Nearing The End Of This Project
I got a few of the different iterations all assembled. Each has a slightly different size to it. I wanted to see for myself which appeared to be optimum in terms of size and shape. They'll all work but some of the considerations I had was, given that they are so light weight, will I be able to cast them out far enough to do me any good?
Will they track through the water in an upright position even with the propeller spinning behind them. The mid-sized samples are cast-able but it turns out that the weight of the hooks and the split-rings were not quite enough to keep them from wanting to turn onto their sides as a result of the torque that the small propeller was imparting.
They all had enough buoyancy to float at the right depth when I crimped a small .177 cal pellet onto the center hook-eye. I tested them with this added weight and they tracked almost perfectly, even with the propeller spinning behind them. What this means now is that my latest iterations will have this added weight added to the inside of the lure before the two halves are glued together. That should solve the only problem that was keeping these 3D printed Micro-Plopper lures from performing as I'd hoped they would.
Here are a few more pics of my latest CAD models of what I think will be the optimum size for this Mirco-Plopper lure. (1 1/4" long X .66" tall) I also included an incredibly blurry photo of an actual Whopper Plopper, a Chinese knockoff Plopper, and one of my 3D printed Micro-Plopper lures floating in a bucket of water so you could see that compared to the original, my 3D printed lure is darn near at the same float level. Believe it or not, that was by design.
So now what I have to do with these already assembled Micro-Plopper lures is to drill a small hole near the center-bottom of the bodies and glue that extra little bit of weight to them so they'll track through the water correctly. I hope to be able to take them out this weekend some time to see if they do any good.
By the way; you have my permission to laugh at my paint jobs of these lures. I wasn't really concerned to much about how they look at this point. I just want them to run through the water in a similar manner to the original full sized Whopper Plopper.
HollowPoint
A Bit Of Video Proof That You Aren't Just Being Strung Along
Here is my short, cobbled together video of the recent field tests I did on the various iterations of the 3D Printed Micro-Plopper fishing lure I've been working on.
I actually caught a fish. That's more than I can say with my authentic Whopper Plopper lure. I have yet to catch a fish with that store bought lure and it's not cause I haven't tried. I've just had no luck with it yet.
That's not to say it's not an awesome lure, it's just that I haven't caught anything with it yet; not even a bite.
Word of warning: I suck at making videos. To record this video I was wearing a pair of those cheap "SunGlass-Video-Camera" units and I wasn't paying attention to the fact that with every small movement of my head the video tended to get kind of jerky.
You may want to take a dramamine tablet before watching.
There's a bit more work to be done before I call this project completed. I'm thinking a couple more weeks and I'll have a home made 3D Printed Ultra-Light Micro Plopper lure I can be proud of.
HollowPoint
https://youtu.be/8g8wyEpGBAk