Balancers have a very good catch, especially on the first and last ice. Nowadays in fishing shops you can see their huge assortment. However, the prices for this type of fishing tackle are also high. And if you take into account the fact that any fisherman should have at least a dozen of these lures, since you can’t get away from gaps and hooks, then inadvertently you begin to think about how to make a balancer with your own hands. Let's take a closer look at this.
Materials for the manufacture of balancers
Soft wood (linden or aspen) is used as the main material. Instead, you can use dense foam. This is necessary for the manufacture of a workpiece (model) balancer.
Moreover, to make a balancer with your own hands, you need a steel or copper wire half a millimeter thick, solder with a very low melting point, lead, a bottle of plastic with thick walls (a wing will be made of it), multi-colored paints (aerosol types, quick-drying ones are suitable) , hooks and tees of various sizes with a long forearm, inexpensive PVA glue, alabaster with soap and graphite powder (as an alternative, you can use a soft pencil rod grated on sandpaper).
Paint can be used and acrylic, as well as gouache. After painting, it will be necessary to cover the painted area with a protective varnish.
Tools for making balancers
Making a balancer with your own hands should be done using the following tool:
- sharpened knife (you can use wallpaper);
- nippers or side cutters;
- pliers;
- student squirrel brush;
- clamps;
- canned food cans;
- one hundred watt soldering iron;
- phosphoric acid;
- wooden beam;
- sandpaper of the second number;
- set of files.
Making a balance bar workpiece
A blank for the manufacture of a balancer must be cut out of wood or dense foam, giving it the necessary shape. Then, with the help of a wooden beam and sandpaper, it is finished to give the workpiece the necessary parameters.
The tail of the balancer is made thinner, the size of two wall thicknesses of the bottle from plastic. This dimension is needed only on the back and sides of the workpiece, and its length is about seven millimeters.
Finalization of the workpiece
After the workpiece is ready, you need to insert previously prepared hooks into it (the eyelet is removed from them) and put them on PVA glue. Then it is necessary to visually determine where the center of gravity will be at the workpiece, and make a mark in this place with a pencil.
After that, steel or copper wire is inserted into the workpiece, which bends in the form of an arc (it will act as a loop). The correct position of the loop is very easy to check - the workpiece is suspended from it on the wire. If the loop was screwed in the wrong place (the workpiece has a strong edge in either direction), then the adjustment is made until the balancer hangs horizontally. In this case, when the wing is soldered to it, the tail will become heavier and the bait will have the correct position when fishing.
As you can see, the preparatory stage, which consists in the preparation of the workpiece, is not so difficult, and to get a good working balancer for fishing with your own hands is actually not difficult.
Getting a mold for balancer casting: secrets
After receiving the workpiece, we proceed to the manufacture of the mold itself. The main thing in this business is the use of a convenient and practical capacity that can be used repeatedly. A good option would be a plastic box from under the ink pen.
Its upper part (box lid) should be sawn 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 open the side walls of the resulting plastic box).
In order to facilitate the removal of the mold, the bottom and walls of the containers are lubricated with liquid soap in order to prevent the adhesion of alabaster to the boxes.
Getting the first half of the form
How to make a balancer with your own hands so that it is durable? To do this, in the manufacture of the mold, alabaster is used mixed with PVA glue. Before pouring the mold, the workpiece is carefully lubricated with a thick soapy solution, which is given time to dry. Then one half of the box is filled with alabaster. In this case, the missing wall is previously closed with any suitable object (a piece of fiberboard, a plastic plate or glass).
The workpiece lays sideways in the resulting solution and is pressed into about half. Immediately after that, guides are pressed into the mold. As them you can use metal washers, bearing balls or small coins. The mold should solidify well, and after that with a sharp knife it is necessary to remove all existing irregularities and extra layers of alabaster.
Such operations are performed so that the workpiece is easily pulled out of the mold. It must be removed very carefully to prevent damage. After the workpiece is taken out of the mold, it is necessary to cut the gate and the places for the exit of hot gases with a knife. The first half of the form is completely ready. It is necessary to reinsert the workpiece into it, cover everything with soap to prevent the second half of the mold from sticking to it.
Getting the final form
After the soap has dried, we connect the first half of the mold with the second box. Both boxes should be set so that the missing wall is at the top. They are slightly compressed by a clamp. We fill the second half of the mold with a mixture of alabaster with PVA glue, make sure that the filled solution fills the entire space without the formation of voids and bubbles. After the mixture has hardened, both halves of the mold are moved apart and completely separated, with a knife, the gate and the supports are cut out. Then the resulting form of two halves is thoroughly dried. And everything, it is ready for pouring lead. As you can see, all operations are quite time-consuming, but at the same time you can get a good analogue of purchased bait - do-it-yourself balancer!
Casting balancer. Tips for coloring
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 filling the mold with lead, it is necessary to insert a loop with hooks into it. The finished balancer should be removed 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 balancers for 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 to make a similar painting on homemade baits. Do-it-yourself balancers for perch, or rather their catch, depend on the imagination and ingenuity of the fisherman!
Pike baits should be made in the same colors as perch. They should be about nine centimeters long. For fishing, you should first make massive balancers. If there is no result, you should use a bait of a different color or a smaller size. Therefore, do-it- yourself balancers on a pike should be made in a large number of different sizes and colors for experimentation.
Making a release for the balancer
A ball weighing about one hundred grams is cast from a lead to make a cut-off. The ring for it can be made of a spring wire three millimeters thick. A mold for the ebb of a trailer is made of clay or gypsum. It should have openings for pouring lead and exhaust gases with steam. A do-it-yourself trailer for the balancer 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 different sizes available. For their quick replacement, a durable carbine is attached at the end of the cord.
Thus, to make a release for the balancer with your own hands is the strength of every fisherman.