Leaderboard

Sorry in advance if someone has already mentioned this method, but I don't recall it being discussed and I used the search key. When pouring my resin baits, ballasting was always one of the hardest factors to nail down. Plus filling the holes was always a pain. A few years back, I came up with a method that I now use on all my resin baits. I pour two separate resin mixes into the mold. As a rough approximation, I pour the lower 2/3 of the bait with no microballons, thus making it more dense that water. I add microballons to the top 1/3 making it less dense than water. The bait always orients vertically without any added weight, drilling and filling. There is no line between the two different resins in the finished bait. Only a slight color variation. An additional benefit is that the bait ends up weighing less than if I use lead for ballast. sometimes as much as 10% less. A big deal on a 10" bait. I know this is not the greatest explanation, but I hope it might help.

Well this is a subject I know well. I have made thousands of jigs and I have thousands of hours wearing respirators including in heavy lead(Lead processing building at a lead/zinc mine) enviroments. First off a respirator is not always required. Proper ventilation is a must though. As is proper hygeine such as hand washing and not eating, smoking, drinking, or using chewing tobacco while working with lead. I wear FRC (fire resistant nomex)coveralls only used for making jigs as well as safety glasses leather, footwear, leather gloves and often times a faceshield. The other thing you need to be fully aware of is the temp of your lead. I Always use a thermometer in my pot. I made a bracket to hold my thermometer near the side of the pot. If you keep your lead below 900*f you should not have it giving off excessive toxic fumes or many fumes at all for that matter. That is for clean lead. I run my lead between 650*f and 750*f. Any hotter and I turn the temp down quickly. I always melt scrap outside and if it is dirty such as wheel weights I let it go for longer than needed to melt the scrap to burn off all of those contaminants. I make sure the wind is blowing the fumes away from my house and anybody else including your neighbors if you have close ones. Then I flux it with Beeswax and stir it while the wax is burning. Your wax should burn while fluxing as this will draw up the excess dross trapped in your lead. After fluxing remove the dross again and you should have good clean lead you can use in your jigs or to be made into ingots. only clean lead ingots such as this are allowed to be melted in my shop. If you still feel you need one a good half mask should be sufficient. Buy a brand you can get parts and cartridges for locally and keep it clean inside. You should also get fit tested to insure your mask fits your face properly or you will still be exposed to fumes and dust. A respiratory medical also is nice to be sure your not going to have other medical issues from wearing one. The HEPA filter is made to protect you from dust and particulate. This is what you should wear if creating lead dust. I avoid creating a lot of lead dust by carefully hand trimming all flash and hand filing all jigs clean rather than using power tools. If fumes are a concern of yours then you need an Organic Vapor (OV) cartridge. You can also buy the stacked defender cartridges that do both. Keep in mind OV cartridges are only good for ~ 12 hours once the package is opened regardless of how tight you seal it back up. After that you need new cartridges. Hepa cartridges are good for a longer use as long as you are carefull not to get the dust inside the mask during strorage.I recommend you use masking tape to seal off the end and prevent dust from falling out during storage. Also always store your respirator in a sealed plastic bag per OSHA regs and keep it clean. 1 gallon ziplocs work good. If you are careful and have good ventilation you might not need a respirator at all for jig making. If you want you can PM me with any more questions and I can answer your questions or point you in the right direction for more info.

thats a good idea, ill have to try the pop insulated pyrex cup!