Balancers have very good catchability, especially on the first and last ice. Nowadays, in fishing stores you can see their huge range. However, the prices for this type of fishing tackle are also high. And if we take into account the fact that any fisherman should have at least a dozen of these lures, since there is no escape from breaks and hooks, then you inadvertently start to think about how to make a balancer with your own hands. Let's take a closer look at this.
Materials for making balancers
The main material used is softwood (linden or aspen). Instead, you can use dense foam. This is necessary for the manufacture of the workpiece (model) of the balancer.
Moreover, to make a balancer with your own hands, you will need steel or copper wire half a millimeter thick, solder with a very low melting point, lead, a plastic bottle with thick walls (the wing will be made from it),multi-colored paints (aerosol types, quick-drying are suitable), hooks and tees of various sizes with a long forearm, inexpensive PVA glue, alabaster with soap and graphite powder (alternatively, you can use a soft pencil shaft rubbed on sandpaper).
You can use both acrylic and gouache paint. After painting, you will need to cover the painted area with a protective varnish.
Tools for making balancers
Making a balancer with your own hands must be done using the following tool:
- sharpened knife (you can use wallpaper);
- cutters or side cutters;
- pliers;
- student brush with squirrel hair;
- clamps;
- canned food;
- 100 watt soldering iron;
- orthophosphoric acid;
- wood beam;
- second number sandpaper;
- set of needle files.
Production of the workpiece balancer
The blank for the manufacture of the balancer must be cut out of wood or dense foam, giving it the necessary shape. Then, using a wooden beam and sandpaper, it is finished to give the workpiece the necessary parameters.
The tail part of the balancer is made thinner, twice the thickness of the plastic bottle wall. This dimension is needed only on the back and sides of the workpiece, and its length is about seven millimeters.
Finalfinalization of the workpiece
After the workpiece is ready, you need to insert pre-prepared hooks into it (the eye is removed from them) and put them on PVA glue. Then you need to visually determine where the workpiece will have a center of gravity, and make a mark in this place with a pencil.
After a steel or copper wire is inserted into the workpiece, which is bent in the form of an arc (it will act as a loop). The correct location of the loop is very easy to check - the workpiece is suspended from it on a wire. If the loop was screwed in the wrong place (the workpiece has a strong preponderance in any direction), then an adjustment is made until the balancer hangs strictly horizontally. In this case, when the wing is soldered to it, the tail will become heavier and the lure will have the correct position when catching fish.
As you can see, the preparatory stage, which consists in making a blank, is not so difficult, and getting a good working balancer for fishing with your own hands is really not difficult.
Getting the Balancer Mold: Secrets
After receiving the workpiece, we proceed to the manufacture of the mold itself. The main thing in this matter is the use of a convenient and practical container that can be used repeatedly in the work. A plastic ink pen box would be a good option.
Its upper part (the lid of the box) should be cut into two equal parts. Thus,two three-walled containers are obtained, which can be used many times (the cooled form is pulled out very easily - you just need to slightly part the side walls of the resulting plastic box).
In order to facilitate the removal of the form, the bottom and walls of the containers are smeared with liquid soap in order to prevent the alabaster from sticking to the boxes.
Getting the first half of the form
How to make a do-it-yourself balancer so that it is strong at the same time? For this, alabaster mixed with PVA glue is used in the manufacture of the mold. Before pouring the mold, the workpiece is thoroughly lubricated with a thick soapy solution, which is given time to dry. Then one half of the box is filled with alabaster. At the same time, the missing wall is pre-closed with any suitable object (a piece of fiberboard, a plastic plate or glass).
The workpiece is placed sideways in the resulting solution and pressed about halfway. Immediately after that, guides are pressed into the mold. As them, you can use metal washers, bearing balls or small coins. The form should harden well, and after that, with a sharp knife, it is necessary to remove all existing irregularities and excess layers of alabaster.
Such operations are performed to ensure that the workpiece is easily pulled out of the mold. Its removal must be done very carefully to avoid damage. After the workpiece has been removed from the mold, you need to cut out the sprue with a knife and places forhot gas outlet. The first half of the mold is complete. You need to insert the workpiece back into it, cover everything with soap to prevent the second half of the form from sticking to it.
Getting the final form
After the soap dries, we connect the first half of the mold with the second box. Position both boxes in such a way that the missing wall is at the top. They are slightly squeezed with a clamp. Fill the second half of the mold with a mixture of alabaster and PVA glue, make sure that the poured solution fills the entire space without the formation of voids and bubbles. After the mixture hardens, both halves of the mold are moved apart and completely separated, the sprue and bulges are cut out with a knife. Then the resulting form of two halves is thoroughly dried. And that's it, it's ready to be filled with lead. As you can see, all operations are quite time-consuming, but at the same time you can get a good analogue of purchased baits - a do-it-yourself balancer!
Casting a balancer. Tips for coloring it
In order to get a quality balancer with your own hands, the last stage remains - its casting. To facilitate the removal of the balancer, the impression on the form is covered with a soap-graphite solution. Before pouring the form with lead, it is necessary to insert a loop with hooks into it. The finished balancer should be taken out only after the lead has completely cooled and solidified. A better casting is obtained if the mold is preheated. Next, the finished balancer is painted in special colors.
It should be remembered that in order to get good balancerson the perch with your own hands, you need to paint them in special colors. The best of them are Perch, Rapala - BSR, Read Head. These colors are branded. However, nothing prevents making a similar painting for homemade lures. Do-it-yourself balancers for perch, or rather their catchability, depend on the imagination and ingenuity of the fisherman!
Baits for pike should be made in the same color scheme as perch. They should be about nine centimeters long. For fishing, you must first make massive balancers. In the absence of results, a bait of a different color or smaller size should be used. Therefore, do-it-yourself balancers for pike should be made in a large number of different sizes and colors for experimentation.
Manufacture of a balancer retriever
For the production of a lead, a ball weighing about one hundred grams is cast. The ring for it can be made of spring wire three millimeters thick. The mold for casting the cut is made of clay or gypsum. It should have openings for pouring lead and escaping gases with steam. Do-it-yourself balancer puller should turn out with a high-quality surface, without bubbles and other flaws.
The wire ring in the mold is positioned so that it passes through the center of the ball. It should be easy to put on the bait and hook on the hook. When fishing, it is better to have several cuts of different sizes available. For quick replacement at the end of the cordattach a strong carabiner.
Thus, every fisherman can make a do-it-yourself hauler for a balancer.
