cadman

I'll definitely agree to that. Too many people don't use their heads and when something happens they go to a lawyer...........Soooooooo sad. Mark I took a look at what you said above, and by george yes it will definitely work. I unscrewed the nameplate and the thermostat knob comes off with the nameplate. The t-stat is then connected by two wires, which gives you ample room to move the nameplate up with some washers. Great idea.

To all of those who participated before the deadline, I have contacted you and your jigs will be sent out tomorrow. Thanks and Enjoy

The only thing I'm pointing out here is that there is no reason why the manufacturer had to eliminate the holes on the back of the pot. By doing this they really changed the pots operating temperature. Also #1 there shouldn't be any kids pouring lead without any adult supervision, and #2 if they are dumb enough to stick things in electrical compartments, well than you can blame the parents for not teaching and watching their children. I hate to rant on this, but why do we have to dumb everything down?????? I drilled (3) holes in the back of the new pot and it does run hotter than it did before I did this. That's the way my old pot was and now it works just fine.

Jig Man, I am very curious about this as I've tried this and it has not worked for me. Would you rather discuss this via PM as to not hijack this thread?

I clearcoat the whole jig with D2T(DEVCON 2 TON)

Yes you can paint it on like smalljaw said. I use Sanford permanent markers, and they work fine. If you want to get fancy, you can make your own decals and they look fantastic. The only problem is that it is very time consuming.

I do the same as smalljaw does. I leave the strands in the front longer. The other thing you can do is not worry about it. When you put the spinnerbait in the water, the pressure of the water as you reel in will make the skirt strands pull back. Finally if you want your front strands to stick out hand tie your skirts. The pressure of your thread or wire will do that for you.

Don't ask me what it means but it stands for "Rock Chuck Bullet Swage" ammunition reloading company. The model most people get I believe is the 81100 for 120 volt and the 81200 for 240 volt. Look around for prices as they are all over the board. I have found them as low as $350.00 brand new. Below is a link of what it looks like. http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=209097

You don't have to sway my decision very far. I am seriously considering buying an RCBS with all the pouring I do. I know they are pricey, but everyone that I have spoken to has nothing but good things to say about them. I don't have a problem paying good money for a good product. Thanks for another vote for the RCBS pot.

Yep, Shorty's for me as well. Best prices anywhere.

So this brings me to the reason what was the point of all of this. Here it goes. I have had my old Lee IV Pot (L4P) since 2005 until it stopped working about 1 month ago. It was and is a workhorse, in which I have poured 1000’s of jigs and spinnerbaits. Through the years about a year ago I bought a new L4P, so just in case my old one would go out I would have a spare. So finally when my old pot went out I emptied all the lead out and put it in my brand new L4P. Started it up and away I went………..Going nowhere fast. My new L4P for some reason was not working as well as my old one. I cranked it up all the way and it was better, but I was getting freeze up at the nozzle when I was injecting my lead molds which I never had problems before. After about a week of this, I was pretty disappointed with this new L4P. I called up Lee and told them my old L4P was on its way for repairs and to please fix it as this new one was a piece of $$$$ and I was very unhappy with it. I asked them to help me with a solution to my problem on the new L4P and why the old L4P was so much better and seemed to run hotter than the new one. Here is their reply. On the older units all of them had holes on the back to vent the t-stat and to get more air in the t-stat chamber. With the holes in the back of the box, this made the t-stat think that it needed more heat to heat the pot, because the heat was escaping, thus making the pot run hotter and kept the lead and the spout hotter. So I ask why change a good proven design when it works. Well somehow UL got involved and you can not have any big holes in a compartment, that people can stick a small screwdriver in and possibly get electrocuted. Why in god’s name would anybody stick a screwdriver in there?????? So they had to take the holes out. Although the heating element is the same as before and gives out the same heat, I personally do not believe the new ones are as good as the old ones. With no cool air circulating through the box, the heat temp stays the same but it doesn’t cycle more as if it would if there was more air flow or if the trapped heat inside had a place to escape. Now this is just my take on it, I don’t make these pots and based on t-stats this is what they are made to do. So what to do to bring old technology back to the modern product. I spoke to a Lee rep, and he said you can loosen one of the screws on the top plate and lift the nameplate up a little and stick a piece of toothpick between the name plate and the pot body. This will give the chamber some air and might improve pot heat performance. I on the other hand (Please do not do this at home, as this will void your warranty and Lee may not take your pot back and you may get hurt) am going to dissemble the new pot take out the guts, drill (3) holes on the back of the box similar to the old model and then re-assemble it. This should give me what I’m after. I have not done this yet. If this doesn’t work, I am going to upgrade to a RCBS production pot. All this info posted here is of my own making and based on questions I’ve asked around. If you do not know what you are doing do not attempt to fix anything, as you can get severely injured. I’d like any and all comments you guys have good and bad and hope this was somewhat informative……………………...Cadman

All right guys "Showtime". As mentioned in my first post the new pot is on the left and the old pot is on the right. So what are the differences. The answers I was looking for were. Question #1. On the pot on the right (the older Lee pot) there are 3 (3/8” diameter) holes on the back of the pot not found on the newer pot on the left. Question #2. The reason for these holes were to vent or let the heat in the thermostat chamber escape. This in turn #1 kept the pot hotter because the thermostat sensed cooler temperature in the chamber, which made it think that it needed more heat and/or #2 cooled the wires on the inside. The 2 members closest to these answers were Reeves and Basseducer, followed by tailchaser. Since there were so few entries, I will send a jig out to everyone who participated. I will contact you shortly for your full name and address via PM, or if you like you can PM me with your info. Also I will have all of the jigs sent out in a couple of weeks right around Christmas. Thanx to all who participated in the contest.

