New Injection Mold Build.

[basscatcher89]

Hey Guys,

I've been working on learning to build some soft plastic injection molds on my machine and finally had something turn out worth sharing. These are a 3 inch tail I designed for vertical jigging sauger in the Illinois River but I think it will double as a decent drop shot bait as well for smallies. A lot of trial and error to get here but I'm happy with it. I'm getting a little flashing on each bait but it pulls off pretty easy. I think I know what I did wrong and can correct it in the next build. I'm already working on another variation of this bait with a bigger tail for more of a swimming action than what this one has currently, we will see how that one turns out.

InjectionMold.jpg

[TDobb]

Looks great, should be a good profile for fishing the river, not too much drag but just enough tail wiggle to entice bites. I would venture to guess the reason you are getting some flash is the vents are too deep, appears to be .030" or so in the photo. I designed a small ice fishing bait mold and had a .005" relief for the vent. For a bait that size I would say a .01" vent relief would be about the max you would want to go. Next go round try the shallower vent. And if you want to cut any more molds, let me know. I have a few more drawn up that I haven't had cut yet, but would love to get them built.

[brushsjigs]

Dobb has it. It takes very little to remove air, unless your making a machine injection mold. Then those mold makers protect the venting almost like its a trade secret.

[basscatcher89]

Thanks guys I had made a previous attempt at a mold for this bait that was just a two cavity and I made my vents with a 1/32 bit and it seemed like not enough. I saw some other molds all be it for bigger baits with some bigger vents so I went ahead and used my 1/16 for this one. I'll size it down on the next one. You guys are saying what I was thinking. Luckily it's still useable just a little clean up after lol.

[21XDC]

It’s not as much the width, it’s the depth

[Solitario Lupo]

Looks good all it’s gotta do is swim fine and it will work.

[basscatcher89]

It’s not as much the width, it’s the depth

I got ya that makes sense time to go make adjustments lol

[TDobb]

It’s not as much the width, it’s the depth

100% - I would say 1/16" diamter end mill by .01" or .005" deep would be good.

[Fatman]

always thought about trying this!! Robert at Crazy Angler used to do mods on molds but not anymore.

[DrewFlu33]

Super cool! It feels cool to catch fish on rods and baits you've made yourself. Designing the bait from scratch adds a whole other level. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next!

[basscatcher89]

Super cool! It feels cool to catch fish on rods and baits you've made yourself. Designing the bait from scratch adds a whole other level. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next!

Thank You! I've been building jig molds that I just haven't shared yet. Nothing crazy I built a 3/16 weedless ball jig for smallies in the river. It's setup for a rubber/silicon skirt or Marabou and has a wire keeper for holding a plastic on. I'm probably going to sit down next and work on a few trailers to put on the back of it. I finally have my shop setup like I've wanted. I got a bench where I do my rod building another for my baits and then the third with the cnc and all the power tools. Lets me spread out a bit and keep a few projects going at once. Jack of all trades master of none lol.

F360BallJig.jpg

Jigs2.jpg

[Les Young]

Looks great.

[Munkin]

Thank You! I've been building jig molds that I just haven't shared yet. Nothing crazy I built a 3/16 weedless ball jig for smallies in the river. It's setup for a rubber/silicon skirt or Marabou and has a wire keeper for holding a plastic on. I'm probably going to sit down next and work on a few trailers to put on the back of it. I finally have my shop setup like I've wanted. I got a bench where I do my rod building another for my baits and then the third with the cnc and all the power tools. Lets me spread out a bit and keep a few projects going at once. Jack of all trades master of none lol.

F360BallJig.jpg

Jigs2.jpg

What program are you using? Fusion 360?

Allen

[basscatcher89]

What program are you using? Fusion 360?

Allen

Yes sir! Works great. Took me awhile to learn via tutorials and such but the light bulb eventually went off and I know enough to be dangerous to myself I guess lol.

[Munkin]

Yes sir! Works great. Took me awhile to learn via tutorials and such but the light bulb eventually went off and I know enough to be dangerous to myself I guess lol.

Trying to learn it myself but it isn't easy.

Allen

[TDobb]

Thank You! I've been building jig molds that I just haven't shared yet. Nothing crazy I built a 3/16 weedless ball jig for smallies in the river. It's setup for a rubber/silicon skirt or Marabou and has a wire keeper for holding a plastic on. I'm probably going to sit down next and work on a few trailers to put on the back of it. I finally have my shop setup like I've wanted. I got a bench where I do my rod building another for my baits and then the third with the cnc and all the power tools. Lets me spread out a bit and keep a few projects going at once. Jack of all trades master of none lol.

F360BallJig.jpg

Jigs2.jpg

That is awesome. Very nice work. Wish I had a CNC in my garage. I would keep that thing busy.

[basscatcher89]

Trying to learn it myself but it isn't easy.

Allen

If you get stuck on anything let me know I can try and help out. It's definitely something that everybody has their own method to accomplish what they are trying to do.

[gary_fritz]

Nice work! Fusion360 is a good program, it's nice they allow use of it for free. I use Inventor daily for work to do all my 3D modeling and 2D prints, but the few times I've done design stuff with Fusion it's very similar. When I'm doing a program for the CNC's I import my model from Inventor to assemble and create my CAM program with Fusion.

[basscatcher89]

If anybody was curious. I finally got to get out on the water and fish these baits a bit this weekend. I found out the smallies love that small swimbait. I was on a river and rigged it up on a drop shot so it would be just a bit above the bottom. And I casted to a spot and let the weight hit the bottom then lifted up so the bait was off the bottom and just held there and the current coming through was hitting the tail and making it do its thing. I went 10-15 minutes where it was every cast I was getting bit. Definitely feel like I'm onto something with it. The blue gill and crappie seemed to like it too. Looking forward to see what else I can come up with on it.

[Fatman]

Nice work gents!!!