DIY fishing weights - manufacturing options. Lead sinker - how to make the right casting from improvised means? How to make a form for sinkers for nets

Today I will tell you how to make lead weights for fishing with your own hands, and not spend money. Any jig-spinning player should ideally have a gentleman's set in order to feel confident in any body of water even in the most unexpected fishing conditions. Such a set of cargoes implies the presence of a large number of sinkers, ranging from 1.5 g to 35 g, and sometimes more, with an interval of 2-4 g. For example, when we leave for a trip, we necessarily take with us a set of ordinary eared weights, respectively 1, 5 g, 4 g, 6 g, 9 g, 12 g, 15 g, 18 g, 20 g, 22 g, 25 g, 28 g, 32 g, 35 g

Of course, such a large number of fractions and buckshots is quite burdensome to carry around all day, especially since the load of each weight must be duplicated for hooks. But then this in some sense, the store assortment allows us to choose the bait for absolutely any fishing conditions.

Unfortunately, the fishing industry is far behind the potential needs of the market, and you will not find such a choice, especially eared ones. The way out of this situation is quite simple - you need to cast and make small weights for fishing yourself. Thus, two birds with one stone are killed at once - on the one hand, you save time by not having to go shopping to find the need for weight, and on the other, you stop being afraid of losing them on cliffs.

How to make a weight outlead

How to make lead weights for fishing with lead, because according to statistics for 100 anglers, only 1 is a jack of all trades or a high-level fitter who is able to make molds for casting on his own. Do not forget that in our country, the hardest currency, oddly enough, is liquid, and if you are able to at least explain with your fingers a locksmith who is easy to meet at the entrance of any plant, what you need and what he needs, then this problem is completely solved literally in a few days. The only thing to get the shape for each weight, it is imperative to tell the locksmith the exact diameters of future ears. For convenience, we present below a table of correspondence of diameters and weights in the form of a ball. This table is compiled specifically for lead, taking into account its density, so if you want to use, for example, a Wood or Rose alloy with a lower density for casting, it will be obtained in the same form with a similar diameter, but smaller in weight. And if you put tungsten fragments of the electrodes before casting into the mold, you can get very heavy and compact.

How to make molds for casting a weight

Do-it-yourself casting molds are also quite simple to make from plaster or silicone sealant. A very original and at the same time simple solution is to make a mold for casting from Hermesil silicone sealant or any similar. The criterion for the choice of sealant is the ability to withstand high temperatures without changing the properties of the material. Most household sealants have an upper temperature limit of about 150-180 ° C. This makes it necessary to use weights for casting not lead (melting point about 350 ° C), but special alloys with a lower melting point. First of all, we are talking about alloys of Wood, Rose and printing (melting temperature from 60 to 110 ° C). When using precisely these alloys, the silicone mold will last a very long time without compromising the quality of the castings.

In the case of lead, the mold from household sealant withstands up to 10 castings, and the quality of each subsequent load becomes worse due to the gradual burnout of the sealant over the entire area of \u200b\u200bcontact of the molten lead with the mold. Currently, silicone sealant is easy to buy in auto stores or stores selling building materials. Such a silicone mold, despite its amazing elasticity and apparent unreliability, can easily withstand high temperatures and a large number of castings. In addition, silicone sealant gives the angler an amazing opportunity to almost perfectly repeat any, even the most complex, shape of a sinker or spinning bait.

Mold for weights

The very shape of the weights is made very simple. A small box is taken, which is then filled to the brim with silicone sealant. During filling, make sure that there are no bubbles in the sealant. Next, the weight or bait that you are going to repeat is lubricated with a solution of wax or paraffin in gasoline, dried and lowered onto the wire into the sealant box so that it is completely immersed in the sealant, but does not touch the walls of the box. In such a suspended state, a sample of the future weight for fishing or bait should be until the sealant has completely hardened. The process of polymerization of silicone sealant throughout the mold is not uniform, and the complete hardening of the silicone mold can take five to six days. Therefore, you should not get the sample out of the mold until complete polymerization occurs.

