Tacklemaking with Tech!

[BIG M]

Nate, I'm on the same page with you now.    I thought you were having molds made.

[NateFollmer]

Nate, I'm on the same page with you now. I thought you were having molds made.

Someday I may try that... Not now though We did kind of get off on a tangent about other methods, so I see where the confusion was haha

[whittler]

Absolutely. But it is pointless prototyping in a material different to your production, they will never balance or swim the same.

By using PVC I can change weighting, hooks, lip style, lip angle and hardware right on the water in a matter of seconds and it is all with the material the bait will be made from. I have weights, with hooks and hangers, in garduations in grams from .5 to 6 plus lips in various styles and angles, all these can be changed by simply sliding them in or pulling them out. I use twisted stainless hardware and by simply bending the wire slightly they can be pushed in and out for testing and still hold well enough to make casts. How can modifing a mold, molding another bait then go test can be faster?

[Vodkaman]

By using PVC I can change weighting, hooks, lip style, lip angle and hardware right on the water in a matter of seconds and it is all with the material the bait will be made from.

If I was going to cast PVC baits I agree, but if I was going to cast foamies, the PVC proto is not going to help much. I guess we are getting off subject.

Dave

[NateFollmer]

Hey if you guys are posting info that's going to help someone then go off topic, I don't care

Is pvc close to the same density as balsa or any woods? I want to figure out placements of lips and weights "in the field" with pvc but will be using wood too, so I need to find a wood that's close to pvc...

[Fishwhittler]

Hey if you guys are posting info that's going to help someone then go off topic, I don't care

Is pvc close to the same density as balsa or any woods? I want to figure out placements of lips and weights "in the field" with pvc but will be using wood too, so I need to find a wood that's close to pvc...

Hmm...  I haven't used balsa, so I don't know how PVC compares to it.  I do know that PVC is somewhat heavier than cedar, but it's also very buoyant.  I'm not sure which is more buoyant, PVC or cedar.  I'd have to go with PVC, but there's not a whole lot of difference.

To answer your question, I'd say PVC and cedar are pretty similar.  A cedar bait will still have a slightly different action from a PVC bait that's exactly the same size and shape, but I think cedar is about as close as you're going to get.

[NateFollmer]

Cool, thanks for the info. Ill have to play around a bit before I get too much done and have a failed design ha

[.dsaavedra.]

i've seen PVC likened to poplar several times before.

[Vodkaman]

Nate - nothing wrong with those designs.

If someone with the PVC has a digital gram scale, could you measure up a rectangular chunk (length, breadth and width), weight in grams and post the numbers. It would be nice to put a density number on this stuff. No one else has done this yet, to my knowledge.

Dave

[NateFollmer]

Thanks dsaavedra

Vodka I can do that once I get my pvc package

Can't wait... Tonight we cut! Muaha haha muahahahaha!

[whittler]

Measurments of a PVC block.

1"x2"x3/4"  1.5 sq.in.

25.4mm x 50.8mm x .0295mm  38.064mm

13.802 grams    213 grains    .486oz.

[Vodkaman]

Thanks for the numbers Whittler. The density of PVC = 0.561gm/cm3 or 34.9 Lb/cu.ft. The closest common wood is pine. Here is a link to wood densities for reference: http://www.csudh.edu/oliver/chemdata/woods.htm

Dave

[NateFollmer]

good stuff guys!

I've been looking at components and I'm stuck... What length of screw eyes do you guys use? I was looking at either 1/2" or 3/4" for all of the designs. Any input?

[NateFollmer]

Just got my large box of pvc scrap! This stuff is awesome, I wasn't expecting it to be so dense. I think this stuff is going to be the ticket

[whittler]

Nate one of the things about PVC is there is very little variation in weight, unlike wood. Dave posted the link to various woods and their specific weights but I can tell you that most woods vary quite a bit from that normal weight. With basswood I cut and cure my own and I can keep it fairly close but if you go to a home center or lumber yard there will be quite a difference, balsa also has quit a range in weight. Some woods will vary fron the chart as much as 10%.

Be patient with PVC, if you are used to wood there will be a learning curve, think this is especially true with finishing, but once you get the hang of it I think you will like it.

[NateFollmer]

LOL Got the whole way up to the guys shop and forgot all my material He cut me 1 side so we could see how the model was going to turn out. And guess what, he uses PVC to make most of his stuff and has a TON of scrap!!! Score! Last night was more of a lesson in using the CNC so I could just come in and do all the work without him.

Here's a video of the cutting:

http://twitvid.com/VKVXM

And a pic of the final product... Sort of:

[Jigfishn10]

That's AWESOME Nate! Good luck the rest of the way and be sure to post the pics. 

[NateFollmer]

That's AWESOME Nate! Good luck the rest of the way and be sure to post the pics.

Thanks! I will and I'll try and get better video too. It's fun watching all those lines of code on the screen and then watching the router go to work... Geez I'm a geek...

[Jigfishn10]

I wish I had your intuition on projects like this. I learned cadd about 10-12 yrs ago, no formal training just banging around on the computer. The program didn't have 3D modeling so I'm ignorant to that side of it. Having been in the carpentry trade, I basically get an idea in my head and can carve out what I want. For you to be able to program a design is very interesting to me.

I feel that I shouldn't be posting on this thread b/c I have nothing to add to it, but I felt a need to applaud your efforts.

Good luck the rest of the way.

[NateFollmer]

Hey, post away I'm the opposite. I think it's amazing when guys can carve lures and do all this stuff by hand. I'd have a mess if I even attempted to carve anything. I don't have any 'training' in this either. I started about 5 years ago in simulation programming and I eventually got into making video games on the side. I started to get bored with programming and moved into doing art for games instead. It eventually turned into this!

Thanks for all the kind words. I forget if I posted this earlier, but I'm going back up tomorrow to finish the rest of the masters.

[Vodkaman]

Here is the first sunfish proto, ready for its swimming lessons.

Dave

[NateFollmer]

Nice! You going to put a plastic tail on that or just leave it as is?

I got a 10'x1' big old piece of Lexan from the CNC guy It's creme colored so I don't want to use it for lips, but I might have to make a big old swimbait or two (or 100000) for myself and use it up for tails and fins haha.

[Vodkaman]

I put the tail thing on the master to provide options. A bandsaw slot for bristles, a polycarb tail, even a hinged tail is possible, the tail can easily be removed or left as is. I think it looks wrong without the tail.

I too bought a huge piece of poly, 3m x 1.2m. Nightmare trying to hack a piece off, it flops everywhere. I will have to spend some time and cut it down into managable portions.

Dave

[NateFollmer]

My Jerkbait isn't quite 3/4" high so I was thinking of either getting the 1/2" screw eyes or putting the 3/4" in at an angle. Do you think the 1/2" screw eyes will hold or should I just stay with the 3/4" ones?

[DBatey]

either way be sure to put some epoxy on the threads and it should be fine