cadman

Bruce, FishAction is correct. You can not get the lead to hold in place tightly on a straight shank hook unless there is some kink or bend in the hook shank. That is why you see all the jigs that are poured are poured with the lead being poured where the hook eye shaft bends into the hook shank. If it's an aberdeen hook you can put a little kink in there, as those hooks are meant to be bent out when they get stuck on a log. If you powder paint the area on both sides of the lead where it meets the hook shank it will tightn it some, but it is not the correct solution to your problem. Try to find a longer aberdeen hook and put a kink in there somewhere where the lead will fill over it. If you are not using an aberdeen hook then there really is no solution to this except modifying the mold or having a new mold made.

I get my mold release from there as well. Also Zeiner's has better prices on most of their molds than any of their competitors. I buy most if not all of my molds there now.

I know you said you bought D2T which stands for Devcon 2 Ton. It should be the 30 minute Make sure the bottles say that as well and not Devcon 5 minute. I have seen it turn kind of milky when you mix part A and part B together but that is from the air bubbles that get in there . They soon dissipate.

I assume your D2T fully dries clear and hard after it has a chance to cure? With that said, I use cheap plastic artist brushes and have never had that happen. Even if you put it on too thick it is self leveling, and then it just starts to form a big tear drop or nipple where the excess forms. The only thing I would try is when you put it on a jig, let it sit for a couple of minutes, and then heat it lightly with a heat gun. This will thin the epoxy on the jig, and it should even out. Don't heat it too much otherwise it will run off the jig. Also when you heat it, you will notice a build up of excess epoxy on the bottom of the jig. You can just wipe that off with your brush. You can also heat the jig lightly before you put on the epoxy and it does the same thing. Just remember the more you heat and reheat mixed epoxy,the faster it starts to cure. Finally if that doesn't work, than I would get a new batch of epoxy. Hopefully others will reply with their experiences.

Jig Man, What mold are you having problems with????? And yes you are correct in stating that weather has an important part in pouring. My best and most complete pours come in September through March with the cold months being the best. In summer that is when I run into some issue especially on hot humid days.

I've looked into this and this is what I've found you can buy it at any manufacturer of wire. The problem I found was that it is a special run and you have to buy several 1000 feet of wire. Also the wire is black in color. I believe that this is also called piano wire. Not something that I need that badly. You can call up Malin, Mustang Wire and Battlefield Wire. They supply the fishing industry. There may be others as well. If anyone else has info, I'm interested as well.

Mike, First of all what mold do you have Model # would help? What size hooks and what brand? If these are round ball head jigs this shouldn't be a problem as they all are pretty easy to pour. I assume it's a Do-It mold. So some things to try. #1 Heat the hooks . I put my hooks on a black junk small skillet. and then I put a 100 watt lightbulb with a deflector over the hooks . The heat from the bulb and the black skillet will keep the hooks hot. I adjust the height of the bulb over the hooks to keep them hot enough so I can grab the hooks with my fingers and not get burned, then put them in the mold before I pour. #2. Buy yourself a can of Frankford Arsenal mold release. This is the cat's a$$ and it works. This is a start more info from others will follow.

wilfish, Thank You for the compliment. Although I know you can spray powder paint, however I do not, but look up some posts or threads from smalljaw. He is amazing at spraying powder paint, and knows all the ins and outs. You can also PM him and he will answer all of your questions. As far as mixing powder, adding spots and painting, here are some more tips. #1 You can mix any 2,3,or 4 powder paints together to achieve a certain color. Several things to remember though. When you do this you will never get a true pigmented color. What this means is if I mix a cup of yellow and a 1/2 cup of blue I will get some shade of green. This green will always be a blend, however it will never be as pure as if you have a powder paint company make you a pigment for that shade of green. With that said nothing wrong with mixing powder just remember to add colors in small quantities, shake vigorously,apply, and cure to see if you like the outcome, then add more to your liking. This is very time consuming, but the final color/s are worth it because only you will have it. Finally as you do all of this write down your color ratios as you add them. This is very important if you decide to duplicate this later. #2 On adding kill spots, gill rakers and other things to jigs. All these are done after final painting and curing. For kill spots and gill rakers, you can use black electrical tape for kill spots. Take a paper punch and punch it out and stick it on. They also make small punches in various sizes at Hobby Lobby or Michaels. On gill rakers, similar process. Take some red electrical tape trace out your pattern and cut with exacto knife. Peel off and then stick on your jig. Once done, you must clearcoat the jig to keep the kill spots and or gill rakers from falling off. #3 You can also make your own decals with your own printer. This is very time consuming but as you saw by my link above the spinnerbaits and the blades came out beautiful. Again after all the decals are on and dry for a day. You must clearcoat it. #4 There are other things you can use as well. Like Spike-It blade dip, ink and an air brush with createx paint. All have to be clearcoated as they will eventually wash off. Now if I were to do 10 to 20 small jigs, I would just dip them in a base coat of the powder paint you want, add on the rest of your colors, bake and be done. There is no fast way of putting on colors like I do. It is all done by hand as there are limitations with applying powder paints. You can do almost anything with an air brush. If you want more info on laying out colors PM me your e-mail and I can show you some more pics and a small instruction sheet on how to do this. Hope this helps.

