first pic is of the components...

second pic..... grommet goes on the wire, wire inserted into the plug and marked 3/8" from the body...

third.. the wire is wrapped around a #1 phillips or in the case of my jiog a brass post... pre forming the loop allows you to relie on the mommry of the wire when you pinch it down..

these three shots show the forming and pinching of the loop, by clamping the wire in the soft jawed vise you can have control of the wire keeping it flat as you work from bottonm to top...

these photos show the assebelly of the plug, for these plug i chose hangers over swivels ( these plugs swam better with the hooks tight to the body .. long story) the holes on the jig are larger going from left to right, and awl makes the perect tool to spread the loop..

the finnised joint... for me,it is neater and better looking than a wrapped joint... and once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty fast..

ok I understand that process Joe. I was looking at doing it on the rear hook. after going thru the rear grommet it is really flat and hard to open up again. thank you very much.

Here is my question for you then how will I do it to a jointed darter? the front will be glued in place and I need to spread it on the rear part of the plug, and like I said the doubled wire is too flat to open up in a nice dia. and you get a sharp v out of it. I think I need to use a larger grommet so I don't have to collapse the wire so small. I think I will make up a few grommets tonite at work. I don't want the grommet too big, as I thought of a small belly grommet but to big IMO, so i think a custom grommet will be in order. I have seen this done on finished plugs by a comm. builder but I am having a hard time doing it.

what I have done in the past, is use a tail grommet, drill a slight recess or counter bore for it to sit in then drill out the center of the tail grommet to suit the diameter of the wire... a thin SS washer would suit the purpose, but for me, and the few that I did, the modified tail grommet worked well...

thanks. I will figure something out tonite at work. the bottom line is I need a larger dia. hole in what ever I am going to use for a grommet. Last nite I tried using the nose grommet and decide that wasn't going to work so now with your method and some tinkering I will modify, make something. Thanks again for your time, PM's, Joe.
Hopefully I can show you something finished this weekend but there is also a good chance I will ruin it too.

M&D's sells a larger nose grommet that works fine and allows you to make a tight joint. I forget the diameter but have some at home. It also helps to anneal the loop after you crush it.

... It also helps to anneal the loop after you crush it.


I noticed that too... If I don't anneal it, I wind up pulling the tag end of the wire out a bit which loosens the joint.

you guy's are heating the wire.... as long as you pre form the loop you will not need to heat the wire to anneal it...you should be using annealed wire to begin with, 1/8th hard is too brittle for this process..

..you should be using annealed wire to begin with, 1/8th hard is too brittle for this process..

I must have missed this part. And you are correct, now that I really think about it, I do use 308L and if I don't heat it, it snaps.

I must have missed this part. And you are correct, now that I really think about it, I do use 308L and if I don't heat it, it snaps.

maybe not... it might be just like me to leave out that little ( but important) detail...

which detail anneal or not anneal? I am using 308L. Guess i will try it both ways.

Hey G. if you get some time tonite could you measure that nose grommet. ID and OD and PM me. If you are busy no problem. I will check my ipod tonite at work to get those dim. If not I will wing it. I don't have time to get to mike's.

BTW happy B day Joe

Not to butt in but Rockfish are you drilling a larger diameter through hole for the small loop you are making?

Also, Prof you can get rivets in just about any size in stainless or aluminum. Just cut the post and use the washer part.

That's super clean looking!!

Thanks for posting it.

In between jobs today I stopped home to wire some plugs and had 3 jointeds to do. Did two the normal way for plugfest and will attempt the one for me this way.

Thanks again,

Chef
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T minus 1 hour and counting till I attempt to spread the wire. Epoxied front loop is drying. Hope I measured out the right amount.. If it works I am a happy man, if not hello wood stove and a decent amount of work out the window but a learning experience none the less. Heck I don't even really like jointed plugs.

well how'd it go paul? hope it didn't wind up in the wood stove

I'll show you tomorrow. I think it will be adequate.
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good stuff thanks for the post and ideas for the future, A++

here you go. A very finger crossing build, especially since I never did the jointed that way and once the front part of the loop is epoxied in you pray you measured it right and pray you can get the loop open because if you screw it up you can't do it again with the wire already epoxied in. A lot of work went into these so I was a little nervous. The yellow one was first one I did and blue was second which I think came out as close to Mr. Musso's wire job. I like the loops smaller as in the blue one and my homemade grommets work perfectly. Thanks to Joe for all his insight, it was very helpful, as he always is. The yellow one was not made a jointed by Mr. M, although it is a darter he did make and smaller than the blue one. I did anyway as I figured I needed the practice. It may come in upside down but I don't care it was needed practice getting the machining and wiring down. He did make, his large size, blue one in a jointed as well as his regular wiring.
Thanks to my Conn. buddy who will remain nameless so he doesn't get bugged for them, that's my job:uhuh:, for the laser printed eyes. I figured out I needed to paint the backside of them yellow as the top coat would soak in and fade the colors too much as it is only sheet paper. This solved the problem and I think they look great and look forward to using them again. I'll bring them to the plugfest so you can drop them on the floor.:)

:drool: wow those are a couple of beauts

looks like a complicated plug to get just right, they look spot on from the picture I seen on the bassdozer article. just an incredible job all around, paint looks great as well
congratulations

great job on those paul.. as many jointed plugs as i make, I've made but 1 jointed darter.... and it was a piece of junk.... sank like a brick... and went turtle... This will inspire me to makle a few before the "season" as I've learned a thing or two about darters since that experiment...

too cool paul.

jointed darters are deep in darter hell many more ways to screw it up... great job Paul... looking forward to seeing them on sat....

Awesome job on those Professor! Hopefully I'll see them in person on Saturday.

nice Paul

I would have just done the front part with screw eyes

where is your plug?