3D printed plugs

[ClintR]

I'm also curious about the 3D printed ones, and how well they can hold they eyelets for the hook and line? Strong enough? Strength would be my concern with a 2 piece approach. Printing vertically would be ideal but need a brim and support base. Also, instead of PLA use PETG? PLA is going to break down pretty fast.

Clint: those are beautiful.

Thanks for the compliments. At $6 a blank my wife and daughter have been buying them for me for bday, Xmas and Father’s Day gifts. I bought a couple of the cheap princess auto air brushes and it was surprisingly easy to get the hang of it. Was about $100 for the compressor but I see them all the time on Facebook marketplace for cheap. Cost about as much to get into painting plugs as to get into tying flies. On a side note, I bought a better quality airbrush to up my game and turns out I have better results with the cheap ones.

 

[ClintR]

Clint are you using cedar plug blanks? Or 3d printed? Those look deadly either way

I use the Cedar blanks available on the Lyman site.

 

[advTHXance]

So I have a little experience with this! Last summer I designed, printed, and painted my own plugs. Went through a ton of variants and learned a lot about designing lures and 3d printing.

I designed my plugs with Tinkercad, which is free and easy to use. Its like MS paint for 3d design. Very basic but so is a plug tbh. I printed mostly using glow PLA. My plugs SLAYED! They didnt catch as many fish as say an AP spoon but the size of fish was noticeably larger. My guests released multiple tyees up to 37lbs using my plugs! It was so cool.

PLA prints arent waterproof, and im not sure any kind of entry level 3d printing would be watertight considering the water pressure at depth. For my first iterations I was focused on shape and action of the plug. After testing I noticed that the plugs had small amounts of water inside. I didnt bother to seal them because i was still figuring out shapes and angles etc.

Once I had some designs I liked, I airbrushed them and experimented with a few different topcoat/sealing methods. I was limited with what I could try because I was at the lodge. From the ones I tried, a 2 part epoxy hand-painted on with a small brush worked best, but eventually the salmons teeth won and water would find its way in. At 200ft deep, the water pressure is so much greater than at surface level that it doesnt take much for water to find a way. The 2 part epoxy was durable enough to withstand somewhere between 50-200 fish before springing a leak.

The injection-molded tomic style plugs are certainly more durable, but its a lot of fun to experiment with different designs, and very rewarding when they work!

 

[rusty swivel]

Have you tried it yet? I paint lures and dip them twice in kbs to finish them and I’m curious to see how you make out if you’re dipping something porous. I get a lot of air bubbles even with the fine sanding marks between dips. When i have a perfectly smooth surface to start with though the finish is outstanding.

I haven’t. I decided against the KBS since learning that it has UV inhibitors to prevent yellowing. The latest run I’ve been doing has been with glow PLA and I’m really trying to let it glow to its full potential. I’ve been using Alumilite Quick Cast Epoxy, as it has no inhibitors. For my plugs that don’t require extreme glow, I use Car Rep 2K. In the pics below, the plugs are coated with the Quick Cast and the spinning anchovies done in the 2K.

 

[ClintR]

I haven’t. I decided against the KBS since learning that it has UV inhibitors to prevent yellowing. The latest run I’ve been doing has been with glow PLA and I’m really trying to let it glow to its full potential. I’ve been using Alumilite Quick Cast Epoxy, as it has no inhibitors. For my plugs that don’t require extreme glow, I use Car Rep 2K. In the pics below, the plugs are coated with the Quick Cast and the spinning anchovies done in the 2K.

Wow, good job. Those are awesome. And good point about the UV inhibitors. I didn’t even think about that. I don’t know about glow but I’ve only recently started playing around with fluorescent paints and under a black light the UV blocker doesn’t seem to affect the glow of the paint? But maybe it’s not as bright as it could be? I dont know but will be looking into that. Thanks for the tip.

 

[rusty swivel]

Wow, good job. Those are awesome. And good point about the UV inhibitors. I didn’t even think about that. I don’t know about glow but I’ve only recently started playing around with fluorescent paints and under a black light the UV blocker doesn’t seem to affect the glow of the paint? But maybe it’s not as bright as it could be? I dont know but will be looking into that. Thanks for the tip. View attachment 124914

Thanks. Coatings with uv inhibitors don’t completely block out the glow, so they are of of course of value. Car rep 2k still lets some through, for sure. I have some lures coated in glow and 2K’d over. It still glows to a lesser degree. Based on some experiences last year I’ve realized how important it is to have some high intensity stuff in the bag, and the glow pla filament I’ve tried has been amazing.

 

[Howzer]

Wonder how they will handle being chewed...