zero gravity style jigs

[crankmaster]

dont know if any of the guys on here have ever used any but I have been making some for about a year. I use the same type resin everyone including myself have been making A-rigs out of 90second alumilite resin which has a 600 degree heat range and use RTV silicone for the mold the head can be any style you want I use a flat eye arkie for my head a gamakatsu 5941 or mustad 32796 I use fly tiers lead wire to balance the rate of fall (I have 4 different ones I use) and they are all slow fall
I mold the head with a basepin in it so I can paint it with powder paint or airbrush plus it keeps the resin from impregnating the weedguard and rendering it useless.
Anyone who is serious about fishing should find this useful and informative and I am always looking for ways to modify/make my own tackle if possible

[softworm]

great info crankmaster,,thanks for the tips

[paulpus]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by crankmaster &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">dont know if any of the guys on here have ever used any but I have been making some for about a year. I use the same type resin everyone including myself have been making A-rigs out of 90second alumilite resin which has a 600 degree heat range and use RTV silicone for the mold the head can be any style you want I use a flat eye arkie for my head a gamakatsu 5941 or mustad 32796 I use fly tiers lead wire to balance the rate of fall</td></tr></table>

I have a couple of questions, should I post tehm or should I IM them to you?
Thanks, love this idea!!
Paul

[crankmaster]

post them.................. I dont sell these just make them for myself and my buds

[The Doc]

You should have some pride and come up with something on your own instead of copying what someone else has done. I'm sure Kelly (owner of CLU and the Zero Gravity Jig) will find this post interesting...

[paulpus]

Why do you use RTV silicone for a mold?
Wont a normal mold work?
Paul

[shaggy1081]

I asked alumilite that question on some other stuff they said it would work as long as the mold was heated up

[C-Man]

Can you guys post some pics of the final product? I am interested in learning more as well... A pic of the RTV silicone mold would be nice also...

[crankmaster]

I use RTV because I had so much trouble trying to keep my aluminum mold heated correctly 10 degrees too cold it doesnt set up 10 degrees too hot it flash sets but doesnt cure and becomes brittle and falls apart. yes I tried a hotplate my toaster oven my infrared oven etc I found those all to be inconsistent

[crankmaster]

C-man
my rtv mold looks like a plastic cup which is what I made the mold in it has a hole in the top where the hook and pin goes into thats about it it is one piece not 2 pieces kind of hard to explain unless you are a moldmaker/tinkerer who uses this kind of stuff

[luke1wcu]

Doc, I would think Kelly should be proud that he has influenced other tackle tinkerers to emulate his ideas. Haven't you ever heard of the Alabama Rig? No fishing tackle idea is safe and therefore I think it should be shared. The idea of a slow falling jig is about as universal as the idea of fishing multiple lures at a time on a single rod.

Either way, he did state that he makes them up for himself and his buddies. Not for profit. So regardless of what Kelly thinks of this post, there is not much room for an opinion. Not all of us are in it for the money. Some of the fish that I am most proud of catching were on spinnerbaits that I built or even on crankbaits that I repainted. Pride like that is priceless.

Someone with the artistic abilities that Kelly is blessed to have would surely be proud of (and not at all worried) about what some guy is doing in his garage.

[crankmaster]

remember the old so slo jig that was way back before Kelley Barefoots design

[The Doc]

All I'm getting at is replicating someone elses hard work and design for your own profit is just plain wrong. I don't care if the Alabama rig got copied a hundred times, the fact is it's wrong. Same thing happened with the Sweet Beaver, the Chatterbait, ect..... Now Luck E Strike has an EXACT copy of the Megabass Vision 110. It's just straight BS for someone to copy anothers work and sell it. I'm sure that if you came up with an innovative idea, brand new and never done before, the last thing you would want is for someone to copy it. I remember seeing people bring swimbaits to the hospital to have X rayed. It's just getting out of control. WE are the ones ruining our sport. There are a million crankbaits out there, a million jigs, ect so it's hard not to use the same BASIC style or color... but the Zero Gravity jig is a TRUE new concept, regardless of what Crankmaster says, the So Slo jigs were not made the same way as the ZG.... And I'm certain CLU has a patent on the design, and furthermore certain that Kelly doesn't want anyone copying it.