This moment is easily controlled by periodically gently feeling the form. A fully cured sealant should resemble a well-inflated soccer ball in consistency. Next, a small sprue hole is carefully cut out from above, through which a sample is removed due to the elasticity of the sealant. After that, the silicone mold is separated from the box and becomes completely ready for multiple castings. Pouring lead into such a form and removing the finished do-it-yourself weight or bait takes place through the same sprue hole. At the moment of extraction of the finished sample, the mold is stretched every time and “spits out” it, as it were, after which it instantly takes its original form and is again ready for new and new castings. The advantages of the silicone sealant mold are obvious: it is very cheap, extremely simple and at the same time quite reliable. In addition to the shapes for eared balls in the form of a ball, we highly recommend that you make several molds for casting such as lentils. Outwardly, it somewhat resembles a plum bone flattened from the sides. Lentils are lighter than a spherical eared, but due to its shape it slides much easier through the closed mouth of the fish, significantly improving the hooking. The most relevant use of lentils when fishing for pike perch with its bulldog grip. Here are such simple tips on how you can make small weights for fishing with your own hands and without financial costs for you.

In today's post, I would like to talk about such an interesting and popular topic among fishers as independent manufacture of fishing sinkers at home. Judge for yourself, hooks, baubles, wobblers, fishing lines and other critical elements of gear or impossible make at home, or it’s very complex, labor-intensive operations (which is easier to buy). And here do your sinkers simpler and more profitable!

So, the main material for homemade sinkers - lead. Lead alloys with the addition of tin, melchtor, etc., are sometimes used. But overall, lead is the foundation. Lead combines several of the most important qualities that ensure leadership and complete hegemony in the fishing sinker segment:

- High specific gravity. Those. with the same volume, a lead sinker is much heavier than steel, tin, aluminum and other popular, not expensive metals .;

- It has a completely low melting point - 327.4 ° C. Which is fully ensured by the fire of a bonfire, gas burner or stove;

- Normal workability. And although lead is mainly poured, it is also not difficult to produce some mechanical processing (flatten, cut, saw, polish). Lead is plastic, soft.

Where to get lead? Smelting old sinkers; use old battery plates, the protective sheath of some wires to look for other options - their mass.

To self-cast sinkers - need a form. I never really bothered with mass production loaded. So, I made molds from improvised materials.

— Home-made deaf bottom weights or donkey-gum loads are ideally cast in a regular tablespoon. Then, drill a hole in the top of the load and mount it on the gear.

— Home-made sliding sinkers for donkeys and trucks. Personally, I cast in forms from cardboard (matchboxes) and in a wooden hollowed out form. Of course, tidy loads are best done in plaster forms, but ... I hollow out a recess in the shape of a load with round chisels. I cut the grooves under the axis. I put a nail or a piece of wire into the recess. I melt the lead in a spoon or other container (an aluminum scoop with a handle, a tin can, etc.) and pour it into a recess “with a slide”. When the load freezes, I pull out the nail with pliers. It turns out great homemade sinker for donkey.

You can whip up make eared weight eccentric for spinning fishing. Just twist the ears from the wire and clamp on them an ordinary seal, the right weight.

If you are going to be engaged in casting sinkers thoroughly and in large quantities, then you can get steel or gypsum molds for casting sinkers. So, you can make gypsum molds yourself. For a sample, use industrial sinkers.

For home production loaded eared use artisanal steel molds.

Little on the safety of self-production of lead sinkers. Lead vapors are harmful. So, if you are casting a serious consignment, do it on the street or in a room with a good extract. But if you literally cast a few weights and not often - then you can do this with an ordinary gas oven at home. Just be careful not to spill hot lead on yourself and the decoration of the apartment, furniture ... Dare!

Do-it-yourself sinkers for fishing are poured out of any lead that is at hand. The easiest way to get lead is to go to a tire workshop and buy used balancing weights.

Such lead will cost much cheaper than if you buy sheet. You can buy the right amount of kilograms and get a large number of weights from them for various purposes. The only thing to consider is the steel elements poured into the middle of some weights.

The second way to get lead is from old batteries. It is better to find points where old batteries are taken and buy them for a sane price. This is a more complicated method, as you will have to disassemble the batteries in order to remove lead from them.

The third way to get lead from the braid for cables. It is made of sheet lead with a thickness of 1, 1.5 and 2 mm. If there are electricians among your friends, ask if they can get this braid. Such lead can not only pour weights, but also cut strips for feeder feeders.

The most expensive way is to buy lead. It is sold in sheets and ingots. Better, of course, sheet, but its dimensions are very large. In such cases, the fishermen come together and buy one sheet of paper together.

You can also make a sinker with your own hands from old weights, which almost every angler probably has.

One thing is for sure: absolutely any lead is suitable for casting with a do-it-yourself sinker. It does not matter if it contains impurities, or how dense or soft it is. Our task is weights for bottom fishing.

Gypsum casting mold

This form is suitable for repeated casting at home, when there is no need to rush anywhere and you can carefully and thoroughly work on the sinker.

