![\"Finished](\"https:\/\/blog.lurepartsonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Finished-Craw-pattern-made-with-vacuum-stencil-300x221.png\")
Today’s tutorial will be teaching you how to vacuum form stencils for painting crankbaits.<\/p>\nToday’s tutorial will be teaching you how to vacuum form stencils for painting crankbaits.<\/p>\n
Learning to do this will help you create duplicate patterns on multiple crankbaits very easily. This eliminates trial and error and allows you to paint many crankbaits with the exact same markings on them.<\/p>\n
Lets get started!<\/p>\n
![\"How](\"https:\/\/blog.lurepartsonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Cutting-a-crankbait-to-make-a-stencil-300x244.png\")
The first thing you’ll need to do is choose a crankbait style that you want to create a stencil for. Start off with a crankbait blank that’s unpainted. Know ahead of time that you’re basically sacrificing this body, since you’ll be cutting it in half!<\/p>\n
Use a Dremel or other tool to cut the bait in half. Be careful not to hurt yourself with the tool you’re using.<\/p>\n
If you use a power tool to do the cutting, such as the Dremel, be sure to wear safety glasses or goggles. This will protect your eyes from any small pieces that might fly during the cutting process. When you’re done cutting, use a small screwdriver or other flat tool to pop the two lure halves apart.<\/p>\n
Once the bait is cut in half, it’s time to start creating your vacuum formed stencil.<\/strong><\/p>\n Now it’s time to lay your lure halves on the vacuum form box. You can easily make your own vacuum box out of wood and a shop vac. Use pegboard or any other thin wood veneer (with holes drilled in it) as the top surface.<\/p>\n Next, you’ll need some thin plastic stencil material that you’ll lay on the vacuum board, over the lure body pieces.<\/p>\n Once the stencil material is properly formed to the lure bodies, the heat gun and the vacuum are turned off. Then the stencil material is allowed to cool a bit. Once it’s cooled sufficiently, the lure body halves can be popped from the hardened stencil material.<\/p>\n Once the stencils are formed, it’s now time to cut them out in whatever pattern you want them to be used to paint onto your lures.<\/p>\n For the rest of the steps, be sure to watch the video below. Michael Orensteen walks you through the rest of the process, step by step.<\/p>\n![\"Vacuum](\"https:\/\/blog.lurepartsonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Vacuum-Formed-Stencils.png\")
The stencil material is heated with a heat gun, to get it warm and flexible. As it becomes soft and flexible, it gets laid onto the surface of the vacuum board. This allows the vacuum to draw the material down tight to the surface of the board, and to the surfaces of the lure bodies.<\/p>\n