home made duplicator

fishing bum wannabe · 01-19-2003, 11:00 PM

I have been jealous of all the plug makers who I have seen with duplicators. At Slips get together I got to see them in the metal and in action> And now I had the hots for one. Unfortunately I have many wants including a couple of new Abus, another Penn SS, an All Star 1209 so that I can go to the canal and pretend I have a clue, and on and on. So...

With a little research on the net, some scap 8/4 Oak, some melamine covered particle board and some odds and ends around the shop I came up with a duplicator and I bought no parts. If you discount the 3 hours I put into it, it was "free". The cutter is a piece of 1/4" tool steel. This will also be the base for a jig to make bottle swimmer lips that are exact clones of each other.

The template was a piece of 3/8" cherry that I had. I have enough to make templates for 8 different plugs.

These are some 6" Danny Phat Boys ala Bassmaster. If you are going to copy, steal from the best. The duplicator is surprisingly quick. It is actually quicker than the Carba-tech and the Vega I saw in action. I still need to do some refining to mount the rig on the lathe bed and to mount and be able to easily adjust the templates.

Breezy Kid · 01-19-2003, 11:11 PM

WOW!! That is nice! Could you post some more pics, please please please! :-}

NIB · 01-19-2003, 11:11 PM

nice now there is a thinkin man.

Diamondwrapper · 01-19-2003, 11:14 PM

Sometimes the answer is right in front of your nose. Simple but very efective. Wy to go!

Jig Man · 01-19-2003, 11:20 PM

Very cool idea

Extra big thanks for taking the time to share.

I believe someone else posted a design for a duplicator a while back too.

Jigman

slipknot · 01-19-2003, 11:37 PM

Fred, I absolutely love it. That is definately using your head. I really like the simplicity of that as well. Nice job

and thanks for posting it.

Now you'll have me making one.

fishing bum wannabe · 01-19-2003, 11:44 PM

Slip

I have ten more tool steel bits if you want to build your own duplicator. As I stated, this setup is fast. I thought I would have to rough them out and then just finish them with the duplicator. But no. I am able to turn them from square stock with the jig.

slipknot · 01-19-2003, 11:59 PM

That is excellant.
One question though. Doesn't the tool need to be kept pretty square to the workpiece? kinda like a duplicator does along the guides. I suppose you can just eyeball it right? as long as it's close.

Those copies look sweet, and it's great that you can go right from square stock

If I have touble finding tool steel, I'll take you up on that.thanks

fishing bum wannabe · 01-20-2003, 12:05 AM

The guide at the bottom ( a piece of 3/8" aluminum rod) and the bit at the top have the same profile and they are directly in verticle alignment. This aleviates the necessity to keep the tool at aright angle to the plug.

l.i.fish.in.vt · 01-20-2003, 12:46 AM

thats a great idea, what shape is the cutter that you made? is it a vee shaped cutter like the vegas? nothing like keeping it simple and cheap

bassmaster · 01-20-2003, 12:47 AM

That will cost You 2 plugs for using a Bm idea.
Union rules, Looks Like You been Ho'd By the original Ho.
Nice Idea

P.S. fork them over

fishing bum wannabe · 01-20-2003, 01:42 AM

The cutter is a piece of 1/4" sq tool steel gound to a point, then the point rounded off to a 1/16" radius. The bit is also ground so that there is some shearing effect. I have done this before and gotten excellent results. I need to do some more work on this bit before I will get a decent shear. My experience is that no matter how I grind the bit, when it cuts it will still be rough enough to require some sanding. It is no where as smooth as when I use chisels and gouges. On the other hand no matter how hard I worked, marking the blank using a story stick and constantly measuring with calipers, I never got the consistancy I am getting now.

This is a result of trying to get consistantly shaped bottle swimmer plugs. Its all MrPogies fault!

[This message has been edited by fishing bum wannabe (edited 01-20-2003).]

chumbucket · 01-20-2003, 06:40 AM

I like it too!

mrpogie · 01-20-2003, 06:56 AM

Very impressive Fred, I think that idea will help a lot of guys. I like seeing the ideas that people come up with using their own ingenuity. Some of the handiest things we use in plug building just aren't being made, so you end up making them yourself. Excellent work. ...mrpogie

saltybugger · 01-20-2003, 07:17 AM

And for copying my duplicator I charge you 3 plugs

Nice Job Fred. One question, is that block of wood held down at all or is it floating?
Reason I ask is I see a serious safety issue if it's not held down at all....bit hits a tough spot in the wood, grabs, rips it out of your hand, spins it back and shoot it into your belly or your face....would not be a pretty site....

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