reeves

For years I never put a white base coat before using flourescents. Always got good coverage on all surfaces except the edges. This is where your lose it. This year I began using a white base coat and that problem has disappeared. I use two fluid beds, one with white and the other with the flourescent yellow. Heat the head dip and tap in the white and immediately dip and tap in the yellow. Bake to cure and it's done - one time. This is all that is required to achieve maximum results, even CSI will tell you that. Tiger Drylac has some flourescents that are single coverage and do not require any base color. I bought some and found it was of a very heavy texture powder, would not fluidize worth a hoot nor cover evenly. I think it was developed for use in electrostatic systems and not fluid beds. Only my opinion but, I can see the difference in color with a white base coat vs: without. The white seems to bleed through a bit, but not so it is unacceptable. Good thread, keep it going!

Termite, To clean out the hook eye, I use a piece of SS spinnerbait wire. Find a size that just passes through the hook eye, not too loose and not too tight, that's the one you want. Right after you dip in the powder, remove and pass the wire through the hook eye, rotate it as it passes through. You will clean out any powder paint melted into the eye. By rotating it as you pass the wire through will often cause the paint to spiral around the wire and you will really clean the eye. Bake and make sure they are all clear. Should solve your problem. As for the weedguard hole, I use teflon pins. After heating the jig I insert the teflon pin and immediately dip in powder. As soon as I remove the jig from the powder, I remove the teflon pin before the powder paint has a chance to dry (important), rotate it when removing also as this will give you a clean edge around the hole removing any paint that has gotten on the pin. You now have a super clean hole for your weedguard, no drilling or cleaning out of any kind needed. Your next question will be . . . 'where do I get these teflon pins'? They can be found at McMaster-Carr . . . www.mcmaster.com Search for 'PTFE teflon rod' and locate the size you need. These pins can also be used when pouring your jig. Place them in the mold where the metal pin normally would be. They remove from the jig with little effort compared to the metal one and they furnish the same size hole. Heat does not damage this stuff. Hope this helps.

Monty, That I know of, there are three of us on this board that make spin cast molds. I'm not sure of the 100 mile distance to you, but I think the closest would be: Chuck Vanover in Lorain, Ohio. TU name: spincasting next closest, David Aery in Warsaw, Missouri. TU name: dleary then there is me, George Reeves in Welch, OK. If there are others that I am not aware of, they can chime in if they wish.

dannyp, You are in the correct forum. You might try tilting the mold when pouring. Open the mold and observe how the sprue is cut into the jig. This will let you see the path the lead takes as it enters the cavity. Try tilting in this direction to aid the lead flow into the cavity. There are a lot of other reasons for the incomplete pour you are getting, but that would be one of the first to check. Is the mold hot enough? Make several pours without the hook or pin to preheat the mold, take your time between pouring and demolding. Is the lead hot enough? What temp are you running? Last thing is to cut vents, but lets try everything else first. Hope this helps. George

I totally concur with Allen, Chuck does some beautiful work, a true professional. Allen stopped by my shop this past summer, and I was able to confiscate one of those spinnerbaits. I have caught over 50 bass with it and several being over 5lbs. It has had the wire frame all twisted from the battles, I just bent it back and fished on. That has got to be the best spinnerbait I have ever fished, hands down! And it has a lot of life left in it. A small testimonial for the fine work put out by Chuck and Allen George

When painting eyes using vinyl paint and did not get quite the right positioning, I had to remove while still wet, and used CSI's vinyl thinner. Got the vinyl paint off quick but also took the gloss off the powder paint. This vinyl thinner is some pretty strong stuff, but I am inclined to think MEK is stronger. An option would be to try one and if it takes the gloss off the powder coat, a good clear as a final finish might restore everything. Just a thought.

Sagacious, Try MEK. It will lift the powder paint as well. I use it anytime I need to strip a bait. Just let soak for about 15 minutes and the paint should lift off very easily. Hope that helps you.

You spend time on your hobby, when you have time to do that. A hobby doesn't have Purchase Orders or deadlines or taxes to be paid. A hobby is something you enjoy and allow your creative juices to flow and the reward is a sense of accomplishment. You spend time at your business because you have to, religiously. It does have Purchase Orders, deadlines, taxes, bills and accounts receivables to worry about. But it can also be very fun and rewarding as well. It all depends on which side of the fence you want to be on.

You nailed it Pete - attention to detail! So important these days. First you have to catch the fisherman, and hope it works on the fish as well. What ever happened to the 'black plastic worm'?

I got mine from Component Systems a few years back and it works great on blades. You have to keep the air pressure very low. I got it mainly for it's ability to shoot powder with glitter in it. Does that job just fine. Gabe, I might suggest that you take a different approach for use with jigs only because of the size you will be dealing with, the gun may well be an overkill in that situation. PM CADMAN on this site and request his tutorial on blending powder colors. It is an excellent and very well done tutorial that is well illustrated also. His method would serve your purpose with much better results IMHO. And the other nice thing is the cost is next to nothing. Let me know if you need more help. George

Well done. I love the color combinations that match the hair. I also am impressed with the color on the hook. Great job.

Bojon, Charge your customer US dollars (USD) for your product, it is up to him to make the conversion. As for shipping costs, go to the US Post Office website, www.usps.com, click on 'calculate shipping' and the rest is self-explanatory for you. You will need the weight and size of your package to accomplish this. You can even do all your shipping right from this website, print and pay for the postage as well as make out all the necessary Customs forms to go with it. It was really never any easier. Good Luck.

