January 3, 2019

Squarebill Crankbait

This is a Squarebill Crankbait that I found on Thingiverse designed by Reid Robinson. I’ve been meaning to try designing one of these myself but decided to just try this one because it looked well done and I have a back log of projects already.

Just like my designs it prints in two halves which I like because it allows for a single piece of wire to be used for tie on and hook attachments and makes for a strong lure.

The wire channel was a little small so I had to go with thinner safety wire over the thicker lure wire I’ve been using.  It does have a spots for weight in the bottom and an air chamber on the top just like my designs which is nice because this set up allows the lure to float correctly especially if you print them at 80% infill like I do.  The only thing I wish it had was holes for alignment pins so it’s easier to glue together.

Even without the pins the BB’s I used for weights help keep it pretty aligned.  I meant to print this at .10 layer height but did it at .20 by mistake so you can see the layers stacking.

There was no testing data listed in the original make on Thingiverse so I decided to do at least a float test before finishing this one. It seems to float pretty well so it’s on to the finish…

I decided to go with a photo wrap on this one just because I’ve been playing around with that technique lately and wanted some more practice with it. I didn’t make a new template though I just cut up one of the ones I used on my other crankbaits so this one has a lot of patch work pieces to it and I filled in some areas with paint also.

 Some stick on eyes to finish it off.

Overall after a sealing coat of epoxy it came out pretty well for a quick finish job. The finished lure (not counting the lip) is about 2.5 inches long. I used #6 hooks on it and it weights just over a half ounce when finished.

You can see some of the patch work on the belly but as always the fish won’t mind.

There are some lumpy areas in the epoxy sealer coat too. I’m not use to working with the thicker Devcon stuff and it sets up a lot faster. You can only really see them if you look for them so it still came out great.

Printed another one at .10 layer height and it came out pretty smooth. I did a little finish sanding to it and painted it in a fire tiger pattern.

1-12-19 Update = I did brave the 25 Degree temps today and made a few casts with one of these and after a bit of tuning they seem to work pretty well and they have a good amount of wobble action to them. I couldn’t tell how deep they run but these are definitely worth printing a few more of.

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