aulrich

I use CA glue on my 3d printed lures as well, it buys me a couple of things, FDM prints are not water tight, it hides most of the layer lines and it make the plastic easier to sand. I think it also affects the temp where it the lure should warp, but I think the top coat of epoxy plays a part too.

Just came back from the swim test. it worked like a charm, the action went a bit down the tail, but I can work it much faster without blowing out. The top line tie was a bit of a gamble I was hoping it would work for ice fishing giving a horizontal presentation and a quick test off the dock I got pretty much what I wanted I suspect it will kick butt through the ice. just need a real field test to see if I have heavy enough eye hardware good thing I have a trip coming up

The down side is the short duty cycle, according to the internet somewhere around 25 castings, but for personal use and prototyping that is OK. I was really please that I did not damage the mold master I can always print another but it's nice to get more than one use out of parts.

No, the 3d printed part is the mold for the mold. The lead is poured into Smooth-ON Mold Max 60. Mind you you could possibly do pewter in some resin 3d prints, one resin I have can handle 400f. think of the printed part as a split master and mold box in one

Got my first casting of the prototype and it seems to have worked, I do need to test. Just a hair over 1/4oz looking to also have 3/8 and 1/2. The bait is a 6" do-it shad it's serous pike candy. The bottom picture is the mold of the mold.

For proto typing my swimbait head this is the process I am using. In the video he uses a resin printer, I just used my cheaper FDM

I was thinking that should work, I was thinking about using aluminum shavings myself

Hillbilly at some point I will need to get your CNC contact from you. Do you do your own CAD work or does your CNC contact do it. I need to start learning designing with standard machining in mind I can get away with different things 3d printing. For my proto typing I print a mold of a mold. Buy high temp silicon has a very limited lifetime (20 castings ish according to the internet) When I finalize the shape I will want a proper mold so I need to start out with the ultimate end goal in mind

Those look interesting Thanks

Even though I have a plan I would be interested if you could post a link to those molds if you could. The plan at this point I will be 3d printing a mold of a mold and use smooth-on mold-max 60 which can handle the heat (at least for a while). Once I have the shapes and sizes finalized I'll eat the CNC cost

This is the rig as of now the bait is a 6" shad. off of the football head I have the snaploc and a titanium stinger hook held in position by a spike. We have been using this for a number of years now and in general works like a charm. After the pike hits it the spike pulls out and you fight the fish with the wire and not the bait so that makes the baits last way longer. The bait will eventually get too chewed up but the record is well over 20 fish on one body. And that is something when we have had storm wildeye pike destroyed by one bite Here is the digital bar napkin drawing of my improved idea. the circles represent sinker eye inserts The improvements I am looking for. Hopefully the fixed screw lock fixes two issues. 1. Reduce the hook catching the line in a head wind there is plenty of slop so I am guessing fixing that joint should reduce the hook catching the line but not really effect the lure action 2. Removing the slop will also stop the baits tendency to swim sideways at higher speed. there is that time in early summer (a week or 2 either side of July 1)when old timers would say the pike have "lost their teeth" so they are not eating as much. But I think it's the time of year when the cabbage is short and the pike get a long time to look at a bait. A fast moving bait just above the weeds can be very effective that time of year. The top line tie is for ice fishing

I trying to build a bit of a side hustle so I would rather use pre-fab parts, the do-it ones are ok. What I mean by OK is that I have only lost one bait to the screw pulling out of the bait body . I was hoping to find a slightly bigger diameter screw, but I can continue with the do-it screws. At .09$cad per its hard to justify home made.

Thanks, I should have been more clear. I am looking for a screw lock that can be worked into a casting. I am designing a lead head for an external wire swimbait rig. At this point I am using the do-it clip screw lock on a football head and there is a bit too much movement and the rig has a tendency to hook itself.

I am guessing you mean something like this? https://www.amazon.ca/Automatic-Stirrer-Portable-Stainless-Eggbeater/dp/B0BMYNK9CN/ref=sr_1_17?crid=24KBKL1JG2SDT&keywords=automatic+pot+stirrer&qid=1692628074&sprefix=automatic+pot+stirrer%2Caps%2C134&sr=8-17 I can work with that.

