From the Loftsmith Workshop

Through-wire crankbait lure body with buoyancy estimate

A fishing lure body you can print, rig and cast yourself. The wire runs straight through the body, so the pull comes from the wire and not from the plastic, and the little lip at the front is what makes it dive. Set the length, the lip angle and your wire size to fit your own tackle.

3 parts · 7 g · 64 × 16 × 26 mm

by Loftsmith Workshop

Orange teardrop-shaped lure body with a hole at the nose and a small pale lip underneath
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No adjustable sizes

Ask for the sizes you want to tweak, e.g. “make the width adjustable”.

Change it in the Studio

Parts

  • body-left · PETG · Split face down on the bed, no supports

    Half of the body with half of the wire channel, ballast pocket, lip slot and pin holes. About 3 g and 9 min at the default size.

  • body-right · PETG · Split face down on the bed, no supports

    Mirror half. About 3 g and 9 min at the default size.

  • lip · PETG · Flat, rounded face up

    1.8 mm thick at 60 mm body length (scales 1.6–2.4 mm with length). About 5 min. Print in a clear or contrasting filament if you like. PETG is used for all parts because it is tougher than PLA against knocks from hooks and rocks and handles a hot car or tackle box better (about 75 °C against 55 °C fo

Print settings

Layer height
0.2 mm
Walls
2 (set the Slicer wall loops slider to what you actually slice)
Infill
15% (set the Slicer infill slider to match)
Supports
None. Both halves print split face down. The wire groove, pocket and lip slot have 45° roofs or short bridges.
Notes
About 7 g of PETG and about 23 min for all three parts at 2 walls / 15% infill and the default 60 mm size. At 3 walls / 15% it is about 10 g and 30 min, and the lure gets heavier: change the walls slider to match and the buoyancy estimate updates.

Hardware

  • Stainless steel wire for the through-wire · 0.8 mm by default (slider 0.6–2.1 mm; the channel is 0.4 mm wider than the wire). At the default size the bent wire with its three eyes uses about 125 mm.
  • Ballast weight, solid steel or tungsten · 1.2 g by default (slider 0.3–6 g). The pocket holds the solid volume plus 10% for epoxy; loose shot packs less densely and will not fit the full weight.
  • 3 × 1.75 mm filament offcuts as alignment pins · At the default size, cut them to 9.4, 8.4 and 9.2 mm (each hole is 4.5–5 mm deep per side).
  • 2 × Stick-on 3D lure eyes · 5 mm at the default size; the pocket diameter scales with length from 3 to 8 mm.
  • 2 × Treble hooks and split rings · Your own, on the belly and tail eyes. Weigh them and enter the total on the Hooks slider.
  • Two-part epoxy · Sets the ballast, glues the halves and seals the body.

Assembly

  1. Print both halves split face down and the lip flat. Check that the 1.75 mm filament pins slide into the 1.9 mm holes; if a hole printed small, open it with a 1.9–2 mm drill.
  2. Bend the wire: a line-tie eye at the nose, a straight run to the tail, and a twisted loop where the belly drop is. Lay it in the groove of the left half and form the tail eye so all three eyes sit just outside the body.
  3. Set the ballast in the pocket of the left half with a little epoxy, keeping it below the split face.
  4. Slide the lip tang into its slot in the left half, then push the three filament pins into their holes.
  5. Spread epoxy on the split faces, close the right half over the pins and clamp until it cures. Wipe off squeeze-out at the seam.
  6. Seal the whole body with epoxy, press the stick-on eyes into the eye pockets, then add split rings and hooks to the belly and tail eyes.
  7. Float it in a bucket of the water you fish (fresh or salt) and compare with the estimate before the final coat.

Good to know

  • The float, suspend or sink result is an estimate from a simple model of shell plus infill. Real slicer output, paint, the epoxy coat and any water the print soaks up will change it, so float-test the lure before the final coat.
  • Small bodies come out heavy: at 40 mm with the other defaults it is estimated to sink (5.44 g against 3.52 g of lift). Use less infill or lighter hooks for small lures.
  • The pocket holds at most 6 g, so large bodies cannot reach neutral from the pocket alone. At 110 mm with the default 1.2 g of ballast it floats with an estimated 37.7 g to spare.
  • Only the geometry was checked: wall around the wire channel, pocket fit, lip engagement, pin alignment, and centre of mass below centre of buoyancy. Lip strength, swimming action, dive depth and what it catches are not checked or claimed.
  • The pocket is sized for a solid slug or ball plus 10% for epoxy. Loose shot will not fit the full weight.
  • Not printed or tested in water by Loftsmith. Checked in the Loftsmith engine only.
I printed this Remix

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