How to Make a 3D Printed Crankbait

I made my own 3D printed crankbait because I wanted to see if I could actually catch fish on something I built myself. Store-bought lures work great, but there’s a cool aspect of using my own design. Plus, with 3D printing, you can tweak the shape, size, and color however you want—so it felt like the perfect way to experiment and make something my own.

A computer capable of running Fusion 360

3D Printer

Filament

Flash Drive

3x Threaded Closed Eye Rings

2x Split Rings

3x Treble hooks

I designed this crankbait using designs from the internet and put my own spin on it. I left corners on the back of the lure to add a small amount of water disturbance in its trail to attract more attention. One important thing I paid attention to was the size of the bill on the front, since that’s what controls how deep the lure dives and how it moves in the water. A longer or wider bill will make it dive deeper and wobble more, while a smaller bill keeps it running shallower with a tighter action. The trick to designing it is making a design on paper first and then bringing it to life using rough measurements. Once you have the shape around what you want, you can go back in and fine tune the measurements.

Once the 2D drawing is finished in Fusion 360 then you can press pull the different sections out to your liking. Make sure you go into the press pull settings on the right of your screen and select to extrude symmetric to both sides are the same. Be creative with the different thicknesses of each segment but keep in mind that it must be hydrodynamic.

After it's extruded to your liking, start to fillet all of the edges that you want smoothed out. I wouldn't go with a radius bigger than 0.3 because then it starts to become uneven and leaves unwanted gaps in the design. Experiment with leaving certain corners more rounded with other to get your own final design.

Once your design is finished, go up to the top left of your screen and click “Save As.” In the file type dropdown, scroll until you find STL and save it in that format. After that, open it up in MakerBot, import your file, and get it ready to print by slicing it. Before you do, set your infill to around 80% this helps keep the lure strong while still letting a little air inside so it performs better in the water. On the right side of the screen, where your infill settings are, you’ll also find the option to add supports (or structure), which you should turn on so there’s material underneath the print to hold it up and keep everything from sagging(I found tree works well).

Next, save your sliced file onto a flash drive and plug it into your 3D printer. Use the printer’s screen to find your file and start the print. Once it’s finished and cooled down, remove it carefully—then clean it up by taking off the supports. You’ll want to use a file and some sandpaper to smooth out the side where the supports were attached so the lure has a clean finish.

Next, take your threaded closed rings and screw them into the lure, one at the front of the head, one on the bottom at the very back, and another about two thirds of the way up on the bottom. Make sure they’re snug and lined up straight. After that, attach split rings to the two closed rings on the bottom of the lure, which is where your hooks will go.

Add the two treble hooks onto the split rings on your crankbait. I used size 6 hooks and my lure was 3 inches long. The size of the hook all depends on the size of your lure.