sagacious

Plastic injection molds are subject to constraints that gravity-fed lead molds aren't. Fortunately, all you really require are generalities to make an effective mold. Vent depth You aren't likely to need vents for your mold. The sprue, combined with tolerances within the wire and hook channels should allow adequate venting. Otherwise, 0.05x0.001" is usually adequate. Gate shape Rectangular gates are generally used for metal castings so that the castings can later be de-sprued en-masse in a vibratory tumbler. For a variety of reasons, and since you'll be manually-cutting the sprues, I'd suggest a round gate. Gate size For gravity-fed lead molds of the cavity volume you specify, a 1/8" round gate should be adequate for all cavities. Gate length and width should be approximately equal or perhaps slightly shorter. You are unlikely to encounter fill problems with proper lead-pouring technique, and note (before you enlarge the gate or cut vents) that lead mold cavities may need to be 'conditioned' before they pour consistently. Sprue size There are no strict gating or sprue ratios within the generalities of the gravity-fed mold cavity sizes you propose. With no injection, the sprue serves as a reservior that the cavity draws from as the lead solidifies. For your purposes, a conical 1/2"x1/2" sprue should work fine, but note that a larger volume sprue will not have any deleterious repercussions, and may allow for slightly faster pouring. Core pin diameter For your purposes, the shrinkage within that small hole should essentially be zero. Other tolerances will be more influential, and a slight gap is necessary to accomodate paint and/or glue. The easiest thing to do would be to just buy some spare core pins for a mold that accomodates the weedguards you'll use, and cut accordingly. Hope this helps, good luck.

Wired, I've noticed from your last few posts that you've run into a number of very common and basic problems. The two sticky threads at the top of this forum are intended to assist the beginning pourer in not only resolving such problems, but also in avoiding them entirely. You are surely going to run into many more frustrations, but by doing some basic reading-up, you'll save yourself a considerable amount of hassle, time, and money-- not to mention reducing your risk of injury. The other part of the issue here is that lead pouring isn't always "intuitive." Many of the remedies or recommended practices are the exact opposite of what a begninner might guess. For example, by trying to be "safe," you had been removing the unused lead from your melter, thereby increasing your risk of a severe burn, and are also increasing the lead particulate dust within your pouring area and your exposure to that dust. The answer to your "slag" problem comes on two fronts. First, you are almost certainly overheating the lead. The lead isn't likely the problem here, it's what you're doing with it that causes all that lead oxide crud to form, and it will definitely happen with 100% pure lead as well as wheel-weight lead. Heating even hotter-- as you guessed-- will actually make the problem even worse. More heat is not always better. Read and understand the two sticky threads above, and you'll learn the how's and why's of lead oxide dross mitigation-- and you'll do me the courtesy of not having to type out all that information again. Then, if you have questions-- just ask. The second problem is that you don't appear to have a solid handle on what fluxing is, and how to do it effectively. Fluxing is critical to lead handling and pouring, and eliminates a long list of potentially quite vexing problems. Fluxing will fix your "slag" problem. Read-up on fluxing, and you'll make a significant jump in your lead-pouring abilities. I recognize that you're anxious to git to pouring, but you'll be far better off if you read-up on some of these topics in your spare time. Hope this helps, good luck.

Northsea, The mold-gating design provided by Vodkaman is unquestionably the best one for your purposes. The only alteration would be that the vents at the #2 location are unnecessary, as the rod pass-through holes provide enough venting at that area. With that one sketch, Vodkaman has given you most of what you need to know. Glaucus's mold follows this pattern, and his advice is also instructive here. I recently made a Bondo mold (3oz cavity) similar to your proposed buzzbomb design. After quite literally several hundred casts, it's as good as new. I used wheel-weight (hard) lead with no problems. Some concens that will confront you: Do not apply oil or any liquid to the cavity, or to the line-hole rod. Oil will cause bubbles in the casting and is a potential fire and splatter-hazard. Use hard stainless wire of at least 0.050" diam for the rod. Replace whatever line-hole wire you used during mold construction with the 0.050" (or larger) rod. Carefully shave or drill out the rod pass-through holes to accomodate the 0.050" rod. As the lead cools, expect the casting to grip the wire very tightly. The rod must be smoked or dusted with either mica powder or moly powder before each pour. Removing the fragile casting from the wire or rod may be-- by far-- your biggest challenge. Removing the wire before opening the mold may be the only way to avoid damaging the casting. Do not ignore this consideration. A sprue located on one of the buzzbomb 'wing' provides the best placement, and be sure to make each mold half no less than 1" thick. Bondo is an insulating material with poor thermal conductivity. This means that only a small sprue is necesary. You should get perfect results from a sprue that tapers to an 1/8" or less. I used 1/8" with no difficulties, and probably could have gone as small as 1/16"-- no exaggeration. Hope this helps, good luck.

