Thick Lips
 

Since we're kind of stuck with the thickness of metal lips as they are currently being made, I've been tossing around some ideas on how to strengthen the lips on some of the deep divers that I've been fishing. All too often after retrieving a deep diver that comes in contact with a rock or two, it comes in with the metal lip massively bent out of shape. I then have to bend it back, further weakening the lip and making it even more susceptible to bending again. So aside form buying heavy sheet metal and cutting/bending my own lips, is there an easier solution? Can a pair of lips be soldered together to make a double-thick lip, for example? I know in this case I'd have to drill out the lip slot a bit, but has anyone tried this before I go butchering up one of my JLH maples?

I think you would find stainless hard to solder, possibly sand and epoxy or drill and pop rivet. Might throw the balance off a little having a lip weigh twice as much.

Toby, you could braze two lips together. Or you could epoxy 2 together.
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You could try taking a cold chisel and hammer and striking the original bends in a couple spots. Much like the commercially available pikie 4 lip. It will stiffen it up a bit.
Another option would be to source thicker gauge stainless at a scrapyard and bend your own lips.I bought a 3'x12"piece of stainless for $3 from my local scrapyard and bend them myself. Time consuming, but you get the lip you want.

I'll turn some bodies with larger lip slots if you want to experiment. I've thought about looking into what I would need to make my own thicker lips due to the same issues but haven't gotten very far.

I may try this first to see how it works out as it seems like the simplest solution. I don't mind it bending a little here and there, but I've had some lips come back bent almost parallel to the body.

Something like this Toby. Couldn't post a pic from my phone.

I would try to drill 2 holes into the lip of one then Siamese the 2 together and braze thru holes to the extra lip from the underneath. If u want tell me what lip u use and Ill try a pair and see how it come out. extra front weight but for a dibver I don,t think i will hurt it. Actually may go deeper some what. If it s a Pike lip try a gusset version cut to size you wish. I grind said lips shorter and thinner for certain guys who prefer less action.

I build most of my own lips nowadays, but I am a machinist so it is fairly easy, except for finding the time. You can just buy thicker 304 stainless sheet stock. Most comm guys use .026 stock for their lips you can step up to .032. I use it once in a while but it is tough to work with and bending it accurately in your basement is not going to be fun at all. If you double up the lips your adding weight and you will have to increase the lip slot size too. Best bet is to get some thicker stock sharp sheers and struggle to cut and bend it. Won't be too fun. I posted some pics years ago on how to bend your own lips at home with a bench vise. If you have interest I will see if I can find those pics.

get some rt angle alum after lip is cut and sanded put in vise and bend back. Use a scrap piece of alum to flatten the lip against the jaws using a hammer and aluminum to hammer the lip flat. Take out flip put in vise and bend other way again use hammer and scrap alum.

next

done

Nice tutorial Paul. I do some redos similar with a small machinist vise. Most important is getting the lip stock mounted perpendicular to lip when bending.
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I scribe both bend lines before I start.
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I never bought a lip. I made my own. Not being a machinist like Paul I had to figure out how to cut and bend accurately. What i did for a layout was create a computer file that had the outline, bends and holes on it and print out a bunch of them. Then spray mount them onto the stainless stock you want to use for the lip. Drill the hole before cutting the shape. Cut out close to the outline with sharp compound sheet metal shears and grind the final profile using a grinder or sanding disk. Use a pair of vice grips to hold the lip while grinding as they get very hot very quickly. This is a good time to smooth out the edges. I used a sanding disk with 150 grit for this. I used a hand sheet metal bending brake to make the bends. The most pain part is getting the paper pattern off the finished lip.

Just my 2cents I have found that not glueing lips in place is really helpful if it needs to be replaced. Then it's just cut the thru wire, pull it out, replace lip and swivels in needed. Then nothing needs to be cut or redrilled. Just a super tight tail wrap to draw in the lip tight.
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I agree. I never epoxy my lips in.
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THIS