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Post by luremaker on May 4, 2022 16:47:17 GMT -5
I'm making fishing lures with alumifoam. About 80% of my lures have developed at least one crack that runs all the way around the circumfirence of the lure. These cracks eventually involve the lure splitting in 2 along the crack.
These are basically sausage sized lures with a stainless steel hook harness and lead weights in side them. I paint these lures with Rustoleaum Ultracover paint. Then epoxy coat them with Devcon 2 ton epoxy.
My question is if this is normal and whether there is anything I can do to prevent.
I have a few lures that I never got around to epoxying and these don't have cracks so I'm wondering if the epoxy is part of the problem.
Thanks!
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Post by notoes on May 5, 2022 6:50:49 GMT -5
I've never used Devcon 2 ton epoxy but from what I see of the Alumifoam, it might be the problem. Or it might be the fact that alumifoam is an "expanding foam" and it hasn't finished the cure process when you put the epoxy on so it's still expanding a little. I'm not sure which one is the problem as I haven't used the Alumifoam either but I have worked with expanding foams otherwise and if it's cracking from the inside then the foam isn't done yet though it shouldn't expand more than the cavity it is in. What are your steps of making the lures?
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Post by luremaker on May 5, 2022 15:34:11 GMT -5
Well I've tried a couple different things. One is paint almost immediately after it comes out of mold. Two is paint a week or more later. In either case, I'll wait at least five days before epoxying.
I've got a couple examples in front of me. One is an unpainted plug that has epoxy. This one has no cracks. I have a couple other ones both painted and epoxied and one has three cracks and the other zero.
I was thinking that the cracks could be happening as a result of warming/cooling cycles like from being in a car or going from a lure bag and then into 55 degree water. Maybe a certain number of those cycles leads to a fracture happening.
I have one lure that has three cracks in the epoxy but the lure itself isn't cracked. I've never cauhgt a fish on this one. Suggests that these cracks are developing separate from the pressures catching a fish puts on them. Perhaps catching a fish, handling the lure while unhooking fish, leads to the cracks becoming full fledged breakages where you have a fissure all the way through the plug.
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Post by notoes on May 11, 2022 6:03:01 GMT -5
You might need to change up the epoxy then. Look over the fishing section of Alumilite's web site: www.alumilite.com/applications/fishing/And see what others have used and see if anything there helps you better.
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Post by luremaker on May 13, 2022 12:59:20 GMT -5
I was reading online about expanding foam insulation problems with cracking. In that case, the cracking was happening as the foam shrank. A segment's out edge would adhere to studs and as the segment shrank it would develop cracks because it couldn't contract easily due to the adhesion to the studs.
I wonder if that's similar to what I am experiencing. The epoxy and/or the wire harness in the lure could preventing the alumifoam from shrinking.
It would be nice to find out if alumifoam is supposed to shrink and whether that's normal? I may have gotten a bad batch of resin or perhaps mixed or applied it incorrectly.
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Post by notoes on May 25, 2022 7:14:34 GMT -5
I didn't see anything in the safety data sheet to suggest that the Alumifoam is expanding and shrinking though you could try some lures with micro balloons in place of the foam and see if that does the same thing.
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