Plastic Soft Baits: 3D Printing Lure Designs

I know the traditional method of creating soft plastic baits requires creating a clay or wood model of the bait first then deriving a negative of that bait for the primary mold.

I thought about creating a custom soft bait, designing it all on a program called ZBrush, then maybe have the thing 3d printed.

Anybody try this?

*Updated*

I just put this together, it's a 30 minute sculpt:





Essentially, you create the negative space mold then use that for pouring.

I know the traditional method of creating soft plastic baits requires creating a clay or wood model of the bait first then deriving a negative of that bait for the primary mold.

I thought about creating a custom soft bait, designing it all on a program called ZBrush, then maybe have the thing 3d printed.

Anybody try this?

*Updated*

I just put this together, it's a 30 minute sculpt:





Essentially, you create the negative space mold then use that for pouring.

Not bad! I would probably 3d print the master and make molds from it, both to save time and to have more color options. Last I checked, 3d printers (FDM at least) weren't that fast.

I know the traditional method of creating soft plastic baits requires creating a clay or wood model of the bait first then deriving a negative of that bait for the primary mold.

I thought about creating a custom soft bait, designing it all on a program called ZBrush, then maybe have the thing 3d printed.

Anybody try this?

*Updated*

I just put this together, it's a 30 minute sculpt:





Essentially, you create the negative space mold then use that for pouring.

Not bad! I would probably 3d print the master and make molds from it, both to save time and to have more color options. Last I checked, 3d printers (FDM at least) weren't that fast.

Yea, I heard the consumer 3D printers weren't too fast and they tend to have visible layer build-up. I'm checking out some of those public workspaces that rent out 3D printers -- I might actually get to print something out if the price isn't too bad.

You wanna 3D print the mold or the actual baits? Printing the baits would be super expensive.

There's two ways to go if you wanted to have the mold made. You could have your prototype bait SLA printed in a castable resin then form your mold around it, or you can have someone print your mold.

If you wanted to try the first method I can probably print your castable model for you if you shoot me an .stl file.

That's a killer bait for Cabbie & Ling! 

Nice modelling work. Try Shapeways for your printing needs.

3-D is the way to go now! My buddy got his son a printer for $800 and made some nice hard baits similar to a rapala or rebel and it produce for him. He said there's a printer as low as $400, but he went for a grade better model at the $800 range. I was impressed on how well it made baits. When you print a design you'll have to fine tune it and smooth it out with the lower end printers.

You wanna 3D print the mold or the actual baits? Printing the baits would be super expensive.

There's two ways to go if you wanted to have the mold made. You could have your prototype bait SLA printed in a castable resin then form your mold around it, or you can have someone print your mold.

If you wanted to try the first method I can probably print your castable model for you if you shoot me an .stl file.

I want to 3D print the molds (positive object).

Let me create a more refined 3D model of the bait itself - the one shown here was just an example.

Thanks for offering to print this out for me 

3-D is the way to go now! My buddy got his son a printer for $800 and made some nice hard baits similar to a rapala or rebel and it produce for him. He said there's a printer as low as $400, but he went for a grade better model at the $800 range. I was impressed on how well it made baits. When you print a design you'll have to fine tune it and smooth it out with the lower end printers.

Yea, I heard there is a lot of fine tuning that you gotta do with 3D printed models -- as you mentioned, smoothing them out. How does your hardbaits hold up in the water? Casting, and all that?

*Update*

This design might work for lings... Little gremlin with a tail fin.

3-D is the way to go now! My buddy got his son a printer for $800 and made some nice hard baits similar to a rapala or rebel and it produce for him. He said there's a printer as low as $400, but he went for a grade better model at the $800 range. I was impressed on how well it made baits. When you print a design you'll have to fine tune it and smooth it out with the lower end printers.

Yea, I heard there is a lot of fine tuning that you gotta do with 3D printed models -- as you mentioned, smoothing them out. How does your hardbaits hold up in the water? Casting, and all that?