Well, you asked for "opinions" and that's what you got, but it seems you actually want experimentally-supported scientific data. What do you mean by "quality hooks"? That term has no real meaning. Mustad is indeed a popular brand-- anything more than that is opinion. To satisfy your empirical curiosity, I'd suggest using the metallurgical term toughness as a defining term for the ability of a hook's point to retain sharpness during use ("stays sharp longer"). No fisherman is likely to have a metallurgical lab set up to do Charpy impact tests on hook steels to quantify toughness, so the best info you're likely to get is a real-world opinion, such as the one Cadman provided. However, if you're already capable of destructively-testing hooks-- as you noted above-- you can relatively easily do qualitative impact testing on hooks and compare the brittle to ductile percentage within the fracture, and thereby determine the relative toughness between hooks. If you really want hard data, that's the methodology I'd recommend. Please share your results here. Personally, I arbitrarily measure hook sharpness by the ability of the point to hang on a fingernail, and stays sharper longer by whichever hook maintains that standard during use, well, longer. Hope this helps, good luck.

So you get complete fill-out. Pouring several pounds of lead per casting is subject to conditions not encountered in pouring small weights or jigheads. Lead expands as it is heated, and 2lbs of lead will-- if overheated-- exhibit significant shrinkage upon cooling. That often causes a large shrinkage cavity (looks like a large, deep dent) to appear on the side of the casting. Sometimes the hollow forms inside the casting, and the shrinkage causes a large dent and crack to form on the side of the casting. This is fairly common. The proximal cause is failure to pre-heat the mold properly, which then causes incomplete pours, or causes the sprue to become quickly clogged and blocked with solidified lead. An inexperienced caster may then assume that the problem was insufficiently hot lead, and will crank the heat up until the lead flows into even an insufficiently pre-heated mold. Shrinkage cavities are the result. Adequate mold pre-heating is mandatory-- same as with smaller molds. However, you're best off if you don't try to pour very large weights at a very high heat. 2lb cannonballs take a while to cool down, and repeated pours with large shrinkage cavities will quickly overtax your patience. Just a few words to the wise. Are you useing these weights for something top-secret?

What will you be using them for? We use a lot of 2 and 2.5lbers here on the West Coast for salmon and halibut. If you want to make the eyelets yourself, don't buy wire until you receive the mold. Use the thickest copper wire that will fit into the eyelet recess. That will be approximately 0.075-0.080" which I believe is the same wire thickness as the BSE3 eyelets. Copper wire is inexpensive, commonly available, and easy to form into eyelets. Stainless is needlessly costly and requires considerably more effort to form eyelets with the required tolerance to fit the mold consistently. If you try 0.075" stainless for eyelets, you will soon see the chore you've created for yourself. You could use 0.050" soft stainless mending wire, but that may be hard to find in your neck of the woods, and is no better than 0.075" copper anyway. A tip from someone who's been there: The most user-friendly eyelets for heavy cannonball molds will be ones that have a slight friction-fit or 'spring-fit' and are able to hold their position within the eyelet recess. Loose-fitting eyelets will usually fall into the cavity upon closing the mold, and are generally a pain. I would also advise that you pour these weights at as low a temp as you can. Good luck, hope this helps.

Hmmm... interesting. Well I do have some on hand, I'll see what happens.

I noticed the same thing-- that the CS thinner will 'etch' the surface of powder paint. And there's the rub: that means the vinyl paint really adheres to a powdercoat, and is tough to remove. Thanks, this has been insightful. I think I'll pick up some MEK to try, and just to have on hand for a variety of other applications.

George, Thanks, that is helpful-- and MEK is easy to find. Is MEK the only option, or is there a solvent that will strip the vinyl, but won't affect the powdercoat? Or is it a matter of a short soak will remove the vinyl, and longer soak will remove the powdercoat?

