cadman

Ok Guys, I called Do-It today and spoke with the person responsible for the design of the mold and its components. First of all I will say that this problem has been handled with the utmost of professionalism. Also Do-It did find a better solution to this by redesigning the clip. The clip has been re-designed and either is out already or in the process of being shipped. Apparently the bag that I received, was an older design. In speaking with them, I was told that I was the first one to bring this problem to their attention. So with the problem solved, everyone will see new clips out there. I have also attached a sketch of how you can modify your current clip, or make a new one if you choose. There are many other ways you can make a clip to work for this, use your imagination. CADMAN'S WIRE FORMS.pdf CADMAN'S WIRE FORMS.pdf CADMAN'S WIRE FORMS.pdf CADMAN'S WIRE FORMS.pdf CADMAN'S WIRE FORMS.pdf CADMAN'S WIRE FORMS.pdf CADMAN'S WIRE FORMS.pdf CADMAN'S WIRE FORMS.pdf CADMAN'S WIRE FORMS.pdf

They will know about this tomorrow. I don't want to jump the gun and tell them that their design is poor unless I've actually proven this to be true and have some solutions to this. Since no-one stepped up until today to say that they have a similar problem, I don't want to go in with guns blazing only to find out that I may have put in the clips wrong (which on one of them I did), or I may have been doing something else wrong. It's better to be prepared with facts and data and solutions then to go and tell someone that there idea sucks. No one wants to admit or be accused of being wrong even if they are. So I am approaching this diplomatically to see what they say with the facts that I have. Yes sand casting does have its flaws and no two molds are alike. Unfortunately if this were machined we wouldn't be having this conversation. Until tomorrow.

bass100, Well I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem. Sometimes I think I'm too picky or too critical, and want things to work like they are supposed or intended to to. Anyway, very clever ideas on how you achieved to solve this problem. Job well done.

Guys, I poured all I'm about to pour to get my final solution to this. The smaller sizes just don't pour like the bigger sizes, as far as keeping the wire form inside the lead and keeping it away from the cavity wall. So I am going to call Do-It tomorrow and ask them for their solution. I am betting that they don't have one. I have a solution to my dilemma, but it is not practical to go through all of the work for the smaller sizes. I also have some ideas for you guys that I will share tomorrow, to make the smaller sizes work which I will also post tomorrow. Sad that there is no easy solution to this without me making my own wire forms.

Saugerman, I am going to pour some more trial samples tonight. The only thing I would watch out for is that the wire loops are not the same length. One is shorter than the other, and it seems to me that the longer one would be the one that attaches to the vertical obround boss and not the centering pin. I will post some more info later today or tomorrow. I didn't want to call Do-It until I had exhausted all possibilities.

DaBehr "It's really hard to keep the wires in the slots with the hook moving them around." I totally agree with you, it would have been easier if they machined a groove to keep the wire form in place. The center pin and the slot on the bottom are way too sloppy for the wire form to sit straight. " I open up the eye of the hooks I use just enough to get them onto the wire and clamp them shut again." First of all what type of hooks are you using that you can do this to? I have opened up hook eyes that were heated, and found many to break on me. I don't want to weaken the hook eye. Also if you open it enough just to let the wire fit through the hook eye, how do you close it again, to keep the hook eye from falling out? "You do have to align the wire in the slots very carefully...like those darn wire bait keepers on some of their molds. Takes a lot of practice! " First It's funny but the other mold I bought with this one was the football mold with a wire keeper, and that mold pours flawlessly for me. The wire keeper sits tightly up against the hook and also fits in snugly in the cavity where the wire keeper is supposed to sit. The idea on how they did that was designed correctly and you can see by the finished product. You can see by the pic below, with a little cleanup, and this jig is perfect. Ready for painting, skirting and a pic of this jig in the mouth of a nice big bass.

There are thing you can do to make the current design work. Like when you put the hook on the wire form, push it up in the cavity, tape it this way and this would push the wire form more vertical or squeeze the looped forms closer together so they fit tightly over the pins. But I don't have time with a mickey mouse idea like that . We can all make thing work, but it should be designed and work flawlessly from the manufacturer. Any extra step we take to correct a problem, is time taken away to quickly get the pouring done and finished.

TJ, I was thinking the same thing. I am going to post a pic up later to see if you and I are on the same channel.Your idea if we are on the same page is a much better design than the one Do-it is currently using.

Ok Guys, I poured some more last night and this is what I've found. There is one looped end that is longer than the others. If you look in the mold picture above, the short looped side I think should be in the horizontal position, which is put in correctly in my cavities,1/8, 3/16 and 5/16 oz. The 1/4 oz cavity I have it backwards. However the vertical looped end on the 5/16 oz cavity would be the best solution if it stayed that way. When you put the hook on, the hook drags the loop end down and up against the cavity wall making voids in the area where the tag end of that vertical loop touches the cavity wall. If you look at the 3/16 and 1/8 oz cavity that is a prime example of how that is going to pour and you can't adjust it . The hooks will pull that wire form down, because it is on a round pivot.

Smalljaw, I think I have a solution to this and that is crimp the tag ends of the wire for in. I will try this later and post my results.

Jerry, Thank You very much for the help, I didn't even notice it was there. It solved my problem.

