cadman

I started using bees wax and now use candle wax, as the candle wax I get is free. My wife likes Yankee candles and I use the remainder that doesn't burn on the bottom. Like mentioned a little goes a long way. Make sure that once you drop a small chunk in, you light the smoke. Just be careful, as it will flame up. Slowly stir the lead as the fire is burning, and all the crud will come to the top and burn off. Once the flame has died off, you can skim off the crud, and do it again if you like.

Thanks for the mini tutorial Dave. I have a long way to go with my photography.

Welcome to TU. Lot of guys on here with a wealth of knowledge.

You have a good point. So then it is veined powder paint.

You must be a machinist. No-one talks dirty like that on this forum. LOL Thank god you aren't making swiss watches. .015 would have you fired and in the un-employment line. LOL

I still like my metal(hard rock) to this day and I'm 57. My wife always asks me when am I ever going to grow up. i just love hard rock music. Can't stand country or pop, but I have to give credit to the artists that make the music. Someone likes it and they make a hell of a lot more money than I will ever make.

Dave, you are my hero. That is what I'm after (big hairy legs). I know that doesn't sound right. I have not had the time to develop my skills (more lack of skills) in photography. I do have a macro lens, and yes you are correct, that is not going to happen with the lens I have. With all of my tournies, jig making, full time job and my side work with cad, I don't have as much time to pursue my buggy photography. I actually bought my camera, to take better pics for my website, so it wouldn't look so amateurish (is that a word)? BTW I still do not get e-mails at home or any pop-ups here telling me that I have messages. So I can't follow TU as closely as I want to. I posted info to Curt, but never got this resolved. I use Firefox, does anyone else have this problem?

Well that is an interesting question. When I apply the paint onto the jig, the paint has no vein or crackle. When you bake the jig, the intensity of the heat, crackles or brings out the vein. So now I don't know what you would call it? I do know it is a one step process. I understand the base coat and the candy powder coat from fishingskirts.com. I am not a big fan of this for this simple reason. Yes you can put on a silver (Crackle) base coat and then put on your candy (transparent) orange, blue, green or whatever. The problem I have with it is this. You have have to put on two applications of paint ( I don't know if you have to bake each application), and when you do that you have heavier paint. Also I do know that Pro-tec candy transparents, if applied to thick do run and drip. This is just my personal feeling about it. Everyone has t he right to buy and use what they find works for them.

I love photography. Used to do it when I was a kid with 35mm film. Now within the last 5 years, doing the digital thing and love it. So much easier. Also like Vodkaman, I love close up photography. Learning how to shoot bugs and flowers.

Yes there are crackle paints that are a one step process. I have been using them for 25 years. Dip in the powder and bake. You're done. I don't mess around with Fishing skirts.com 2 step process. The only drawback is that there are currently 4 or 5 colors, slv/blk, copper/blk. gold/blk and blue/blk. The powder I have is not commercially available unless you buy it by the #500 lb lots. Pm me if you need more info.

Pig lead refers to unrefined lead cast in big chunks or pigs. In mining it is referred to as a pig (chunk), that is the way I always have understood it. I don't know however how big a pig is in lbs and I'm not talking about the farm animal either. LOL

You can buy all hooks by the 1000 count from Shorty's Hooks Sales out of Missouri. They have the best prices, you will need a tax ID number or pay 10% excise upfront. I also believe you can get them from Captain Hooks which is the online version of Shorty's.

I would use them on a weighted hook. JMO?

Especially on the Arky jigs, as they tend to be lower profile and don't have the deep weedguard depth when you're done pouring.

Just use nylon pins and this will solve your problem, because the metal pull pins are not deep enough, and you cannot get them in deeper with the way they are made, or cut off the head of the metal pull pin, and use that and shove the pin up against the hook as far as it will go in the mold. Close and then pour. If pin falls out, then put some tape on the pin to stop this from happening.

