Hi , everybody
Whilst my "SuperBug" version and my swimbait are still drying from their wood preservation treatment , I found some time today to proceed with my new "Banana" models
.
I glued in the tow eyes and hookhanger screw eyes onto some of them .
You may know from my post in the hardbait gallery "line tie construction" , that the tow eye consists of a roughly "M"-shaped wire form , that is fit into a slot and groove into the thin lip of those lures and glued in with a 5 min. two-component glue .
Made some pics of that process whilst working on it today , once you get a hold on it , it's quite simple
.
First glue in ONLY the shanks of the wire form , don't let glue flow through the eyelet slot at this stage , this is only for a first bond(check pic) .
After the glue has started to set , mask the slot at underside of lip with some tape , I use cable insulation tape , since it doesn't bind with the glue (textile or paper masking tape probably would !) .
Don't press the tape snugly into the groove , but try leaving a small "hump" over it , so that the glue would probably fill up the entire slot better .
Now fill some glue into the eyelet slot from the top of lip , push it in with a toothpick or a wire piece , in the best case it would then flow down to fill up the entire slot on the underside , a drop of glue should remain around the tow eye to be certain about total coverage of the glue(check pic) .
Avoid air bubbles !
When the glue has set a bit(about 10 min.) , the tape may be removed to check , wether the slot has been filled up with glue entirely , but most likely this would not be the case , so a third mixture of glue has to be prepared and the slot finally covered with it(check pic for the final looks of the two sides of the lip) .
After at least 24 hrs. curing time I would remove the excess glue with my "Dremel" , small files , sandpaper and a carpet knife to be flush with the lures outer contoures , full strength of it is achieved after 72 hrs.
As you might notice , I find it very handy to utilize an egg container box for this work operation , since I can press the lureblanks into the gaps of it to achieve a permanent horizontal position of the planes , where I apply the glue .
This way the glue won't flow away sideward , but cure to a nice drop , that provides best coverage of eyelet and slot
.
Also through the years I have gathered all the mixing bins of that glue , so I am able to just always take a new one for another mixing process , this saves a lot of time , instead of always cleaning up the one presently used
.
Dried glue can easily be scraped away from these bins and their mixing sticks with a knife !
Greetz , Dieter