Alright guys I just started pouring this mold yesterday, Model FBB-6-SWG. Here is my current, very un-happy experience. This mold makes 1/16, 3/16,1/4, 5/16, 3/8 and 7/16 football swing hooks. Similar to the Biffle Bug Head. Well the 7/16 pours fine the 3/8 and 5/16 cavity pours fine sometimes with the hook wire form that they supply, the remainder three sizes are very badly designed. Before I go on a rampage about this matter, I am going to call Do-It on Monday and explain the problem they have with this mold. This is the problem. The wire form that fits in the mold has a very sloppy fit. So what this does, is, it moves when you put the wire form in the mold with the hook on. Well when you pour this, this way, the wire form from the weight of the hook, moves toward the edge of the mold cavity where the lead does not fill, therefore leaving the wire form to protrude outside the lead body, leaving the hook to possibly dislodge. See pics 1. This is a hit and miss on the 3/8 and 5/16 oz and the 1/4 oz and smaller is worse to useless. See open mold with cavities and wire forms. This is a engineering nightmare that to me has not been thought out properly. I am going to stop there before I say something I will regret. The only solution I found to make this work is to over bend the wire form under 90 degrees to move them in so if they move down from the weight of the hook, the tag ends will still be in the cavity, but c'mon I have to jury rig a brand new mold. Sooooooo Freakin' FRUSTRATED. Let me know if you guys are having this problem as well. Maybe I am nuts , lost my mind and don't know how to pour this mold. Thanks for any input. I'm going to pour some more today to see if I can fix this problem. The mold pours fine but the wire forms and mold cavities are way toooooo loose.

I used to be able to type my post in MS Word and then copy and paste them in a new thread that I just started. Is this not possible anymore? I am using Firefox now.

x2. Saltfisher, when you say some, how many are you looking for?

timbass, The 32796 4/0 hook will fit in my 1/2 oz cavity (somewhat). What I mean by this is the .060 diameter wire fits in the hook shank slot and the hook eye fits in its slot. What is too long is the flat part between the hook eye and the hook shank. However you can bend that out a little and it fits fine. Now my mold has had a thousand + pours in it, so it may be a bit worn. So maybe a new one won't be so forgiving. Others that have a new mold may chime in.

Mark, I didn't believe this at first either. When I started pouring jigs about 12 years ago, I really didn't use the internet much, so I didn't read up on it. Also back then there wasn't a lot of info around. It was all coming together for me about 2006 when I joined TU. Then I started reading everything. Powder paint was in its infancy and when I decided to start pouring, I thought of all the problems I was going to have. I made a lot of bad pours back then along with bad paint jobs. So I started stock piling bad jigs, and didn't know what do do with them. I was going to re-melt them, but I didn't want to get all my hooks stuck on the bottom of my pot and clog it. At that time I didn't know better. Anyway I read on here from someone that posted, that the hooks would float up. I thought no way, this is crazy, steel sinks, this will never work. Well after 10 lbs of bad jigs, I decided to try it in a cast iron pot over a propane torch. Low and behold all the hooks floated to the top. I pulled out all the hooks, skimmed the crud off, fluxed the lead and voila, I had clean beautiful lead. So yes steel clips, hooks and anything metal will float to the top of a lead pot.

Felix, If you have a bad paint job on a jig or jigs, and you want to repaint them, then soak them in paint remover. The paint remover does not damage the hooks or the point. If you have a bunch of jigs that are damaged and junk, and you want to salvage the lead, then yes you can remelt them. I would suggest remelting them in a different pot and not the one you use to pour with, also do this outside and make sure you have no water around or if it's going to rain. Put all you bad jigs in the pot, heat on high, and all the lead will melt off of the hooks and the hooks will float to the top along with any burnt paint and other crud. Paint does smell pretty bad when it starts to burn. Be careful, as old jigs may have water in them and they could explode. Safety always #1.

I don't make wire inline spinners, so can't help you there, but I'm sure you will get some answers from someone here. BTW Welcome to the wire bait section.

Saugerman, I can't add any input as I've not fished it yet. But I do have the mold and will be trying it out next year. Smalljaw, Thanks for the thorough review and explanation.

I am getting some of the Trokar molds from last year. I have a customer that is interested in some jigs. I found a good price and source for them. With a 20% discount and free shipping. I'm sure you guys know who, however I don't know if I can mention that here now. But if you want to know Pm me. Also I'm in talks with the guy on the new football mold with the wire keeper, and the Biffle hardhead look-a-like mold from Do-IT

I sent you a PM. I have all the white you could want in the world. I will find out how much it will cost to ship.

Hey Guys, Thanks for the response. A customer bought this mold and he wants me to pour these jigs for him. However he wants the wire keeper out of yellow brass. So I would like to get a few so I can copy them and have them made out of brass. Pm sent.

Does anyone have a couple of these wire keepers that fit in a Do-It FWB-4M-ASU (3501) football mold? The Do-It part number of the wire keeper is WB-800. Please PM me if you haze some and can help. Thanx in advance

I ship powder paint in bulk all the time, never had any problems. I do state in every box that I send that the powder is non-flammable and non-toxic, so in case the box should break and white powder pours out, they don't think I'm sending illegal drugs.

Joe, Welcome to Tackle Underground and your first post in the Wire Bait section. Most of the guys that I know and are on this site you powder paint for jigs. If you cure them properly, they will last as long as you don't lose them. I'll take that back they will last as long as you don't keep on hitting and dragging them on the rocks. The paint should wear off before it chips. I glue in my weedguard two ways. If I do not clearcoat the jigs, then I use Loc-Tote Gel Super Glue. If my jigs have eyes and I clear coat the jigs to keep the eyes from falling off, then I use epoxy to set the weedguards. You will get a lot of good info here from a lot of guys with all kinds of ways to accomplish this. There is no right way. Find what works for you.