Fishing Lure Wand for Airbrushing

I have been airbrushing fishing lures for a couple of years and tried helping hands and some great ideas from the Engineered Angler on Youtube, however none of them gave me hands free painting and it meant at some stage, I had to touch the lure in between paint and final clear coats.

I wanted a hands free, cradle to grave solution without the need to touch the lure between the first clear coat before painting and curing the last clear coat before fishing. I also like to spray turning the lure with my left hand and holding the airbrush in my right.

The sliding\locking blocks and alligator clips allow for a wide length of lures to be accommodated. I use it for lures from 50mm up to 170mm crankbaits. It may not be suitable for deep swimbaits etc as I didnt want the lure to sit too far above the ali channel. This allows me to get more wands on the turner wheel. It also means that I need relatively small clips to hold mesh netting in place when spraying scale patterns. Small bulldog clips are too large and prevent the lure from rotating. These curtain clamps are small and work well once the curtain hook\ring part is removed. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/374211155087

The lure wand is assembled from printed parts, springs, aluminium U channel, magnets, M5 bolts and nuts and small alligator clips. It can be mounted on a lure turning wheel by sliding it into a socket (LWP-TurnerSocket-PLA.stl) mounted on your lure turner wheel. Opposing polarity magnets in the base of the lure wand handle (LWP-Handle-PLA.stl) and the turner socket lock the wand to the wheel. Multiple lure wands can be mounted into multiple Turner Sockets on a single turner wheel. My turner will take eight lure wands at a time.

If you are in Australia all of the hardware was bought at Bunnings.

The springs used in the build are made using the amazing Spring Factory 1.2m by vbailet. I use 0.7mm stainless steel spring wire. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5171637. This truly is a marvelous printed tool.

To build a single lure wand you will require:
2 x M5 x 16mm Bolts and nuts
2 x 50mm alligator clips
1 x 12mm x 3mm Neodymium Disk Magnet
1 x 10mm x 10mm x 333mm Aluminium U Channel (you get three wands from 1m of ali channel, or cut to any length you choose that will fit in your lure turner.
2 x 14mm springs
1 x LWP-PLAParts.stl printed in PLA @ 20% infill, 3 shells
2 x LWP-Shaft-PLA.stl printed in PLA @ 50% infill, 3 shells
1 x LWP-TPUParts.stl printed in TPU @ 20% infill, 3 shells

To print individual stls print for a single lure wand (printed in PLA @ 20% infill, 3 shells):
2 x LWP-Block-PLA.stl
2 x LWP-BoltKnob-TPU.stl
1 x LWP-EndCap-TPU.stl
1 x LWP-Handle-PLA.stl
2 x LWP-Shaft-PLA.stl (printed in PLA @ 50% infill, 3 shells)
2 x LWP-ShaftKnob-PLA.stl

To build a single Turner Socket for your lure turner wheel:
1 x LWP-TurnerSocket-PLA.stl (printed in PLA @ 20% infill, 3 shells)
1 x 12mm x 3mm Neodymium Disk Magnet
4 x M3 screws or nuts and bolts to hold the socket to your turner wheel

Assembly
The TPU parts are press fit. No glue required.
I used hot glue to stick most parts together. Superglue\Crazyglue or 5 min epoxy will also work. I use uv resin on top of the nut mounted in each LWP-Block-PLA.stl to hold it firmly in place. This allows the block to be locked on the aluminium channel when the bolt is tightened. Be sure not to let any glue\resin leak down the bolt shaft or inside the nut thus fouling the thread.

Assemble each block by glueing the alligator clip into the flared end of WP-Shaft-PLA.stl. Pass the shaft through the hole in the top of the block. Ensure you have it mounted through the tapered side of the block. Slide the spring over the shaft and glue the shaft end into LWP-ShaftKnob-PLA.stl

Place the magnet in the cavity at the end of LWP-Handle-PLA.stl. If you build multiple wands, ensure the orientation of each magnet is identical so the same pole is exposed at the end of the handle.

Glue one end of the ali channel into the handle ensuring the base of the handle is flat and in the same plane as the base of the ali channel. This will allow the wand to sit flat when placed on the table.

Slide each block over the end of the ali channel noting the orientation of each block to ensure the alligator clips are facing inwards towards each other.

Press fit LWP-EndCap-TPU.stl to the end of the ali channel.

To mount the LWP-TurnerSocket-PLA.stl, place the magnet into the cavity at the base. No need to glue this to the socket.
NB: The orientation of the magnet in the socket is critical. It must have the opposite pole facing up inside the socket to the exposed pole of the lure wand handle magnet. This will ensure the two magnets attract when the wand handle is slid into the turner socket. If you get it wrong, the wand will be repelled out of the turner socket.
Screw\bolt the turner socket to your lure turner wheel using the four M3 screws.

• Print LWP-Shaft-PLA.stl in PLA @ 50% infill, 3 shells, no supports
• Print remaining parts in PLA & TPU with 20% infill,3 shells, no supports

Update - In an effort to make a free standing wand more stable I have added feet to the bottom of the block. See the files titled "filename-V2.stl"