First we need a sinker model. It is easily cut out of a piece of wood or fashioned from plasticine. For the manufacture of the mold, two identical cardboard boxes are needed, commensurate with the future sinker;

they are also easy to make. One needs to be filled with gypsum and immersed in it to half the model. While the gypsum has not hardened, a small groove-groove is pressed into the impression with the help of a nail in it, which extends outwardly with a funnel.

After the gypsum has hardened, it is necessary to fill in the second box with gypsum, and in the first half of the mold, after covering it with soapy water so that the halves do not stick to each other, put the sinker model.

Now you need to tightly connect the two halves, pressing them to each other. When the gypsum hardens in the second half, it remains to separate them, remove the model - your reusable gypsum form is ready.

The casting process of the sinker is simple: press both halves of the mold tightly together with a clamp, melt the lead, carefully pour it into the mold with a thin stream and wait until the molten metal solidifies.

Pour out flat sinkers for donkey

We will first consider how to make fishing weights for gum. This procedure will be performed on the street. We need a bonfire or gas burner with a spray can. In the first case, more time is needed for the smelting of lead, but there is no need for adaptations or extra costs.

Smelting lead with a gas burner takes minutes, but a can of gas is required.

We also need a tablespoon, a tin box for lead and a little patience. The cargo will be poured into the ground. We find a moist piece of land and squeeze a depression into the hole to make such a boat.

After it becomes liquid, pour it into the resulting recess. We wait until it cools down a bit, after which we take out the wand. The result is a cargo weighing about 300-350 grams. It will lie well at the bottom, and it is easy to throw it over long distances. We inserted the wand to get a hole in the weight.

You can pour a few pieces at once if you can get a fire source from a high temperature.

Many fishermen are wondering: “How to make fishing weights for gum of small weight, so that they stay well at the bottom and are not drifted by the current. Making such weights is quite simple. It is necessary to take 3-4 pieces of wire 10 cm long and bend them into staples.

Then place in the recess. After pouring, you get such a spider. After casting, the weight will lie in one place, and these pieces of wire will hold it. The weight of the cargo in this case may not exceed 150 grams.

In bottom fishing, flat weights are often used. As a rule, they have an oval shape. Such sinkers lie well at the bottom, even when fishing in a strong current. How to make such sinkers for fishing? To do this, we cut out an oval billet with a thickness of 3 mm and an oval blank 4 cm long and 2 cm wide. More weighty sinkers can also be made. To do this, we will use more overall workpieces

Next, we make 7-8 dents in the ground, as in the previous case, when a large sinker for gum was poured. We will make two types of weights. One type - sliding, and the second with an eye. To pour sliding weights, we cut a thin wire into segments that are 1 cm longer than the recesses. Insert the wire into these recesses.

To get weights with eyes, we will do exactly the same as when pouring cone weights. Only the eye this time will peek out of the recess. If necessary, you can drill holes on the edge of the sinkers

Pour the molten lead gently into the container and wait about 5 minutes. After that, you can carefully collect them with a spoon.

Wooden mold

It allows casting more complex lead sinkers - composite. Just like gypsum, it withstands repeated operation.

The mold is made of two planks, the size and thickness corresponding to the future sinker. Planks must be made of hard wood. On each plate, the contours of a sinker and a gutter for pouring lead are drawn. You will have to try here, since it is necessary that both halves of the casting coincide when combined.

The recesses in the planks are cut with a chisel or a chisel. They should be a little deeper than required. Try to also eliminate all the gaps between the forms through which lead can leak out.

The sinker, melted in wooden form, can be equipped with a wire eye. Two options are possible: either the eyelet is inserted into the gutter before filling, or a special groove is made in one of the halves of the form, where the eye is laid before filling.

Also, the sinker can be made sliding - for this, instead of an eyelet, a nail must be inserted into the mold. After the lead hardens, the nail is removed with pliers and replaced with an empty rod from a ballpoint pen - to protect the line from rubbing with lead.

The process of casting a sinker in a wooden mold is similar to gypsum. Just take care of airing the room: when casting, the mold will slightly raise. Do not rush to disconnect the halves and wait for the lead to solidify completely, only then carefully remove the sinker by the ear. Take the time to grind the seams and inaccuracies.

Do not be upset if the sinker does not work out symmetrical and solid. Everything can be fixed. Only when remelting, do not forget to add lead - each melt evaporates part of the volume.

Pour cone weights

Donors and spinning often use hand-made cone weights. The former use because they fly far and accurately, and spinning agents use them in spaced installations. Making yourself such weights is very simple.

We will also need a thin and stiff wire. From it we will make eyes through which the loads will be attached to the main fishing line.