No volcanos are not normal with most powders at least with the right amount of flow, adjusted properly it just fluffs up. I gave up on Princess Auto (Canada's HF) pretty much right out of the gate. One thing that just came to mind is, has somebody found a better bottom membrane IIRC my DIY fluid bed used printer paper the last time I did a batch of jigs was 4-5 years ago. Has there been any improvement in the las few years. One thing that has come to mind is shop vac filter bag? The airbrush compressor idea was I am not sure if I just need more flow or more psi or both. I know with good powders things work better. I had expected better from the brand, the white does work. There was a different chrome maybe I could do a quick exchange. With luck I do find my old stash of powders there was a chrome in there that actually worked there is a down side to doing 5 years of jigs at one time, stuff just wanders off.

At this point I am using the standard aquarium pump diy fluid bed. But some powders mostly automotive don't fluidize. The other day I got two eastwood powders white and chrome the white behaved like normal, but the chrome would just not move a bit of volcano'ing but that is it. I was thinking about replacing the aquarium pump with and airbrush compressor. Would that work? Another option is to do a mechanical fluidizer like Engineered angler has built with a palm sander.

Smooth-on Mold-max 60 is what I will be using for proto typing a swimbait head. As I understand it you should get at least 25 casts out of it. I'll know more in a month or so once I actually do it and not just what I see on youtube.

Hi folks I am looking for a screw lock bigger than the do-it screw lock. Its intended purpose is to get molded into a lead head.

Speed has never been an issue for me, set up a print and after work or when I wake up they are done. I get rid of most layer lines with a coat of CA glue and a bit of sanding so in reality I am just trading post processing tasks. Leave it to The Handmade Fisherman to come up with clever ideas but I think my first resin lure will be knocking this concept off. I love the use of the grub screw as ballast it solves a couple of issues the biggest being cleaning the cavity of uncured resin. Using the old school hook hanger was a nice touch too.

It's probably time the enclosure floated up the project list, it's not like building a box is hard. Even PLA warps on me on bigger prints so I can anticipate problems when trying to do a big mold and keep things flat. On a happy note it looks like my local print shop has a PC blend filament in their house brand if it is a PC/PTEG blend then I'll give it a try. Your filament is available on Amazon.ca but I do like supporting the local guy if possible.

Do you need to have your printer in an enclosure, that has been something I have been avoiding/procrastinating. if yes, do you have the power supply and electronics outside or inside the enclosure, I got this thing against running electronics unnecessarily hot. But that does highlight the one thing FDM has VS resin a bigger variety of filament

Another channel I just ran into https://www.youtube.com/@yauckoutdoors I think the guy must do CAD as a living, to my eyes he makes Fusion sing. His Fancy bluegill is going to be the basis for my whitefish soft plastic. But he is Also more of a mold maker. My printing temperature problem is solved, I go a vat heater and at about 75% power the resin got to 30c in my 20c basement (we are having heat here too and I don't have AC). Up until this year I have been doing OK with PLA lures but this summer i did notice one go soft but it did not warp. There is still a lot of real world testing and tuning to go. I think now that there are more folks taking the concept serous the issues will get identified and hopefully solved. For me I think resin printed lures will be next winter's project,

One thing that could be a game changer with resin lure is if someone figures out how to make non-pia 2 piece construction. What I mean by PIA assemble is that invariably assembling two annoying since the half tend to warp and its difficult to keep things properly aligned. I am thinking some sort of snap connection. This is the workflow that is spinning in my head. Print your two halves. post process (I am not sure if I would finish the cure at this step or not) assemble the lure hardware in one half Snap the other half on (IDK if this step would be better if the halves are soft, fully cured or somewhere in between seal the seams with CA glue Full cure if you did not before

I have no doubt it can be done, finding the right resin and dealing with cavities are the big ones in my mind. But once that is worked out the ability to print a tray full as fast as you can print one will be a game changer. As the resin printer get more popular folks will figure things out. I am assuming you have seen this channel https://www.youtube.com/@WMBayouLures For me the first fishing projects for the resin printer will be soft plastic molds. The first lure will probably be ice fishing jigs

I wonder if a good primer would be enough to stop the over cure? Here is an odd thought for UV protection I wonder how much UV reactive powder you would have to add to a topcoat for it to act like sunscreen. The other option is blending resin I have not done it yet myself but it’s common practice for miniature makers to mix in 10% flex resin into standard resin to make a tougher miniature. I have a thing for clear/ translucent bibs, I was hoping to use the resin printer for printing them, so toughness has been running in the back of my mind. I just got myself a vat heater so I can start using the fancier resins. My first try will be with Siraya Tech blu which is supposed to be on the tougher side already.