The two guys that I know of are members here as well. PM them for more info. dlaery and reeves. Both of them are good guys and know their stuff.

Mike, You will get a lot of answers here, as there are many good companies. It all depends what you are looking for and how much you want to pay. I have only bought from 2 places . Barlow's and Worth. Barlow's premium blades are excellent. They also have a premium mirror polished. Worth also has very high quality blades. Blades are a matter of personal choice. I also believe Jann's, Lure parts on line, Hagen's and Lakeland sell quality blades. The best blades I've seen are made from brass and then plated. Steel blades are the cheapest and the lowest quality even if you plate them.

Thanks for the compliment. BTW the spinnerbait is all powder paint, and I wouldn't say that I'm really good, it's that I used to practice powder painting for hours on end. It is really all about practice and how you lay out and lay on your colors. It's no different than airbrushing. Now if I can air brush like I can powder paint, Then I would be really good. However I just don't have enough time to do everything. There are a lot of talented guys on this forum.

Smalljaw is correct. Our company has an electrostatic system for painting big parts. On these parts you need a place to clean and degrease them, hang them, a big enough gun to push volume of powder paint and an industrial oven. We make big steel panels and our electrostatic system is not made for jigs. You also have to have a vented recovery system for all of the powder over spray, The powder is released in a powdery mist and it goes everywhere if you don't have a vent sucking in the overspray. Finally you definitely need to wear a respirator and a clean chamber to spray big parts so you don't get dirt, bugs and junk on your clean parts. If you want to paint jigs stick with a fluid bed, small air gun for powder paint or just dip it into the powder paint.

Allen, Which wire keepers are you looking for? I believe the two sources you mentioned make all the wire products for the fishing industry, however they won't break them out by the 1000 count. If you find a source PM me. Also I believe Mustang Wire might be out of business. I tried calling their number and it is disconnected, unless they have a different number now or may have moved. Anyway let me know what you find.

I am from northern IL by the WI border. I have all of the Do-It Screw-loc series except the stand-up. The stand-up jig takes the same hook as the regular round straight eye jig which uses a Gami #604 hook. The hook I use instead of the Gami is a Mustad Ultra-Point #32831 BLN (Black Nickle). Now as far as the brush jig goes. Here is the link . http://do-itmolds.com/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=1_8_333 You can pour any jig that has a 1/8" weedguard hole without the weedguard and pour in a hitch hiker.

Racing Eights, BTW where in IL are you located? As far as the mold goes,I personally like the brush jig over the screw lock stand-up. The brush jig has more weight to hold the jig in an upright position, and you can also pour in a hitchiker if you know how. Now as far as your other questions, go. I am not a big fan of matzuo sickle hooks, they are very sharp, however in a box out of 1000 about 100 of them are junk. Their quality control is poor. This was about 9 months ago, maybe it is better now. If you need info on how to pour the brush jig with the hitch hiker let me know. This is just my opinion, others will give you more info.

Scott, I don't know what you mean by production run. Are you looking to pour 100 or 1000's. If you are looking to do 100 or so than you can get a machined mold made which will run several hundred dollars and youi will have to pour them 1 or 2 at a a time. If you are looking for 1000+ at a time then you should have a couple guys on here spin cast those for you. It will be much cheaper that way.

cmayes, What jdr mentioned above. I have this mold and had done exactly what you are looking for. My mold was modified to accept the flat eye EWG hook and the flat eye 32798 round bend hook as well. You can also make the groove bigger if you want for a heavier wire weedguard. If you need more info on this PM me. Here is the link. If you get the mold above go to Zeiner's, they have better prices than Barlow's. Speak to them in person. I'll give you a name if you PM me.