I have some large powder-painted jigs that were detailed with a small amount of vinyl paint. Well you know how these projects go-- sometimes they work out as expected, and sometimes they don't! So, I'd like to remove the vinyl paint detailing. Does anyone know which solvent or chemical will remove vinyl paint once it has completely dried? Soaking in laquer thinner won't lift or soften it, and before I buy a bunch of random solvents, I'm hoping someone has had some experience with this. Thanks!

No, not likely. Definitely not. No, the lead isn't likely to be the problem. However, you should always flux, or you risk other problems and frustrations. The answer to your problem is within your first post: water putty, and 15 pours. Any mold made from a paster or plaster-type compound has a lot of water in it. That water isn't going to play well with molten lead. Few have the patience to do so, but a plaster-type mold needs to age for two weeks before being used. Then it should be baked for several hours at about 250*F, and allowed to cool slowly to room temperature and poured without hooks until it drops perfect lures. A search here will reveal much more info, but the necessary qualities of patience and continued research/reading is all up to you. The dents are caused by the remaining water in your mold. This is common. Assuming inadequate drying-- which seems evident-- 15 pours in a relatively small cavity is not sufficient to dry the mold enough to prevent steam dents. Dry the mold as indicated above, and your results will improve. Good luck!

The lead battery attachment clamps are a softer alloy than the battery terminals and the lead inside the battery. It may have a small amount of hardening elements in it (probably some metallic arsenic, and some strontium and tin), but I wouldn't worry about that. It will be slightly harder than 'pure' lead, but should pour just fine. Just melt it down, flux it thoroughly, and pour into ingots. That's good lead-- no reason to let it go to waste. Good luck, and be safe!

There's certainly more than one way to skin this cat. If what you're doing works fine, well then keep on keepin' on! However, I just wanted to weigh in with a consideration that may affect some of the lead pourers here. If you leave some lead in the pot, it's generally less strain on the heating elements, since that lead provides a 'heat sink' that better absorbs the heat from the heating elements. If the pot is empty, the heating elements initially have to work harder to melt the lead. Consequently, the lead will also melt faster. That saves time and wear-and-tear on your equipment. Those who melt over a turkey fryer or other heat source are usually well-aware that having some left-over lead in the bottom of the pot will reduce the time required to melt the lead. Same is true for an electric pot. I call it keeping the pot "primed." Keeping the spout clear and unclogged is a function of keeping it clean of dirt and oxides. This is why stirring the lead during fluxing is so important-- it removes the lead oxides within the melt. If you don't do that, then the oxide crud is strained out at the narrow gap between the spout and the valve rod. Result........... a clogged spout. Fluxing the lead properly, and occasional cleaning is a good way to keep the spour clear. Good luck!

Yes-- rockfish, lings, halibut, cabazone. Those are some fuerte fish, all right. The polka dot idea was for a fast paint job that would look OK. It came out better than expected. I'm sure they would catch wsb and tuna as well. Very good, your experience with Bondo will have you up and running in no time. Just follow the instructions I outlined above, and you'll be set. Let us know how it turns out. Good luck!

Matt, You can make one-piece or two-piece plaster or Bondo molds, and get excellent results. I have made surface and jigging 'iron' from 3 to 14ozs. Yes, you can pour lead into a dry one-piece plaster mold. Just use the jig you want to replicate as the master, spray it with Pam cooking spray, and press/wiggle it down into the plaster. I'd recommend that you cut off the hook and the rings, and plug the eyelet holes with clay before making your mold. Let the mold dry untouched for 2 weeks, carefully remove the master, and then bake it at 250* for a hour. Then you can pour lead into the cavity. Don't even think about pouring lead without wearing eye protection. Once your lead castings are cool, you can drill 1/8 or 3/16" eyelet holes. If you don't let the mold dry and cure for long enough, you can expect it to crack and fall apart fairly soon. Like everything else in life, there is a learning curve to it. Bondo also works very well for one or two-piece 'iron' molds. Below are a couple pics of homemade 'iron'. The green glow iron is killer on some of our local deep-reef beasties, and it's also caught yellowtail, pargo, etc. It's about the weight/size of a Salas 6X jr-- it weighs 4.5ozs and is 4-1/4" long, hooks are 7/0 siwash, rings are welded .087" stainless. Close-up pic shows the brass bearings that are rivetted into the eyelets for maximum durability. The polka-dot jigs were quick and easy to make, but they turned out to be real fish killers, and have caught rockfish to wahoo. Hope this helps, let us know if you have questions!

