Easy Expert Tips For Design Super Bait
The other day I was thinking about how much fishing lures and spincast reels cost to replace when I lose or break them. I also thought of how great it would be to customize my fishing lures and create entirely different, possibly better artificial fishing bait. I did some research and discovered that commercial molds and plastics are also relatively expensive. I was in desperate need for an alternative. What I came up with works so well and can be made from cheap, readily available household items including plastic and recycled materials.
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Gathering materials
The first thing you need to do to create artificial super bait is to gather the right materials. I used mostly materials that I could find around my house and garage. The only item that I actually bought is the glue gun.
What You Need to Build the Plastic Injector
The main function of the injector is to push the plastic into the mold for the artificial fishing bait. The materials required to build the plastic injector include:
- Hot melt glue gun
- A small piece of copper pipe
- A bottle cap
- Car body putty
- Epoxy putty
- Vice grips
- Hacksaw and screwdriver
Materials for The Mold of The Bait
There are several items that you will need to make your mold. In addition, there are various methods for making molds. Some of the most common materials for making mold for bait include plaster of Paris and RTV silicone. One of the disadvantages of using plaster of Paris is that it is difficult to get it apart and has a slow set up time. On the other hand, The can be quite expensive; about $30 per gallon. However, the bondo used for car bodywork is not only affordable, but it is also easy to set up.
Items you will need to Make Molds of Existing Lures
- The artificial bait you intend to copy
- Car putty
- Container for pouring the mold into
- Vaseline
- Stir stick
- Small beads or marbles
- Cardboard box
- A clamp
Materials for The Actual Bait
You will require some plastic material to melt and pour into the mold so that it can become the lure itself. Commercial plastic can be quite expensive. However, you can cut up old, broken lures in your tackle box using a pair of scissors and make them into cool, recycled baits.
Remove The Heating Element
The first step is to make the plastic injector. This requires following a few simple processes:
- Take the glue gun apart. Use a screwdriver to remove the screws on the side of the case.
- Pull the two halves of the case apart.
- Inside the plastic injector, you will find two parts: the one that pushes the glue stick into the heating element and the heating element itself. What you should be interested in is the heating element, which is the piece at the tip of the gun with red rubber pieces at each end.
- Remove the rubber piece at the tip of the element and keep the rubber piece at the back of the gun.
How to Make The Plunger
Once you have the heating element, the next step is to make the plunger for the heating element. The plunger is the one that is used to make the mold from molten plastic.
- Gather the copper pipe and epoxy putty. The latter should be about the size of a marble.
- Mix the putty thoroughly.
- Place the putty on the tip of the copper pipe.
- Gently push the pipe into the element making sure that you push the end with the putty first.
- Pull the pipe back to allow the putty to harden on the other end.
How to Make The Handle for The Plunger
- Gather the bottle cap, putty, and a piece of cardboard.
- Take some putty and put it on the cardboard box.
- Use the cardboard box to put the putty into the bottle cap.
- Squeeze some hardener into the cardboard box and mix it thoroughly.
- Use a spoon to transfer the hardener from the cardboard box into the cap.
- Press the copper pipe into the middle of the cap. Make sure you press it on the side that does not have epoxy. This will create a vacuum that will pull up the plunger that you just made.
- Allow it time to harden.
How To Finish the Injector
Clamp the vice grips onto the element. Make sure the vice grips the part of the element that the wires go into. This is an affordable and convenient plastic injector that costs much less than the commercial one.
Making The Mold
- Pour the mold for the plastic to go into.
- Gather your TV dinner tray.
- Thoroughly rub the inside of the dinner tray with Vaseline to prevent the putty from sticking to the tray.
- Mix the putty thoroughly on a cardboard box and pour it into the tray until it’s filled half way.
- Smooth the tray and ensure that it is level.
Master Bait, Vent Tubes, and Injector Hole
- Gather the bait you intend to clone.
- Rub the bait down with Vaseline and place it onto the putty. Make sure the bait is sunk halfway into the putty.
- Rub the stir stick with Vaseline.
- Place the stir stick halfway into the putty.
- Take the bottle cap and rub it with Vaseline.
- Press the cap halfway into the putty on the opposite side of the lure, the same side as the stick. Make sure the cap is touching the other end of the lure.
- Gather the marbles and press them halfway into the putty.
- Allow some time for the putty to harden.
Pour The Top Half of The Mold
- Remove the marbles once the putty has hardened.
- Apply Vaseline on the entire top of the mold including the crevices.
- Mix some putty, enough to fill the top half of the mold, in a cardboard box.
- Pour the putty onto the top half of the mold and allow it some time to harden.
Open The Mold and Remove The Pieces
- Once the putty has hardened, pry the two pieces of mold apart with a knife.
- Once apart, remove all the items used to make the mold except the two pieces of hardened putty.
- This will leave you with the two-part molds you need to make a 1-1 replica of your lure.
Make The Bait
- Gather the plastics. You may color them with crayons to achieve the designs you want.
- Cut the plastics into small pieces to fit into the injector.
- Get the two pieces of mold and put them together.
- Hold the mold tightly together with a clamp.
- Plug the injector and give it time to heat up.
- Place the plastic pieces into the injector.
- Once the injector is full, put the plunger into the injector and into the hole of the mold.
- Push the plunger down until it stops.
- Remove the injector and set it aside; be careful not to burn other things.
- Unscrew the clamp and pull the two halves of the mold apart. Now, you have replicas of the bait.
Hope you found the tutorial useful. Please share with fellow anglers and fishing enthusiasts on social media. You may also share your opinions in the comments section.