Imcat, The answer to your question is, yes you can! I also use Createx, straight out of the bottle, never have to thin it. Because a spinnerbait head is so small of an object to paint, you have to make some adjustments. I spray using 15psi air pressure, with the fluid control on the airbrush almost in the off position. The nozzel of the airbrush has to be close to the bait, about an inch or so away from it. A spray pattern is cone shaped, the farther from the tip of the gun, the wider it gets. You want your paint atomized as it leaves the airbrush, or it will just hit the powder painted surface and slide everywhere. It takes alot of practice to get the feel for what you are doing, but don't give up as the results can be worth the hassle. Hope this helps you.

Don't mean to stir the pot, but it can be done and you must be very careful. Initially to heat the head for powder coating, I use a torch. Dip in the powder. Not necessary to bake at this time. Spray on your Createx accent colors and let dry real well. Now here is the tricky part. Using a heat gun and with the head farther away from the heat gun than you would normally hold it, allow the head to heat slowly. Try to let the heat hit the powder paint more than the Createx colors, if this is possible. What you are doing is allowing the head to heat very slowly. Too much heat too quick will crack the Createx. You are going to have to experiment on how long to heat it before you dip it in the clear powder for it to stick. Once you have dipped in the clear, then bake the bait at the temp and time for the base coat color. I have done hundreds using this method, so it does work. I don't like to do it this way because it takes so long, but the results are worth the effort. You can also add glitter to the clear powder for added effect. Give it a try, but have patience as you will no doubt trash a few before you get all the correct timing to be successful. Good Luck.

kelly, thanks so much for taking the time to check it out. I appreciate and value your opinion. I guess no one else has had any experience with it. It is very new on the market and probably not much info about it as yet. After re-reading my post, I did sound like I had my mind made up, but was looking for opinions. Guess I will be a guinea pig for this brush. Again, thanks for the input. George

Have been wanting to graduate to a gravity feed airbrush, just unsure as to which one to move up to. I currently have been using a Paasche VL for the past six years. It has served me well and I am overall happy with it, although it does have a few issues that gnaw at me. I've read most of the posts over the years that everyone does on the airbrush they are using and Iwata seems to be the winner. I spray several hundred spinnerbaits a week and the VL gets uncomfortable after long sessions. I see where Paasche has come out with their new gravity fed brush called the 'Talon'. Have read many reviews on it and for the money, it sounds like what I am looking for to do the work that I do. One day when time permits I will paint a crankbait, but for now, I am stuck in the wirebait world. Question is . . . . has anyone had any experience or heard of any feedback on this new product from Paasche? Very interested in what you all have to say about this brush, so fire away. Thanks in advance. George

Mike, I purchased 5,000 of them from Mustang Wire last year. They are rather easy to incorporate into your mold, just very tiny to handle. How many are you looking for? I may be able to help you with a few, but large quantities you will have to get from Mustang.

Jed, That thing has beautiful action no matter what retrieve you use. I like it. When will the painted version be posted?

Hollywood, Just about all Do-it molds state to use soft lead in them. Soft or pure lead flows better than harder stuff. You will find this out as you go from small (1/16oz) size items, to larger (3/8oz and bigger). Those smaller ones are often difficult to pour with harder lead. Guys that pour and fish jigs around rocks prefer the 50/50 mix because the when the jigs bounces off the rocks, they don't dent as easily. The 50/50 mix is a starting place for you. If you find you are more comfortable with a different ratio, it won't hurt a thing. You will need to experiment as you progress in your pouring and find what suits you best. BTW, Nova is really right when he suggests the wheel weights and plumbers lead. I guess if you are just starting and want an easy purchase, ebay is OK, but there is tons of it out there for the asking.

MT, Somehow I am having a real hard time picturing this thing in my mind. Are these pieces of sheetmetal rotating around a pole? And is the wind the driving force here? If so, are using something that would resemble the swivel? Those are pretty good sizes of metal you are trying to rotate.

Hollywood, I have had the very same problem with larger jigs. First of all, I would get rid of that candle and get a propane torch (which I prefer) or a heat gun to heat the jig. The black soot you are seeing may prevent the powder from adhering to the lead and may cause you problems in the future. Similar to when you use a candle to blacken your mold, this is done to allow the lead to flow smoother into the cavity as well as help prevent the part from sticking. I would shy away from the candle real quick. The 'cure' I have found is to rotate the jig in the fluid bed as opposed to just dipping it straight in. I have noticed that the powder seems to flow from one side of the cup to the other and my thinking was that there was less powder hitting that side while an adequate amount was hitting the opposite side. By dipping it in and rotating it in the powder has eliminated the fish eye problem for me. Give it a try and let us know if it solved the problem. Also when I first had this problem, as I pulled the jig from the fluid bed, I could see the pits, I immediately hit it with some more heat and re-dipped it and the pits were covered evenly with the rest of the jig. Good luck and I hope I have helped solve your problem.

Rick, Seems I recall the post you are referring to, but can't remember who it was either. I think you can get it at McMaster-Carr, Mustang Wire or Battlefield Wire. Do a Google on each of those to get address' and websites. Good Luck

Ted, Exellent job, as usual. If those are rejects, I'll take 'em - hope you still have my address. I especially like the bass color scheme. Did I understand correctly, you did not paint the other side of the blade? George

Hawn, I haven't had to get any from local recyclers lately so I really don't know if they have come down in price or not. I get a blend of lead, tin and antimony from a large foundry in St. Louis and they raise and lower their prices with the market. Unfortunately the tin and antimony manage to keep the price up there. Anyone heard anymore rumbles about eventually doing away with lead wheel weights? There was an article a while back stating that CA was going to lead the fight on this one and it was up for a vote in the near future, but I haven't read anymore on it.

Bigfruits, Try this guy, Junkateer Jerry ebay ID: sher120. Has a lot listed, ships immediatedly and will sell outside of ebay. A 50/50 mix should suffice but if you have trouble with the smaller ones, increase the amount of pure lead.