Matt, please repost your questions about 'iron' jigs in the 'wire baits' forum. That's where questions about jigs and metal lures are addressed-- you'll get the most info there. The 'hard baits' forum is mostly wooden lures. Yes, you can make your own yo-yo jigs at home. I've made a bunch, and it's not too difficult. Repost what you'd like to do, and what you're fishing for in 'wire baits', and I can get you started.

Thanks for the kind words, Ted. I like it too, and they do catch fish, so no real worries. The 'extreme chrome' results are certainly useable, so I'm not gonna chuck it in the garbage just yet! I think the only way I can have a fair basis for 'color comparison' is with a side-by-side test with another chrome powder. That may satisfy my curiosity, however, your chrome powder trials have probably resolved that question for me. Part of my question is a result of the sometimes confusing or inadequate photos, and hyped claims of some manufacturers-- I suspect they know that a lot of folks are looking for a 'true chrome-substitute' powder. Compared to a nickel or chromed surface (not a fair test), the powder chrome looks a little dark, which is what initially prompted my question of, "is there a brighter chrome powder out there?"

Blbaits, how does the Columbia Coatings chrome look compared to the photo of the Caswell 'extreme chrome' I posted above? What size baits are you painting?

OK, down to brass tacks. Here's what I get from Caswell's 'extreme chrome' powder. It's easy to work with, and flows well over the surface of the lure when applied by either dipping or the 'salt-shaker' method. Looks metallic, to be sure, but not exactly what would call chrome. No clearcoat was applied. The eyes are CS vinyl paint, and it etches and bonds to the chrome powder paint quite tenaciously. Be sure to get the eyes right the first time, because if you use solvent to remove any stray paint, it may remove your 'chrome' finish too! The jig head is 4oz, with 7/0 hook, and the whole bait is a little over 6" long.

Ted, Yes, like you, polishing jigs is just not an efficient way to get what I'm looking for. At the very least, you've saved me from going throught that same frustrating process with the Tiger chrome colors. An additional concern is that with these big baits, any flaw in the "chrome" coating stands right out-- and there's a lot of surface area for flaws to show on. Im mean really, if the manufacturers sold these colors are "silver-gray" or "steel gray", I'd have little cause for complaint. But "extreme chrome" and "super chrome" they ain't! My knife jigs have recessed eyes, so I can epoxy in the 3-D eyes, and they'll never come loose. On the larger jigheads, I'll dot on a vinyl eye (one time where vinyl paint really shines). The CS vinyl paint etches the Caswell extreme chrome, so it stays put through hellacious abuse. Additionally, I put the eyes slightly high on the sides, so they stay well clear of contact with rocks. After a couple years of fishing them, so far so good. I do apply clearcoat to everything else, so as to get maximum durability. Your colorimeter results are interesting. Most of the colors I do are bright colors. I don't do any dark colors like navy blue or browns, but I did find that my candy purple had to be applied over a white base to get the most intense color. A gray primer base made the purple dull and 'lifeless'. But I hear ya, I'm always cognizant of the fact that these jigs are going down to the rocks, and at some point their trip down is likely to be one-way. No point spending time on super-realism, or being too finicky about color shades. However, if the labor is equal, I'd rather spend the time on the color scheme that matches my goals. Thank you for the catalog links. I have the same complaints about the automotive laquers: they are too expensive, too messy, and require too much labor and time for the desired result. The automotive guys can keep 'em! A nice powder purple would solve all that, so I'm anxious to find a nice metallic purple, or an intense sparkle candy purple. I've been doing the 'belly-white-first' routine, but if I found a nice purple (and a few other intense colors) I'd certainly forgo the white belly and go solid-color for some colors. But like you said, there's always a certain amount of trial-and-error to see what works best. This thread had really been helpful. Thanks all!

YJ, You're right, that would probably make for a very nice shine, but I pour jigs up to 6" long, and buffing them would be a heap of work! I was hoping to find a "chrome" powder paint that would save me a lot of time.

