i'm trying to reproduce some plugs that i own.
here's what i've done so far, only to test out the mold, so i've put no hardware inside yet.

1. built the 2 piece mold out of auto body filler.
2.cut up fiberglass matt into very sm pieces.
3.mix glass mat with figerglass resin.
4.fill mold.
and ta-dah!!!

quick sand with 80 grit.
solid- reinforced- fiberglass-plug.

last years protege'

Sweet...


Jr Link

hot out of the mold.

That looks great. I wanna see that with wire and paint. Good work so far. How does it compare in weight to the original?

How do you wire them?

that looks like it's going to be a winner:kewl:

Cool

Keep us posted with final results!:cool:

"how do you wire them"?


thats where i need the help.

what kind of wire?{stainless {what?...........}
yeah, i know the local welding supply house, but stainless what?


this pic was an experiment trying to make the mold out of resin
the filler was eisier to work with

I'm sure there may be a better way but how about putting wire in the mold bfore the material. Something like pooring a lead diamand jig. I use what they call a cc form do-it molds. I would try bending the wire to were it needs go and maybe add swivels or bead chain going to the hooks. 1/16 stainless.

Jigman may have some good imput here.

Looks hard to drill into that stuff:confused:

only " testing the mold".
no hardware yet.

coooooooolllll nice:)

"what kind of wire?{stainless {what?...........}
yeah, i know the local welding supply house, but stainless what?"

308L STAINLESS TIG WELDING WIRE

308L seems to be what most of us use. TIG welding wire does come in a variety of grades and diameter. 304 is soft and easy to bend, 308 is a lot more stiff, but still fairly easy to work with, 316 is really stiff and a pain in the a%#, but it is really tough and holds it's shape well. Buy a few sticks of each and see what you like best.

Cool idea :kewl: For wiring, I would do as suggested above. Set up a jig to pre-bend the wire into the shape/size needed for the mold. Insert the wire, then pour the fiberglass in. You can make the jig by hammering 10 penny nails into scrap wood and bend around these. While most of us are using the 308 or 316, you might try string wire like you would use for a spinnerbait. Yeah, a real pain to bend, but it would hold its shape better. I think you'll find that is what is used in commercial plugs with molded in thru-wire.

Jigman

If you use 316L welding wire, it is very high in nickle and low in carbon. It is tough to bend, but, will not rust in the salt water. Also, make sure you keep the wire clean. If you lay it on a steel bench, it will pick up carbon from the steel, and when it comes in contact with the salt water, will rust like steel wire.
If the find yourself making alot of these plugs, you might want to look into making a mold with either latex rubber reinforced with fiberglass or plaster, much like they do ceramics. Or use tooling gel coat and make a fiberglass mold. Both will hold up to production better than the bondo. The tooling gel coat giving you the best results. You should be able to pull at least 100 pieces before re-tooling
Feel free to come by the shop, I can show you the products and how to put them together.
Just my .02

thanks for the feedback guys!

when i go to the shop on monday i'll try to smash the thing appart to see how strong it is. i also made one without the fiber matt inside to test.
the nice one in the pic is an older plug , all i did was just paint it.
as far as the weight of the original it's about the same, but the original has extra weight in the chin, so i'll have to incorparate about two ounces in the chin of the plug. maybe a little more weight will help it dive deeper witch is not a problem for me.
thanks for the tip of making a jig with nails to bend the wire! i was wondering how i was going to get the wire in the same place on every plug.
i want this to be very strong as it will be the little brother of the ones i trully intend to make.{about 10-12 inches} the wire in the original is very strong, i couldn't even cut it with a big pair of snap-on dykes,i had to use small bolt cutters.
when i get one wired i'll take a comealong to it and try to rip it apart.
and when i find the combo i like, i'll take it down to the river and see how she swims.
and then start the production.
the new plugs sell for upwards of 60 bucks, and this should keep me out of trouble for a while:)

here's the wire, and the lead.

fresh out of the mold.

ta dahhh..

that looks awsome!:)

not much "work" going on at the shop today :)

:D
john doyle's plug

Looks great!

I send you Pikies...you mold them! :smash:

Nice job...something different!
Are you trolling these? Casting? They gotta weigh close to 4oz right?
Again...very inventive! :claps:

Nice paint job.

Nice paint! Pretty ingenious.

holy crap dude-faaaantastic

That is CRAZY!!!!!!!.. looks sweet!!!!!..very very good plan for the mold!!


Jr Link

great.... one more thing i'm getting hooked on, making lures!
i made four more of these high speed trolling plugs today, i'll put up some pics when i get them painted.
i'm making molds of roberts ranger"style" lures next. :D
mike d.

That is freakin beautiful.. true craftsmanship...my hats off to u

Very interesting process. Your air brushing results are very impressive as well.

I would like to hear how they swim. I am guessing your boat is not wet yet? How would you troll those? Off a flat line clip? How deep and how far back?

VERY COOL!