Pouring a sinker with our own hands will be exactly the same as last time. Instead of a gas burner, a portable with two burners can be used. It will be possible to pour in two tanks, so that the process goes faster.

In paper molds, insert brackets from wire so that the eye sticks out of the top of the cone. Immerse the molds in the ground so that they take a vertical position. The size of the molds is selected experimentally.

We wonder what we need. As a reference, you can take a weight of 35 grams and look at it already. It will be enough to pour the first batch of sinkers for fishing with your own hands. We will use the resulting sinkers as samples when we make molds for the following batches.

The process of pouring is identical to the previous one. An unnecessary metal mug can be used as a lead container. It is convenient to take it by the handle and pour lead out of it. In order not to burn your fingers, it is better to wear gloves in the palm of your hand.

Original mold for casting

Returning to field hiking conditions, it is worth mentioning that if you have a neat metal model of a sinker with you, pre-machined on a lathe, and enough lead, you just have to find a suitable shape. This form is available - natural, always at hand, and even reusable. Potato tuber!

It is necessary to select a larger tuber, with a guaranteed sufficient wall thickness. Cut in half and choose a casting cavity with a knife from both halves. Then finally process it with a sinker model, heated to the desired temperature.

The bottom line is that molten lead will come in contact with potatoes that contain a lot of moisture. Instantly turning into steam, it bursting out, can entrain the melt, which is fraught with a burn. The treated mold cavity is dehydrated.

But even after such processing, the first casting of the mold should be done very carefully, by feeding small portions of the metal. However, after a few castings, the walls of the mold will dry to such an extent that steam is no longer threatened.

Which is useful if there is a strong current in the fishing area. For this, pieces of elastic wire are needed that are inserted into the mold at different angles. After the solidification of lead, to remove the sinker, the form will have to be cut. The long ends of the wire are cut off or bent in different directions.

In the presence of certain materials, including improvised ones, and some ingenuity, there is no difficulty in making a sinker acceptable for bottom fishing, no. This can be done both at home and in the field.

Pour fishing weights in molds

To obtain calibrated sinkers of various shapes and weights, metal forms of various types are used.

The form consists of two halves. After pouring, weights of 130 grams with swivels should be obtained.

In addition to lead, we need two clamps for clamping molds, swivels and files with wire cutters to remove roughness from the weights received. Before casting, we loaded all the molds with machine grease so that the weights after pouring are easily removed.

First, insert the swivels into four sinkers.

Then we press the halves to each other with clamps.

Next, put the lead in a suitable container. In this form, the sprues are large enough, so there will not be any special problems with casting. That part of the lead that will remain near the sprues is collected and used in the next fill.

We hold the container in which the lead melts, using pliers, and we begin to carefully pour the lead into the holes.

From it is necessary to process a little file. Remove the side of the gate. Large growths can be bitten off with nippers, after which the place is treated with a file. As a result, a very large number of sinkers can be made.

They can be used in feeder fishing for punching the bottom. Such heavy sinkers will be useful to submarines for fishing in strong currents. They fly far and hold the bottom well.

conclusions

We examined the simplest ways to cast sinkers. You will be able to make weights, even if you do not have forms. If you have metal molds, you can pour weights to order, making money on it. The main thing in this process is to find lead and a well-ventilated place. Remember that casting lead is harmful indoors.

There are also ways to cast weights in plaster and wooden forms. But for this, one must also make forms, which only complicates the task. And the term of their use is not very long. It is important to understand that weights are consumables.

Good fishing online stores will allow you to purchase any fishing goods at competitive prices!

The fisherman’s calendar allows you to understand how all the fish peck, depending on the time of year and month.

The fishing tackle page will tell you about many popular fishing tackle and gear.

Nozzles for fishing - we describe in detail living, plant, artificial and unusual.

In the bait article, you will get acquainted with the main types, as well as with the tactics of their use.

Explore all fishing lures to become a real fisherman and learn how to choose the right one.

Most anglers, when equipping their fishing rods, are faced with the need to load the bait. Both donors and spinningists have to weight their rigs or artificial fish so that they quickly reach the bottom or fly far. Sometimes for fishing you can leave the entire arsenal of fishing weights in a catchy, but short-lived section of the reservoir. Some amateurs are not allowed financial opportunities to constantly replenish lead reserves, while other fishers find it difficult to get to specialized stores. In such cases, molds for casting sinkers will come to the rescue. Due to the low melting temperature of lead and its availability, the necessary cargo can be cast directly on the shore of the reservoir. What are the forms for sinkers?