Just about everything you wanted to know about fluxing, all in one place: http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/wire-baits/13893-best-lead-melt-flux.html

Ted, thank you for the detailed reply to my long list of questions. I pour a lot of large jigs for saltwater use. Mostly in the 3 to 8oz range, and I pour them from ww lead so they can handle the rocks and reefs better. These larger sizes take longer to cool, and so usually come out of the mold with a slightly frosted finish, instead of the mirror-finish I get with smaller jigs which cool faster. So, alas, the clearcoat over shiny lead technique doesn't give me what I'm hoping for. The best silver finish I have achieved is to foil the jig, scale texture it, and clearcoat with clear powder. That gives me a really superb silvery finish and excellent durability, but foiling a large jig takes a fair amount of time. I know I probably can't get exactly that from powder, but I'd like to see if I can get closer than I am now. I'll take a pic of the Caswell extreme chrome and post it for your consideration tomorrow. Looks good, but it looks more like pewter than bright chrome. I do not apply a clearcoat of any type over it. I've been using a white base coat for all colors except black. I've been told that the intensity of glow coatings is a fundamental property of their thickness. Like you said, thicker coat = more glow. This is easy to achieve with glow vinyl paint, as you simply add another coat until you get what you want-- but I reckon that's possible with powder too. Like you, I use the regular glow, as it seems to offer the brightest phosphorescence. What type of glow powder are you using? I know it sounds crazy, but some of the small rockfish (prey species) here are an intense bright orange color. And so, a hot orange color always seems to get bit well, especially by the larger fish. That blaze orange sounds good-- I need something that's intense orange, and not a lighter 'Tang' orange, if that makes sense. The candy colors (Caswell, anyway) give me a thinner coat, and lack the opacity I'd like to have. I will check out the Drylac custom Imron and candy purples. My purple jigs are all-purple, or may have a thin white belly, but that's not critical. Automotive candy purple is the only purple I've found that will give me what I'm looking for. So, do I understand you right, don't bake the purple after it's applied over a white base? Ideally, what I'd like to have is a white base (if required), a purple coat(s), and a clear-- all baked for maximum durability. This is exactly what I was hoping for, Ted-- some hands-on, practical info on getting the most out of these colors. And I hear ya, much of this powder stuff requires experimentation to see what you'll end up with-- so no worries about accountability LOL! I would like to have a look at the multi-color tutorial, so I'll shoot you a pm. Thanks very much to everyone for their assistance here. Eric

Thanks Kelly, that's just the info I was looking for! I was hoping to be able to buy in 1lb quantity if possible. I will check out TJ's tackle.

FIRE! Ha ha! That cracked me up! Very good, glad it worked out on the first go. Isn't it great to see that mirror surface of nice, clean lead? If you can clean out the pot without emptying it, then proceed. If it was me, I might try to empty the pot and then clean the spout-- just to make absolutely sure everything was cleared out, and so I'd know there weren't any surprises/frustrations waiting for me later on. Nice to make a fresh start sometimes. Do whatever you think is best. (Note: if you empty the pot and pour some ingots, you'll be set to mix up a batch of 50/50 soft lead and ww lead later.) Fluxing will definitely reduce the chance of the spout clogging again, and keep it cleaner. And it'll also keep the lead pouring easier so clogging is less of an issue. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the pot when fluxing-- there can be a lot of gunk hiding down there. You may want to scrape out the spout with your spinnerbait wire after every couple of pouring sessions, just as preventative maintenance. And of course, never ever melt down scrap lead in that melter. I think you're right, not fluxing may have been at the root of the problem, but now you've got that problem whipped! My jigs hold up much better if cast from harder lead, vs pouring them from soft lead. I think the advice of Hawnjigs above, about using 50/50 ww lead and soft lead is very good advice to start with. Note: The "problems" with pouring ww lead are virtually eliminated by fluxing. So, adding some ww lead, and fluxing the melt should make everything go very smooooothly, and that's exactly what we want. No more worries about ww lead. Flux early, flux often! Some time you might even try straight ww lead for the larger jigs. Thats all I use any more. Glad that this thread has added a few new techniques to your bag of tricks, and brought that bottom-pour out of mothballs! Keep us posted. Good luck and be safe!