Me personally I have not made any baits. My buddy his son did it for a school project. He painted his a rainbow trout color and caught a small bass on it. Once you place the eye screws in it would be good to apply clear epoxy so it'll give the screws some added strength. Some of the new upcoming bass pros are printing their own stick baits and crankbaits. Plus the 3-D technology is being used by most major lure manufactures.

3-D is the way to go now! My buddy got his son a printer for $800 and made some nice hard baits similar to a rapala or rebel and it produce for him. He said there's a printer as low as $400, but he went for a grade better model at the $800 range. I was impressed on how well it made baits. When you print a design you'll have to fine tune it and smooth it out with the lower end printers.

Yea, I heard there is a lot of fine tuning that you gotta do with 3D printed models -- as you mentioned, smoothing them out. How does your hardbaits hold up in the water? Casting, and all that?

Me personally I have not made any baits. My buddy his son did it for a school project. He painted his a rainbow trout color and caught a small bass on it. Once you place the eye screws in it would be good to apply clear epoxy so it'll give the screws some added strength. Some of the new upcoming bass pros are printing their own stick baits and crankbaits. Plus the 3-D technology is being used by most major lure manufactures.

Though printing your own bait would/could be nice, the handmade ones still appeal to a large demographic because of the hand-tuning that goes on with a quality bait.  I can say that it is a dying art form that few have a REALLY good handle on.

3-D is the way to go now! My buddy got his son a printer for $800 and made some nice hard baits similar to a rapala or rebel and it produce for him. He said there's a printer as low as $400, but he went for a grade better model at the $800 range. I was impressed on how well it made baits. When you print a design you'll have to fine tune it and smooth it out with the lower end printers.

Yea, I heard there is a lot of fine tuning that you gotta do with 3D printed models -- as you mentioned, smoothing them out. How does your hardbaits hold up in the water? Casting, and all that?

Me personally I have not made any baits. My buddy his son did it for a school project. He painted his a rainbow trout color and caught a small bass on it. Once you place the eye screws in it would be good to apply clear epoxy so it'll give the screws some added strength. Some of the new upcoming bass pros are printing their own stick baits and crankbaits. Plus the 3-D technology is being used by most major lure manufactures.

Though printing your own bait would/could be nice, the handmade ones still appeal to a large demographic because of the hand-tuning that goes on with a quality bait.  I can say that it is a dying art form that few have a REALLY good handle on.

I agree.

The handmade lures require a bit more time, patience, and skill to produce - it is an art form. The only advantage designing on computer and printing on a 3D printer is simply speed and also the ability to create different sizes/lengths from the same design.

What I eventually want to go into is Fly Tying. I found a decent kit on Fishusa.com for under $50; this might be something I'll try out later on.

3-D is the way to go now! My buddy got his son a printer for $800 and made some nice hard baits similar to a rapala or rebel and it produce for him. He said there's a printer as low as $400, but he went for a grade better model at the $800 range. I was impressed on how well it made baits. When you print a design you'll have to fine tune it and smooth it out with the lower end printers.

Yea, I heard there is a lot of fine tuning that you gotta do with 3D printed models -- as you mentioned, smoothing them out. How does your hardbaits hold up in the water? Casting, and all that?

Me personally I have not made any baits. My buddy his son did it for a school project. He painted his a rainbow trout color and caught a small bass on it. Once you place the eye screws in it would be good to apply clear epoxy so it'll give the screws some added strength. Some of the new upcoming bass pros are printing their own stick baits and crankbaits. Plus the 3-D technology is being used by most major lure manufactures.

Though printing your own bait would/could be nice, the handmade ones still appeal to a large demographic because of the hand-tuning that goes on with a quality bait.  I can say that it is a dying art form that few have a REALLY good handle on.

I agree.

The handmade lures require a bit more time, patience, and skill to produce - it is an art form. The only advantage designing on computer and printing on a 3D printer is simply speed and also the ability to create different sizes/lengths from the same design.

What I eventually want to go into is Fly Tying. I found a decent kit on Fishusa.com for under $50; this might be something I'll try out later on.

Totally agree on ability to progress a design!  Nice work!

I think $800 worth of Rapalas would last me a lifetime.