Molds from different materials

Fishermen with equal success make lead sinkers with their own hands, using factory or home-made forms. Basically, most designs differ in the material of manufacture. The most commonly used gypsum, wood, aluminum or steel.

• Disposable forms can even be made of thick paper. Many novice anglers know how to make a lead sinker for bottom fishing using a tablespoon. It is enough to pour molten lead into the concave part of a tablespoon to get a neat workpiece. It remains to make a hole, and the load can be installed on the bottom.
• The simplest form for casting sinkers can be made of a piece of wooden slats 5-10 mm thick. Using a hacksaw and knife, you need to make two halves of the future shape in the form of an oval or rhombus. Now it remains only to put both halves on a flat wooden or metal surface and fix them with a clamp or the simplest supports. In the case of a sliding load, it is necessary to place a steel wire 0.8-1.0 mm thick inside. You can pour lead.
• Often, anglers are faced with the problem of how to make a mold for sinkers from lead according to the existing model. For example, every spinning player should have a popular type of jig head called cheburashka. And to make an eared sinker according to the store model is not difficult if you make a plaster mold. For pouring a creamy solution, you can use 2 ordinary matchboxes. First, one box is filled with a doughy mass, after which half of the “cheburashka” is immersed in gypsum.

• As soon as the material dries, a similar operation should be done with the second part of the mold. When the gypsum dries in it, it remains to combine the two halves, make a hole for filling and a side hole for air to exit. Through openings for wire pins or nails are made in opposite corners of the matchboxes. After this fixation, the halves will not move, maintaining an even spherical shape.
• The most durable forms for sinkers are made of aluminum or steel. But high-quality to make it yourself will not work. The help of experienced milling and locksmiths will be required. Consider the technology of manufacturing a steel mold for your beloved "cheburashka".
  1. First of all, you need 2 metal bars with a thickness of 20-25 mm. Width and length depends on the size of the future cargo and the number of simultaneously cast products. Joining surfaces must be made even and smooth.
  2. Hemispheres can be made using special spherical burrs. After that, it is important to precisely combine both halves, for which you can use balls of bearings.
  3. Further, holes for pins, "vents" and fillers are made on the drilling machine. Inside one of the halves, it is necessary to make recesses under the wire ears.

The casting process loaded

When, finally, there was a mold for casting sinkers, questions arise regarding the pouring of lead. The simplicity of cargo manufacturing to some extent depends on the quality of the mold. But if you know some of the nuances of working with lead, then everything will turn out with a home-made, and with a Chinese form, as well as with a product from Spinmag.

Before starting to heat the lead, you need to perform several preparatory steps. In the case of the presence of wire elements, it is necessary to cut off the required length, bend it and carefully put it into the mold. The inner surfaces of the molds into which molten lead will fall must be lubricated. Then it will be easier to remove the cooled sinker.

Proven in practice! The best lubricant is lard. Enough to hold a piece of skin on all the depressions to facilitate the exit of the finished product from the mold.

It remains to assemble the structure and fix it with special clamps, bolts or pins.

• Lead can be melted in any tin can. Using pliers, you can make a narrowed part (beak) to obtain a thin stream of melt. To make it convenient to put on a fire and remove a kind of bucket from it, it is better to bend the side at the top of the jar.
• Many anglers use battery lead. Melting it at home is dangerous and harmful. Therefore, you must first make the first heat on the street, casting a clean fraction, for example in a spoon. And with pure lead, you can work in the kitchen, having previously turned on the hood. You can also immediately use the goods removed from the fishing nets.
• If the fisherman has few forms, and you want to make a lot of weights with different weights, then you can reimagine a little with the addition of tin in lead. These two metals melt and mix well with each other. And the resulting sinkers will be lighter than pure lead.
• When the metal melts in the bucket, you need to wait a little longer to increase the temperature of the melt. Then the metal will not harden during the casting process.
• Pouring hot lead is important evenly, without stopping. Otherwise, air layers and bumps may form inside.

Attention! Disassemble the form only after it has completely cooled. This is primarily true for metal structures.

• Lead is a soft material. Therefore, the burr and burrs can be cut with an ordinary knife. Excess metal that inevitably forms in the filler holes is removed with wire cutters. To give the surface a smooth look will allow a small file.

Many anglers note that brand new sinkers work worse than tarnished similar models. Therefore, self-made products can first be processed in vinegar (24 hours). Then lower the sinkers for a day into a saturated solution of potassium permanganate.

Today, anglers can buy ready-made forms in specialized stores or make them with their own hands. Using these devices correctly, you can get a rich arsenal of fishing sinkers and heads.