Doesn't matter anyhow, the way that the original poster describes the process is not even in the same ballpark of how the ZG jig is made, so go ahead and give away your technique to making a "Zero Gravity" style jig. I'll be buying the original.

[20_lb_sack]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by The Doc &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">All I'm getting at is replicating someone elses hard work and design for your own profit is just plain wrong. I don't care if the Alabama rig got copied a hundred times, the fact is it's wrong. Same thing happened with the Sweet Beaver, the Chatterbait, ect..... Now Luck E Strike has an EXACT copy of the Megabass Vision 110. It's just straight BS for someone to copy anothers work and sell it. I'm sure that if you came up with an innovative idea, brand new and never done before, the last thing you would want is for someone to copy it. I remember seeing people bring swimbaits to the hospital to have X rayed. It's just getting out of control. WE are the ones ruining our sport. There are a million crankbaits out there, a million jigs, ect so it's hard not to use the same BASIC style or color... but the Zero Gravity jig is a TRUE new concept, regardless of what Crankmaster says, the So Slo jigs were not made the same way as the ZG.... And I'm certain CLU has a patent on the design, and furthermore certain that Kelly doesn't want anyone copying it.

Doesn't matter anyhow, the way that the original poster describes the process is not even in the same ballpark of how the ZG jig is made, so go ahead and give away your technique to making a "Zero Gravity" style jig. I'll be buying the original. </td></tr></table>
You do realize of course that Johny Morris would still be selling cheap wine, if he wasn't a master at duplicating other peoples designs and putting small manufactures out of business.

[shaggy1081]

Well if the op is not in the same ballpark then hes doing something different whats wrong with that ? Some people would rather make their own tackle and im one of them
no sense in buying it if you can make it cheaper

[luke1wcu]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by The Doc &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">I'm sure that if you came up with an innovative idea, brand new and never done before, the last thing you would want is for someone to copy it.</td></tr></table>
Maybe so but I may also feel honored that someone who loves the sport as much as I do would appreciate my design enough to make something similar.

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by The Doc &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">Doesn't matter anyhow, the way that the original poster describes the process is not even in the same ballpark of how the ZG jig is made, so go ahead and give away your technique to making a "Zero Gravity" style jig. I'll be buying the original. </td></tr></table>

I don't know how any of that applies as the op stated that he is making them for himself and some buds so I don't think you have any choice but to buy the original. He's not trying to replicate the exact jig just what the jig does.

[21XDC]

Have you tried injecting a mold with "Hot glue sticks"?

I know guys making walleye floating/suspending jigheads using this method for 20 years... I have not tried it yet.

[Munkin]

While I have never used a zero gravity jig I am willing to bet money he just used something like resin instead of lead. This is not a new idea at all because I have been doing it for at least 5 years to make masters for molds. The citrus sticks booth was selling a version 2 or 3 years ago at the local fishing flea market.

Allen

[crankmaster]

like I originally said it was for myself and my friends I have no intentions of selling mine and I thought this forum was about tackle making not tackle bashing.

I bought a couple of zero gravity jigs from the original maker CLU last year after several fish and continued contact with the undersides of docks and pontoon boats I broke the head loose from the hook so I decided that I would take a razor knife and cut the head away and see how it was made and yes its is just an epoxy resin 99% sure it is alumilite and being a tinkerer who has years in the mold making/casting business I made myself a RTV mold with a cup one of my own hand poured flat eye arkie heads and used a woodsie stirrer to hold the head in place while the RTV set up the next day I poured it to see how it would work my first one barely sank without any skirting and after I added the skirt it flipped over so I made me a ballast on the eye bend of the hook with a little bit of fly tiers lead repoured glued in a weedguard slipped on a skirt and chunk tried it in my little girls aquarium and it worked it fell obout 1ft in 20 seconds so after that I varied my lead wire and made one that fell 1ft in 10 seconds 1ft in5 seconds and 1ft in 15 seconds

I am not trying to overtake someones idea I wanted a product that was similar but not the same as the original and on another note I have 4 rates of fall not just one and best of all if a pickerel bites it off or I break the head loose on mine I am not out of an arm and a leg $10 for 1 jig it cost me about 85cents per jig in product from start to finish excluding the trailer

[luke1wcu]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by crankmaster &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">I thought this forum was about tackle making not tackle bashing.
</td></tr></table>

It is and most of us here appreciate you sharing with us.