Come on now, what's a few molds.LOL. Isn't the person with the most molds win?????? At last count I am somewhere over 150 molds. So yes I may need to seek help. Just think if aluminum goes to $200/lb in scrap, I can really cash in. Woo Hoo I know I will never win, as I have known LedHed for quite awhile, and he has a boatload of molds. Imagine if I can cash in with my 150 plus, LedHed will be a millionaire with over 700+

Yes, pig lead does come in bigger chunks, which will not fit in a lead pouring pot, unless you have someone cut it up for you. I have tried many times to cut lead into smaller pieces, and no matter what you use, it is very time consuming and "To Me" not worth all the work. Now I looked into a commercial place that sells lead in different shapes to see if they would melt a big chunk for me, but the cost was too prohibitive. Smaller pieces from Roto-Metals, fit right into my pot. No the cheapest, but no additional work.

Yes you are correct. I meant to say that we clean our parts and dry them before they get to the spray booth, and yes our parts have a lot of space between them as the conveyor takes it to the oven. Parts cannot bang or touch each other as they travel (in our case). Also in our spray area which is next to the oven, it is really warm in there in excess of over 90 degrees in the winter and well over a 100 degrees in the summer. I understand exactly what you are saying, Our paint line is really cool to see how a bare part starts and goes through all of the processes to end up with a finished look. I was more interested on how the Harbor Freight system works, to see if it is something that I could use at home. Thanks for all the info.

Dlaery is correct. The point of electrostatic powder painting is to clean the part, put a charge on the part and or rack and then spray. Powder paint then clings to the part. I can't comment on small parts banging against each other and paint falling off. However we do big parts and when they are sprayed, the powder stays on really well, and then the conveyor takes it to the oven for baking. I'm glad your process works. I may look into the Harbor Freight system, as I have a lot of powder to practice with. Thanks for the info.

RAW, I had a similar problem. I had an old pot that worked flawlessly for 12 years. Element went out, and they replaced it. tries the new one, and it is nowhere near as hot as the old one. You need to take the proper thermometer and test the lead at different settings. You can call Lee and see what the different heat temps are supposed to be at different numbers on your dial, if you want to go through all that work. I would call Lee back and tell them that your pot still doesn't work properly, or you can turn the pot on high and pour that way. Just a thought. I too heard that they had problems at one time with their elements. It could also be the thermostat that controls the heat.

We have a recovery system at work, however our area is kept meticulously clean, so we don't have to worry about other foreign particles being sucked into the recovery chamber. With that said, we use the recovery system (air suction) more to catch overspray and airborne powder dust. We never re-use overspray powder, however we do this on a larger scale than most jig makers would need. My question to you is this. Do you find when you recover any and all powder, to have other foreign particles in there along with the powder paint? I guess my biggest concern would be light colors like white, yellow chartreuse etc. which would show the most dirt and anything that doesn't look like the color it is supposed to be. Just looking for your thoughts on the Harbor Freight System.

We use a commercial electrostatic system and it is fantastic and yields excellent results. If Harbor Freights is as good, you should have no problem. The questions I would have is how do you handle the hook eyes, being all coated with powder, as the powder does go on thicker??? Finally you will have to somehow tape your hook points and then find a way to hang the jigs. Then you will have to take all the tape off before you bake the jigs. I have thought about this many times and found that it seems like a lot of work. I will tell you this, there is a lot of powder waste as overspray. So you better buy your powder in bulk.

I also have heard from numerous sources that it is good lead.

When I started doing jigs years ago, I was using CSI's vinyl paint and clearcoat. You are correct the smell is so strong, that it permeates through everything. With that said, I used to get really bad headaches from doing this all day long, and the smell would last for a few days. At the time when I was doing this, powder paint was in its infancy and when I tried it I never looked back. No need to ever use CSI's vinyl paint or clear. Now on powder paint, you can dip the jig in the powder paint or sprinkle it on. On the Devcon 2 Ton, once you mix two equal parts of the epoxy you can brush it on. Only make what you can use in 10 minutes. The epoxy starts to harden once you mix it. Finall make sure you get the 30 minute epoxy not the ten minute.

First of all powder paint should be baked( cured) in a toaster oven. If you are not doing that, well that is p[art of the problem. I assume Boss powder paint is the same. Now like mentioned above, all paint will chip or wear off from dragging jigs. To reduce this from happening, again like mentioned use Devcon 2 Ton (D2T) on the entire jig. Now you mentioned using vinyl clear gloss from CSI. If you are referring to the one that really smells bad, than I would be careful, because of the lingering smell along with the fact that, that clearcoat is not compatible with all powder paints.