JBlaze, Good reading information.

I don't have the Bass-3-AY mold, but I do believe as well that, that is an old picture. I do however have the TC Tube Jig Mold!

Don't quote me on this but I believe vinegar will do the trick. I do know it will etch old oxidized lead and clean it for painting. If that doesn't work I know for a fact that if you take shiny lead and put it in paint stripper, it will dull the lead within several minutes. It is also paintable if you want to do that as well. Finally if you don't want to screw around that way, I know that if you spray it with etching primer it will turn them a dull gray. The etching primer ones sprayed will only come off if you file or sand it. Let us know how you do.

Steve, I have mixed all kind of powders together with no ill results. Since these are jigs all the quality powder paints are good to use.

Steve, I'v posted this info awhile ago. It will give you all the info on what you are asking. Definitely read post #8 and the PDF file below it. It will clear up all of the questions you have. Just to make a long story short, I have over 150 colors of powder paint and about 1000 plus lbs of different colors and different manufacturers. I stay with the reputable manufacturers and have never had any problem. Whether it is epoxy, TGIC or polyester powder paint. They are all excellent for our use. The break down is done for companies that need a particlur powder paint spec'd for a job. One in particular is the military. You can not paint anything you want for the military. If they want TGIC then you have to supply them TGIC. However for our use as jigs all of the chemical make ups would be great....................If you need more help PM me. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/12565-kinds-of-powder-coats/

Ken, Clean out your PM's as they are full, or PM me with your e-mail. I have some info for you.

Steve, Here is a formula that I have always used. This is an approximate, and then you can do the math from there. 2 ounces of powder paint will roughly paint (400) 1/4 ounce jigs. Now you can cut this number in 1/2 to get a 1/2 oz jig painted. So if you were to dip them one at a time you would honestly get 1,600 (1/2 oz.)jigs. If you are going to use a fluid bed you will get slightly more. I can't give you an exact number because of these variables. #1 Depends on the powder paint color. #2 Depends on how long you keep your hot jig in the fluid bed. #3 Depends on the manufacturer of the powder paint. #4 Depends on what jig you use, a 1/2 oz round jig has slightly less surface area that a 1/2 oz football jig. With that said, I would say you could do at least 1600 (1/2 oz.) jigs to a pound of powder paint. Let us know if you get a better or lesser number. Paint cost. If you pay let's say $6.00 for 2 oz of Pro-Tec then it will cost you about 3 cents a 1/2 oz. jig for the powder paint not including labor. I would never buy 2 oz. as it is not practical unless you just plainly cannot afford it, which is understandable. I'm selling off lot of my excess stock (I'm not here to sell you powder) but I sell it for $6.00/lb which is actually 16 oz dry weight. That would be 4/10ths of a penny for a 1/2 oz jig. So buy your powder in bulk. It will store forever as long as you only take out as much as you will need, and close the rest off and keep in a cool dark area. Kandybass, good math calc's. you and I come very close.

Steve, A couple of other things. I like to use vacuum cleaner bags, they have worked for me better as of late. Also if you have white in the fluid bed cup, it will require more air to push it. White as far as I'm concerned is the heaviest of all the powders. I have done extensive research on white powder paint, and all of the manufacturers and chemists I've spoken to have told me that. It is the chemicals in the pigment that make it heavier, as white powder does have to cover better than other colors. With that said I have gone through at least 40 different white powder manufacturers which I did not like. I finally had a white powder custom made which goes on thin and to my liking. Finally the last thing to assess is height of powder cup. Many guys want to dip longer blades or spinnerbaits into a deeper powder cup. That is fine but that deeper powder cup needs more powder and more powder means you have more weight which in turn menas you need a really big pump to push the air through the chamber and into the cup. I'm not saying this is your case, but just some things to look at and analyze. Good Luck

Ducbos, I have to hand it to you. You have actually done a lot of trial and error to try to solve the problem. Don't give up yet, and don't start enlarging hook cavities. I'm going to have to agree with dlaery, however I'm not at your place so I can't say for sure. Lead and the mold both have to be hot. The ladle should sit in the led pot to keep it hot as well. Lead has to be poured in fast in a mold otherwise the first few drops will solidify and nothing will get through. Finally which mold(s) are you having a problem with? Let us know and maybe we can give you some more info.

if you are not getting a volume change, than you are either not letting enough air into the filter chamber or your air pump isn't strong enough to push the powder up. So you will need a bigger air pump.

I use Super Glue Gel (Loc-Tite) as well. If you are going to epoxy your jigs (clear coat) then you can use the epoxy to glue in the weedguards.

HawgBone, My vote is for powder paint. I am a die hard powder paint user. Depending on how much area you have to paint you can even put on 4-5 colors of powder. Powder paint hands down is the best stuff you can use without a top coat. It is very durable and easy to appply. No smell no clean-up period. It does have it's limitations though. But if you're doing buzzbait bodies, I don't think you are going to try to paint and exotic mural on there. If you want to see some of my pics PM me your e-mail, and I wll show you some of the things that can be done. Just my two cents worth. Others will have more info for you to make a logical choice.

Jigman, Nice looking jig. I never thought of trying a silver jig with a yellow/red eye. Learn something new all the time. Hope you catch some big ones.