cadman

Take the pins out and then bake. Bend the pins back and forth to clean Loc-tite gel superglue

Nothing wrong with your baits, they look fine to me.

Mark, Yes, I've learned the hard way. Lacquer thinner and acetone are the biggest enemies of powder paint. Even if it's baked. You are correct, it leaves it gummy, sticky, stringy you name it.

Fishnmike, I do know "Drop- Out" mold release works on aluminum molds. Mght also work on bondo.

Andy, I don't know of anything currently. I do know that RCBS and Lyman make commercial pots used for making bullets. If you do make something just be careful as anything really big has to be supported as lead is heavy and very hot. Also the valve would have to be lever action as I don't think a faucet type valve would work. The valve needs to stay hot, otherwise it will act as a heat sink and cool too fast, leaving the lead cold in the valve and thus making it not able to pour. Post some pics when you get done. Always interested in Do-It-Yourself projects. Again just be careful and safe.

You will have to be more specific. Do you have an Owner hook number? What size hook in which cavity?

Well there are some very talented people on this site. As far as what works good as a black. You can try pin striping tape or use black electrical tape. Cut the profile out you want, stick it on your lure and clear coat it with E-tex or Devcon 2 Ton. I like electrical tape because it is thin comes in a lot of different colors and sizes and it's cheap and easy to work with. I use the tape to make round kill spots on my jigs. As far as paint goes, you can try a lacquer, but you will have to mask off. Also some lacquers will screw up the powder paint, as the thinner has a tndency to eat away at the powder paint. That's why I stick with tape.

x2, if you want to play it safe two days at the most for D2T. You can also use e-tex which goes on clearer.

Hey Lone Wolf, Your pics look like my tutorial. LOL Job welll done. Now your on your way to some beautiful jigs.

DJR, E-mail sent with all the info.

I totally agree with you. Good service, great prices and a very big selection.

Lone Wolf, I sent you an e-mail with all the info.

There are some split rings that are 3X strong. I know what the jika rigs are. I don't think you will have a problem with a split ring if you get the strong ones.

This is my personal preferance, but I do not like stiff weedguards on any of my jigs. I use the .018 diameter weedguards and I only put 15 strands on all of my jigs for personal use. I personally believe that you get better hook-ups with less weedguard material. I buy in bulk, but Stamina, Jann's and Barlow's I believe get them all from the same place.

Bob, What I would have done originally was take a propane torch and heat it hot around the nozzel, then take whatever was inside out, with a pair of forceps or needle nose pliers. I don't know the status of the pot now, but if you drilled a hole in the nozzle, you trashed your pot in my opinion. Guys do this all the time, to make the lead come out better. You can do this but you have to go with small drill bits first. The problem with that is , if you make the hole too big, the plunger will not seat correctly and now the lead will always drip if not come out at a flow. My suggestion is send it back to Lee, and they will fix it for half the cost. I am going to say it will be about $10-$20 to fix. They will replace the tub (the nozzle is fused into the tub) and the plunger with a new one. At this point I think you have done enough damage, not to sound like a smart a$$. I don't think you will be able to fix it in perfect working order again. JMHO.

You can also try vacuum cleaner bags. I have found that some powders do not work well in a fluid bed as they are hevier than others. White seems to be the worst. However depending on where you get your powder from,other colors are just as heavy and problematic.

Actually if you paid a buck a pound for wheel weights it still is a good price. I recently bought pure lead and a mixed alloy for about $2/lb. That is the cheapest I can find it other than getting it free. It's getting harder and harder for me to get a good price here in IL.

I had my rack sides custom made to fit into the oven and the I used allthread and nuts to assemble it. Works like a charm.

Yellowdawg, Yes those are very nice for your first ones. Now go and catch some fish with them.

Chris, As you can see by the responses here, all the guys that make spinnerbaits say the same thing. Everyone on this site that makes tackle has there own little niche in the custom tackle making world. As you can see Tim does beautiful painted spinnerbaits, he definitely can airbrush better than I can. smalljaw does beautiful air brushing with powder paint. We are all unique in what we're good at and that's what makes are baits stand out. Whether you like Tim's or smalljaws or whomever, start by making sure your spinnerbait works effectively. Then you can concentrate on how you want to paint it and how much you want to put into it.

x2 on what sdsaw said. Not to sound negative, but realistically all baits whether that have exotic designs catch the fisherman's eye more than anything else. Yes he does excellent work and all of us tacklemakers sell to fishermen, becuase if we sold to the fish we would all be wasting our time and lose money. As far as cost goes that is relative. I would rather have a well tuned good vibrating spinnerbait made out of piano wire that catches fish, than have a beautifully painted spinnerbait that doesn't catch fish. Honestly I've caught alot of fish with chipped up or raw jigs. So I do believe that color is more of an eye candy for fishemen than anything else. JMO

I'm in 100% in agreement with smalljaw. I too don't see any of these stand-up jigs literally standing up on the bottom of the lake. Everthing looks great in a controlled environment. I also am a big fan of floating plastic baits. Let the jig head take you down to the bottom of the lake and let your floating plastic baits dance for you while you jiggle, hop, pull or swim your jig through the water.

x2 on denatured alcohol.

I sent you an e-mail, but as I read this, you want to do this as a mass production. So my e-mail will probably not give you the answer you want. I think if you are going to do mass production, I would look into air brushing lacquer paint and then clear coat with epoxy. Maybe others have a better idea. I do a lot of powder painting but the jigs I paint are not spoons, and I also don't know how big your spoons are. So maybe there is a an easier way to achive what you wany.