dlaery

This is interesting. These are just some of my opinions which could be wrong. When we hand pour we always want pure lead because it breaks off or easier to cut off. My wife has weak wrists and the hard lead hurts her writs. This includes Tin which is hard. Pure tin pours very good. In my spin-casting I want my lead hard so it will be brittle. The gate or spru hole I want it paper thin so when I take out the parts they break off easy. In hand pour the spru hole is bigger to let the lead gravity in and since the spru is thicker, it is harder to break off. I buy new lead with antimony because of its hard properties, so that is not what wrecked my batch of lead. The antimony also helps fill the cavities better when there are very small places to fill, mainly the little barb on a round head jig. I don't use tin to mix with lead because it is too high! I have used lead with 2% tin and have mixed some with tin and can't tell it makes any difference to the shine or to the fluidity of the mix. I also spin-cast bank sinkers. I only use scrap. It is usually very soft lead. They are easy to pour. I also use wheel weights only for bank sinkers. They have a white pasty color to them and are slightly lighter than regular scrap lead. I don't like wheel weights at all, but use them because they are cheap and available. When I make a new silicone mold I talc the mold the first time before I use it and after that never use talc again. Because of the way it makes the parts look. We also pour lots of Bismuth/Tin alloy and use talc a lot on those because of the design of the mold they don't fill as good and the talc helps the flow of the metal. I got most of my information from where I bought my spin-casting equipment and my observations. In my opinion the spin-casting equipment company knew more about casting parts other than fishing equipment.

Hey Dr Nimrod, just kidding, sounds kinda catchy, doesn't it. curious about your statement about the zinc. When I pour in an alum mold, my jigs shine, but when I spincast then in a silicone mold, depending on how smooth the cavities are, shine somewhat, but not as much as alum mold, using soft lead. I had some kind of weights that I thought were lead, but when I mixed then in with my lead, my lead became very slur py. I don't know how else to describe it. Someone suggested that it was zinc and that zinc would contaminate lead. I don't know. I was adding this at about 2 to 4 # per 100 # of lead. It would cling to everything, my ladle, pouring spout in my machine, and inside the molds. So I got rid of that batch and haven't added any more of that stuff. I have some zinc and stainless steel pot and ladles but haven't poured any zinc yet, but plan to. So, do you think zinc can be mixed with lead to make it shine?

We started pouring lead in 1987 in a back room of our house. Have had lead levels checked every 2 to 3 years. Always normal. We have a strict policy of washing our hands after handling lead. Treat our cloths as contaminated any time we work around lead. In 2001 we moved our work to a work shop. Now I spend 8 to 10 hours a day, 6 to 7 days a week making lures. I take lead poisoning very serious. I have search OSHA web site and others on industries working with lead. From what I can gather is that they do not have any higher rate of cancer than any other industry. We don't allow eating or smoking in the shop. Everyone has to wash hands, blow off cloths with air before leaving. We talk regular (safety meetings) about importance of changing cloths when they leave here. Not to pick up kids with contaminated cloths on, eat etc.. We do this because we are around the lead all of the time. We try to strive to reduce lead exposure. We have exhaust fan over the lead to eliminate any fumes. I think we need to use common sense. We also have cows. When we work the cattle, sometimes it can't be avoided but we get cow manure on us. So treat lead like cow manure. Don't put it in your mouth. After working with it, wash your cloths, take a shower before you eat.

I pay 20 to 25 for scrap, no batteries, nothing with sheetrock or roof tare stuck to it. 10 cents for wheel wts. New lead w/antimony (antimony makes the lead hard, I use this for spincasting only) last year was about 70 cents delivered, in 1 ton lots. This year it cost about 85 cents.

This is a good place to buy hooks if you want a 1000 at a time. It lists the qualifications to buy. http://www.shortyshooks.com/ Their retail side is http://www.captainhookswarehouse.com/

This is just an opinion. Pure lead is more sluggish, harder to pour than lead with some tin or antimony, but, those make it harder and harder to break off the spru. I don't think your lead is the problem. How long have you had the RCBS pot? I have a RCBS and after a while the spout becomes plugged with "dirt",. I think it is oxidized lead. I have a larger pot and it develops dross on top. Whenever I skim it off the top, if I squeeze the lead out of it, I get "dirt". My pot will still pour, but it just doesn't flow right. So I take a small wire and hold with a pair of pliers and run it up and down in the spout from the underneath side. I do this while the lead it hot. I wear welding gloves when I do this because the lead could splash on you while doing this. Sometimes I have to drain the pot, remove the rod and try to clean the hole.

I am not an expert on paint. This is just my opinion. I buy lacquer thinner for clean up. My paint thinner supplier says that I should not use that for thinning lacquer paint. This lacquer thinner I buy is the same stuff you buy at any hardware or WalMart. He (my paint thinner supplier) says that I need acrylic lacquer thinner for my lacquer paint. He also commented that there are different kinds of lacquer paint. I never tired regular lacquer thinner for my paint. I have been using acetone for my lacquer paint. It works ok but it really dries fast. That works good for me because I want to recoat as soon as I can. Also, I am painting leadheads through a small paint gun, not an air brush.

I have something I have made, in fact I have made several of them and sold them. It measures the length of a fish. It is unique. What would I do to protect my idea? Thanks!

