dlaery

Tin will run you about $3.50 a pound. I bought a small amount of Zinc and I had to pay $2.75 after shipping. David

I use to work for a company that made feed for hogs. We used fish meal in the hog feed. Then later I worked for a tackle company that repackaged plastic worms, these had the same smell as the fish meal, I don't remember the brand of worms but they were popular, it seems they were a name brand.

I spin cast Bismuth/Tin alloy. It flows easier than lead, takes 4 times longer to set up and it melts around 300 degrees. Bismuth by itself melts at 500 degrees or so and so does Tin, mixed together they melt around 280 to 300. The Tin makes it lighter than the Bismuth but it flows better and breaks off smoother. When you break the Bismuth off, it leaves a rough edge. The Bismuth is more brittle, whereas the Tin is hard. Bismuth doesn't seem to get rid of the heat like lead does. Bismuth expands as it cools, other metals shrink. I have melted it in a Lee pot and poured in a Do-It mold, it is a little harder to break off. It snaps off, on lead you have to bend back and forth to break off. I said earlier that it takes longer to set up, but in an aluminum mold it sets up as fast as lead. If you wanted to try some, I'd sell you some ingots. They weigh about a pound each. Just send me a e-mail. dlaery@iland.net David

Hi, I'll jump in here. Here is a site of some cnc type stuff. http://www.super-tech.com/ We have the Supercam software. Have it hooked up to a plasma torch for 2D stuff. The software also does 3D ax On autocad, we print our drawing to a plot file (.plt ) and that is what we use to import in to the Supercam software to run the torch.

I can't log on to www.takclemaking.com anyone else having trouble?

Does anyone have trouble with fish eye in powder paint? These jigs are made with rubber silicone molds and they fish eye really bad when powder painting, I guess that's what it is. The paint have spots with no paint I have washed them in acetone, lacquer thinner nothing seems to help. I also poured some with an aluminum Do-It mold using the same lead, and powder painted those and no fish eye at all. I can only pour 1 at a time with the Do-It mold and 30 with the silicone mold. Does anyone know how to eliminate this or any suggestions? Thanks

Thanks Dave, so it sounds like maybe I shouldn't give up on the powder yet. I want the powder paint to work because I have several to paint The size of jigs I am trying to powder paint is 1/2 oz and 1 oz flat grub heads. I started out with flame red, then went to yellow chartruease. I purchased a couple of oven therometers. I placed one on the bottom and hung one from the top of the oven, so I could try to control the temp more acturately. The temp dosen't seem to flucuate much. When I go with 350 temp preheat and dip in the fluid bed the parts are not covered fully, kind a like orange peel. Then when I put them in the oven and bake at 400 they don't flow out at all, and at 400 pre heat, it fills the eyelets, and runs or drips. I guess that means 375. It seems like it always takes a while to get the hang of it. I'll be trying again tomorrow, I'm about to run out of laquer thinner taking paint off of rejects. So thats why I thought I'd spray some to keep things going until I get the hang of powder paint. I have an air brush and I thought it had too small of a tip, but after what you said makes sense, it doesn't put out very much paint. I have a regular spay gun with the cup on top but haven't tried it yet. Thanks again for the info :!:

Hi, I make leadheads and I want to paint them. I want a shinny appearance and durable finish against chips. I have a fluid bed and still trying to get good results with powder paint. Trying not to get too much paint that fills the eyelets. I also have a paint booth to spray. So I guess my main question is: Is Component Systems vinyl paint the best way to go? Also, after the white base coat and then the color, do you need to clear coat? Thanks

Hey Dan, Eagle Claw makes a hook that is about 1 and a half to 2 times larger wire diameter than a regular jig hook. The Style number is 630 for bronze and 640 for Gold David

I have a fluid bed. Does anyone have one of these? I'm not impressed with the uniform coverage on the jigs for production. I get more airflow on right side than the left. I have talked with Component about this, but I was wondering if anyone else was having this trouble? When I dip the rack of jigs, the right side has small specs with no paint, like too much air, but the left side has too much paint and the paint runs. Any comments would be appreciated. David

Laquer thinner works great The paint just lifted off of the jigs. Thanks for the suggestions.

I have some lead heads that have been powder painted. I need to remove the paint. Has anyone tried this with any sucess? Thanks

I used an axe to cut the batteries apart. I bought a bunch of big sheets of lead that had been used on walls of an x-ray room. I used a chain saw to cut it down to size to get in my pot.

I have used batteries. It's a real pain in the neck! First I got some Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) from the local feed store and spread it over the batteries to netralize the acid. Them I chopped them apart the biggest portion of the lead came from the posts and the part on top of the battery. The plates had very little. On the average I got about 2 lbs of lead per battery, not enough to mesh with. So I never tried again. I read about how Doe Run Company in St Louis recycled old batteries. They run the batteries through a hammer mill to grind them up in small pieces, then they run that through water, the water floats out the impurities then the lead is ready to melt down. The antimony is lighter thant lead. It makes the lead harder and on hand pouring jigs antimony will make the spru harder to break off.

I might start putting some 3D eyes on some leadheads. There will be an indintation on the heads. Is this difficult to put them on and will they stay? Do they come with sticky on the back or do you have to glue them? Someone told me that some people clear coat over them. I hope to powder paint, bake and then put eyes on. Does this sound reasonable? :

I think you will have to have a Federal ID Number (F.I.N.) first before you can do the form 637, but that is easy to obtain also from the IRS. It is just a form, you may be able to do it online.

Our facility was a back room in our house for 14 years. The IRS comes about every 2 years to look at our quarterly reports and they look at our facility. We set at the kitchen table while he or she looks at the reports. They ask several general questions pertaing to the way we do business. One time when they asked if we were doing anything new I told them we were pouing bank sinkers, but I was not reporting them because I didn't think they were taxable, but I was wrong, so I had to go back and add up those sales and send in the tax the next quarter. I had only been making them a couple of months. Outside that, I've never had any problems.

I have one and the ingots are a little hard to remove. If you let it cool until you can touch it, they will come out eaiser. I turn it upside down and hit it on something solid. If you hit it too hard the cast iron will break. I have industrial talc that I use on my aluminum and silicone molds.and on my ladels. It makes the lead flow better and will reduce sticking in the molds. The talc you buy at the store has perfume in it. I don't think that will make any difference. A piece of angle iron, about 2" x 2" welded on the ends make a good ingot mold. Be sure to have plenty of ventilation.

I usually pay 15 cents a pound for wheel weights. Here is some info on wheel weights http://www.rutuonline.com/html/wheel_weights.html