Andy, On lead molds, I believe Do-It molds are all cast molds. Reason being is cost. A cast mold can be duplicated and made a lot less cost wise than a machined mold. Like johnny said, you can not get the detail out of a cast mold if you are doing fancy stuff. But for most of all lead molds this doesn't matter. Machined molds have very smooth cavities with no imperfections and can get very expensive.

Pete, Plumbers lead is excellent to use and do what Kelly and Clint said. Although plumbers lead is very soft I always add tire weights or antimony to harden it . I do not like really soft jigs but that is personal preferance. Also melt your chunks outside and pour into clean ingots that will fit your pot later. Good Luck and be careful.

ING, You are correct there are many powders paint companies out there. The ones you listed are all of very good quality. It all comes down to price and how much you are willing to pay and what colors you really need. If you are looking for white, then any of the companies you listed sell white. If you are looking for Red Bug, I know that only CSI component System Inc (Protec) is the only one that has it currently. Columbia coatings makes very good powder paint with a lot of exotic colors. I have sent you a pm with some more info.

OK, So is there anybody here so far that I missed that needs help with fluid bed plans? Many times I don't come here to read this, and many times I get a lot of e-mails and PM's. If you need help please e-mail or PM me and I will help all that ask.

ING, Yes keep your blade heated all the time for best and quickest results. I have a digital heat gun and I can set the heat higher or lower to my liking. On all your 2nd, 3rd and 4th colors etc, turn your heat gun down as to not burn the paint. It may take a little longer for the paint to blend but at least the paint won't burn and bubble. Attached are some blades and jigs I've done in the past for friends and customers. This will give you an idea of what can be done with powder paint. http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg271/cadman58/

Haxx, As you can see by the pic below, you will have to modify where the eyelet and the wire go in the mold to accomodate the #7 barrel swivel. This will only work in the 1/4 to 5/8 sizes only. As you can see the smaller sizes won't work because the barrel swivel fills up the cavity, and lead will never get around the sides to fill. It may not even work with the 1/4 ounce size either. Hope this helps.

ING, If you want something like the pic you posted, then here is what I would do to achieve that color pattern. #1 Clean the entire surface to be painted with alcohol. #2 Take a pair of forceps and attach it to the blade by the line tie hole. #3 Heat the blade with a heat gun and apply your first base coat of yellow chartreuse paint on the entire face of the blade #4 Next take chartreuse green, and dust 1/3 or whatever you want painted on the blade. Keep lightly dusting the blade with end pointing down on a hot blade. You will see the powder become chalky, then rough looking and then it will melt and blend into the yellow chartreuse. #5. Next take blaze orange, and dust the other 1/3 of the blade. Keep lightly dusting the blade with the other end pointing down on a hot blade. You will see the same thing happen, the powder becomes chalky, then rough looking and then it will melt and blend into the yellow chartreuse. This will finish it up to this point. #6 Take the forceps off of a cool blade, and lay the blade with the wire tie hole hanging off of the edge of a piece of metal. Now take your heat gun and lightly heat the hole where the paint will now be missing. Take the final color you used, green or orange and sprinkle it on only in the hole area. Heat and apply until the paint blends in with the rest of the matching color. Do not burn the paint as it will bubble and you'll then have to re-do it. Finally when this cools, and you're happy with the results, lay the blade finished side up on a piece of alum. or steel and bake in the oven to cure the paint. This can be done with any color of your choosing. Here are some tips and suggestions #1 If you have never done multi-color powder painting, this takes some practice (ok a lot of practice) to get it right, however once done correctly it is very durable. Your other choice would be to air brush it on with a lacquer paint or a water based paint and clearcoating it. #2 If you want perfect clear cut dividing lines (or separation lines), forget it, it will not happen with powder paint. If the colors are blended properly they will look better than having start and stop lines. The colors should flow into each other like a color transition. This is a very achievable pattern, however it will take some time, patience and trial and error if you have never done this before. You can practice on some clean pieces of aluminum before you work on the blades. This way you won't screw up your blades. My avatar is similarly done to what you are trying to achieve. Good luck and let us know how it goes. I will try to find some links so you can see what I'm talking about and post here.

Don't know if they have the hooks you are looking for, but call Shorty's Hooks they might have them 1-800-723-8508. You will need a tax ID number to purchase bulk.