I am trying to pour plastics for the first time. I have done some searching and would like to ask a couple questions. I am using a cookstove to heat plasitc. What should I use to heat the plastic in? I have a pyrex cup but read somewhere where it said not to use on stove. What about a hot plate? Can you put the pyrex on that? If I continue to pour these, I guess I would use a Lee pot. Is this good? I have poured a lot of lead but wondering if there is something I'm not aware of pouring plastic. I not sure what to ask about safety. I know to have good ventilation. I have a paint mask I use for painting and also use an exhaust fan. Thanks.

My spray gun is gravity fed Cambell Hausfeld, Modle DH7600. It is called a touch up gun. It is smaller than a regular gravity fed, but bigger than an air brush. I bought it at Wal-Mart for about $50. At the Cambell Housfeld website it sells for $69.95 http://www.chpower.com/ I don't thin mine because it is thin enough to spray. I clean with laquer thinner. It cleans up about the same as paint. Barramundi what kind of epoxy do you use? It sounds like yours is thicker than mine.

The brand is Coronado. I get it a Dugan paints. Around $50 for a 2 gal kit, 1 to 1 ratio. Takes about 10 to 15 hrs to set up at room temp. I powder paint jigs (and bake), then some I spray with vinyl and put the epoxy over the top. I think the epoxy is just as durable as the powder. I think it is great for jigs and spinnerbaits. Component sells a 2 part polyamide epoxy that is the same as I use.

I spray a 2 part polyamide epoxy that I get at a local paint store. No thinning. I spray with a small paint gun, not an air brush. I am spaying painted leadheads. It puts a gloss on and is very durable. I don't have any trouble with running. It is just one coat, but it looks and covers good for what I am doing

I don't store any plastics but I package my jigs in bags of 100 and have mine in a garage and dust settles on packages and makes them look bad, so I use the plastic shoe boxes. They have a lid and keeps dust off. I buy these at a Dollar Tree store for $1 each and they stack good. The ones at Wal-Mart stack, but not a good.

I use a #0 Indianna blade on 1/16 oz pony head with a #4 hook. I usually buy my blades from Worth, but Hagens has them a little cheaper, but .... blades from Hagens are heavier: Hagens .68lbs per 1000 pcs Worth .40lbs per 1000 pcs Would the heavier blaces spin slower? Does this make any difference? OR What about willow blades instead of Indianna blades? Opinions?

I have a friend who use to use a Lyman and he said it never leaked. ?

Something to strive for to reduce filled eyelets is less heat and less dip time. Having the power loose helps also. I have a fluid bed and a single dip powder cup. I can't get the single dip to work. Its too dusty and dosen't flow and low air pressure. I use the fluid bed and the smallest hook I use is a Mustad 32786BLN 1/0. If I hold my mouth right, I can paint these without filling the eyes and the key is temp, dip time and how much air I have in my powder.

We started out with Lee Pots then switched to RCBS. They are the Cadillac, but they still leak eventually.

Here is one that I found interesting. http://www.globalspec.com/trebuchet/ On accuracy I got 750 My total score was 1877 the first time

I use a saws all to cut large pieces of lead. I use the wood/metal blade with bigger teeth. Smaller teeth clogs up. I have use a chain saw. I works good but you have to wear full face shield and long sleeve shirt because it thows little pieces of hot lead on your face and arms.

"Georgia Blue Fly"

You might try Shortys Hook Sales 800 723 8508 I would guess you would have to buy whatever comes in a box, like 500 or 1000. Sometimes the big hooks are packed 500.

Hey Richoc, me too, finding information on buying one was like pulling teeth. We couldn't keep up hand pouring, so it was either quit or get bigger. Tekcast offered me training and everything I needed and then some. They were very knowledgeable. I was able to get started very quickly which was what I needed at that time. I also like the front loading. My friend I worked with in the machine shop, went with me to New York. Attened 1 day training and we drove home with the machine and everything that went with it. The real training came after we got home and got setup. After a while, I got tired of learning the hard way. But like my x-boss use to say "Cheer up, things could be worse, sure enough, I cheered up and things got worse"

I purchased mine from Tekcast because of the design of the front loading door. I use to work for my neighbor, (who I've grown up with) in a machine shop and I'm sure we could build a spincating machine, but I'm not sure that it would be cheaper. Mainly because of the time it would take to design and build one. It would certainly be easier now since I have on to look at. I could use another spincasting machine and would problably buy one instead of trying to make one. I try to lay out my molds when I make them so I can interchange hooks. Sometimes it works pretty good on small jig hooks 6 thru 1. On the bigger salt water jigs it works, but I have more trouble with flash. Buying mold materal cost $25 and up, per 1" thick mold. Different grades of mold material for different results. 9" and 12" diameter is all I have. Molds don't last forever. Heat is their enemy. There is a lot of work goes into making models and the mold. On several of the molds I have made, $400 is not too much. Some wouldn't cost that much.

About $15,000 would get you started. Make your own molds and then start spincasting.

Here are some of my numbers. I use a Do-It 16 oz Bank Sinker mold. My scale is electronic counting scale that has a resolution of 0.0001 That would be .04536 grams. My test was very soft pipe lead. 1.0110lbs Pure Bismuth .9238 75%Bismuth 25% Tin .8429 58%Bismuth 42% Tin .8010 94%Lead, 4%Antimony, 1%Tin .9607 Then I bought some printing letters. I melted it down into ingots. It seems very hard. .8918