smallmouthaholic

End the mystery and call the manufacture of both types of plastic paints- Bruce MacElroy Spike-it plastisol 912-225-4533 # 106 You'll find Bruce more then helpful

"Bad advice about avoiding wheel weights, at least the old style lead ones, they will fill a mould better than pure soft lead every time because of the tin content and the antimony will help the finished product be a little harder than pure lead." You don't want hard lead to fill small jig heads. Lead w/ antimony and tin is fine for spinner-baits and buzz-baits that require harder lead so they do not loosen up on the wire shaft after several bass. http://www.ebay.com/gds/Soft-or-Hard-Lead-for-Casting-jigs-lures-and-sinkers-/10000000014054796/g.html

It has been my experience that plastisols that retain their clear color w/ careful re-heats or use in a presto pot w/ stirror will retain true color renditions the longest w/ o fading. My personal , 2 exceptions to this-Smoke /purple/black flake is the worst turning a light blue under constant heat.in approxiametely 5 minutes once a medium consitency is ready for injecting..A true Junebug ranks 2nd w/ a color change in approxiametely 8 minutes. There are colors I only heat from scratch in a presto pot w/ stirrors. Adding various or too much flake can cause color change.

MF,Spike-it,and Bait Junkies hold their respective clear color the longest-in that order. That said,You can over heat and burn(yellow) any plastisol by heating @ too high of a temp. for too long of a period w/o stirring.Learn to use the power setting on your microwave and stir between each increment. Based upon my experience try the following guidelines for 8 oz. of plastisol. These recomendations are only a guide- each microwave may differ 1-2 minutes-power setting 8 2- 1 mimute power setting 6 3- 1 minute power setting 4 Edited for content

I made them 25 years ago.-sold them for $5.00 each.Today they would be a $7-$8 bait . The flexible arm has many advantages over fixed wire formed spinner baits. i made modifications to the originals design that Limerneck used. That said, they are very time consuming and expensive to make properly w/ durability in mind. The juction of the flexible cable exiting the sleeve in front is the weakest point of the bait.If i get a chance,I'll take some pics of them and post. Edited for additional content.

I mold in my fiber guards when casting the lead. Thanks for pointing out the fact this is a glue- in fibrer guard mold.

The mold you listed is a Shawn collins mold. I.M.O. and experience- the weedguard collars/channels are not long enough to protect the hook in submerged ,heavy brush and horizontal laydowns. Do-it makes some excellent molds w/ fiberguards that do the job.

What model pot do you have? Heat the bottom of the pour spout w/ a berz o matic tourch. Take some .040 spinnet bait wire and put a right angle bend in it.Hold the wire @ the bend w/ a pair of needle nose pliers and us upward pressure into the noozle as you heat. I have a Lee Pro4 20 and drilled my spout out 7 years ago-one size bigger then stock. Works like a dream and rarely clogs. On average ,I pour lead 2-3x a week. The pot gets completely emptied and cleaned 3x a year and lapping compound is used as needed to stop dripping. BTW- stop using wheel weights and flux your lead to remove excess dross. edited for spelling.

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Bruce McElroy Spike-it plastisol 912-225-4533 # 106

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p510/ch05.html

You want to be very careful-one disgrutled customer or competitor calls the I.R.S. w/ your name/business name/address and you will be investigated- no matter how small you are.The penalties and interest will superceed your cost of going legal. Now if they declare you a fraudulent businessman,you're in for a long and expensive road of audits. Edited for spelling

Lure parts online- #3076-Jig EYE cleaner tool-works like a charm!

Here's the part #3618K292 (Mcmaster Carr) High temperature Cartridge heater,120 Volts 1/4" Diameter, 1 1/2" length,150 volts The thin wire connection into the sold rod is very fragile. The entire ShootingStar System, including the Presto Pots, comes out of my exhaust booth when not in use. I always push the rod out from the front w a screw driver- taping on the head to initially start moving the . I've re-enforced the wire connection from the rod outward for 3'' w/ various sizes of shrink tubing.Treat the other braided wire w/ care also Edited for content

What do you mean by heating Rods?

I've been a member ,on and off since 1967. I can live with and w.out the magazine. My latest subscription ran out- 3yrs. for $11- now that was a steal. If that deal comes along again I'll renuew. if not so be it!

I think everyone,including myself,has burned plastic in the microwave when starting out. Hopefully you have strong,outside exhaust to vent the dangerous fumes and smoke from burnt plastisol.Two onces will heat very quickly in a microwave.( as stated before) Reduce your temperature control on your microwave. by 50 %. Years ago,I unknowingly used a purple flake that had a metal base. Bad idea and we all find out the hard way. IT's best to add new plastisol if you begin using remelts and runners.

Frank- yes it was Spike-it ,medium pourasol. They sent me a new gallon recently to try,claiming the bubbling problem was solved.Inspite of meticulous,control heating and stirring,the bubbling/foaming problem persisted. i've used plently of their plastisol along w/ other Spike-it products . Bruce Macelroy provides excellent customer support and will immediately replace any product that has problems.Bruce returns all phones calls the same day. That said, I have one production run that requires clear dipping and cannot have any bubbles/foam asociated w/ microwave heating. Yes,I've scoop off the top foam and waited for the bubbles to rise- then re-heated to have product w/ no bubbles. That's fine if you have time to play and wait.Their plastisols are fine for use w/ the Presto Pot system. There is NEVER any bubbles if you heat from scratch w/ the system/ w stirror and use the Shooting star System. I recently recieved some de-aired samples from Bait Junky's that performed well after heating in the micro wave w/ no foam/bubbles. MF plastisol is the most consistent product I've used that produces no bubbles/foam and maintains it's clear color the longest w/ repeatedly heated via a microwave for dipping finished product.Their product mixes easily,without any seperation and never even hints of hard packing. That said MF plastisol is not the cheapest product on the block. Chemionics(purchased in bulk) is one of the worst plastisols I've ever used that bubbles and foams. I'm interested to hear the methods you've sucessfully used to produce micowave plastic w/o bubbles in specific brands of plastisol

Toadfrog- all things being equal-some plastisols foam and bubble worse then others in a microwave.Minnow colors get heated from the start in presto pots w/ stirrors.One needs to determine which works best for their operation/price range and stick w/ that brand.. I insist upon clear,bubble and foam free plastisol for certain addendum dipping operations. I have the silicone cups but they are much to flimsy to fill past half way and therefor are no longer used. I do not use Pyrex glassware- borosilcate lab measuring cups from Catamount Glass edited for content

Try some worm oil w/ a small needle applicator. A tiny dot ,centered in the skirt collar does the trick

Place a white towel under your fluid bed and see how much particulate matter it collects from powder coating/dipping. The smell coming from the oven while curing sets off a red flag w/me. I do all of my powder coating.dipping and curing in an exhaust booth.I maybe a safety freak but value my breathing system. A very interesting and education article on protecting your lungs http://drbenkim.com/prevent-lung-disease.htm Baby powder is safe/- right? http://www.babble.com/baby/the-baby-powder-controversy/ Lead fumes and powder paints are certainly not baby powder

Years ago i tried pig lead ingots- yes it's soft but extremely dirty- even after fluxing I will not use it for free as the dirt causes pouring problems. Enough said

Unless you use a calibrated, digital pyrometer w/ an imersion probe you have no idea what temp. your lead is at. Various Lee pots can heat lead in excess of 900-1000 degrees and that is a fact based upon 25 years experience pouring lead jigsin conjuction w/ a digital pyrometer. Conjecture concening the use of toxic materials can lead to serious health years later. To each his own.