the loops I get are 5 mm or less and that's with .030 wire, that's O.D.

I.D. Is 3mm. Didn't know you wanted that. Here's a pic of it.

[smalljaw]

Don't forget that you can also buy the small loop kit for the Hagens which will reduce the loop size even more.

[Wishingiwasfishing]

Thank you. Definitely looks like the Hagen will do it.

Does anyone have any info on the loop size and gap size on the less expensive twist tech or Netcraft's Tack-L-Tool?

[Apdriver]

I used to have that little Netcraft twister. That's all it is. It's a twister. There's no options to go larger or smaller on your wire size. Any bending you do, it's done with your fingers or round pliers. It takes more effort practice and skill to get good tight loops with it and with any production your hands and fingers will be sore. The loop size is probably larger than the Hagens because the round metal you loop your wire around is 3/16 diameter, at least. Maybe 5/16. I gave mine away and was happy to see it go. YMMV.

[JLS]

I used to have that little Netcraft twister. That's all it is. It's a twister. There's no options to go larger or smaller on your wire size. Any bending you do, it's done with your fingers or round pliers. It takes more effort practice and skill to get good tight loops with it and with any production your hands and fingers will be sore. The loop size is probably larger than the Hagens because the round metal you loop your wire around is 3/16 diameter, at least. Maybe 5/16. I gave mine away and was happy to see it go. YMMV.

I started with one of the cheaper Netcraft tools also and would have to agree with this ^^^ . Those are made from cheaper materials and after building several lures, you will end up having a hard time removing your baits from the tool. The tool did serve it's purpose and I got by with it ok while I was just building a few baits for myself. After buying the Hagens tool, I wished I had done it years earlier.

[LimpNoodle]

There's no way to make the loop smaller on the Twistech.

 

My experience with the Hagen's tool is I can make smaller tighter loops on my Twistech.  

Edited September 19, 2016 by LimpNoodle

[Fatman]

Smalljaw is right on it - my nephew had one and asked me to copy it - original on left mine on the right.  I like the extra space below the eyelet, There is nothing worse than building a great spinner and then try to get the short area and then find that the clevis is crushed and won't work!  Plus the fish don't seem to care very much if I have a large eye or small. 

 

Apdriver - Probably because I learned to use it, and I've been using the netcraft wire former since 1978 (I was in HS) and I still have it and use it, and it shows. 

 

I've used from .024 to .035 wire on it.  One thing I've never seen the Hagens or Twist Tech make is the wire coil closers

 

The other former I have is the old Worth hand former - make the eyes right and you can get a smaller loop

 

I bought a Dubro wire twister but haven't used it yet, it's good up to .032 - but I think it would only be good on the bottom eyelet

[Apdriver]

Fatman, I refrained from saying it but, yes, the fish don't carry a micrometer. And yes, you can get things too tight where they don't work. Your experience shows. I built many an inline on that old Netcraft and caught a lot of trout on those. Brings back fond memories.

[Tom Hester]

The TwisTech makes a loop that is 1/8" on the I.D. The minimum closeness is determined by the thickness of the forming die which is 5/32" for the standard models. While the eye size matters mainly to the human sense of balance and symmetry, the real limiting factor is how well the eye of the hook (or swivel) fits in the loop and still allows you to close and wrap the loop.

[Kasilofchrisn]

Been trying a bit to make a Rooster tail imitation.

Having a little trouble tying the hackle to the wire.

Any tips for rying the hackle on the wire shaft?

[Tom Hester]

I don't do hackled spinners but do create large spinners with bucktails. I do them by using a bucktail tied to a hollow rivet and then sliding the rivet over the wire shaft down to the hook. Maybe this will work for you.