atijigs

Here are a couple of thoughts. The center frog will always be a problem. As the body cools and the plastic shrinks it will pull plastic out of the feet instead of the sprue. I also believe your defect in the two side frogs is caused by cooling plastic and not air entrapment. Perhaps keeping pressure on your injector longer and topping off your sprue may help. Otherwise I would use a larger sprue runner to supply more hot plastic to the bodies as they cool. If you are doing the machining of the molds yourself you could make your life easier by giving each body its own sprue. Put one in the bottom for the middle frog. I don't know how else you will get that one to work. Good luck, you will get it.

Whip finish and epoxy for durability. Not so much for the thread but for the eyes. You did not mention curing the powder paint. If you are not doing this the paint will fail before your threads. Looks good. I use vinyl paints most of the time. Paint, add eyes,clear coat, then tie. Followed by Sally Hansons for the threads. When using powder I go paint,cure, tie, eyes, followed by epoxy for eyes and thread. That is just a way that works for me.Keep up the good work.

My guess is that your spout may be obstructed. When the lead is hot take a wire and stick it up the spout and jam it around. You may have to lift the handle at the same time to clear the whole spout.. Be very careful not to get your hand under the spout. You should see the lead pour much faster if that was the problem.

I will vote for the softer lead every time. I hate casting failures when doing spinner baits. I have a big box of them I have to go back and recover the wires and hooks from. I find that to be one of the lesser pleasures of casting. I have less failures with pure (soft lead). .

Not really a little goes a long way. It can be brushed on very thin. As far as spray guns the electrostatic is the way to go for big stuff. That will give you the best coverage. With the powder air brush you need to keep you item hot. It works fine for blades and spoons but I wouldn't recommend it for down rigger weights

If you go with the vinyl paints I would suggest a D2t epoxy top coat. After the balls are cured, mix up a batch paint it on and hang it. It will self level and leave you a very nice hard finish. If you have not used it before you will need to remove the drips as they form at the bottom. If you have the fin of the downrigger ball down it will be real easy to do. I would watch for drips forming for about 10 minutes after it is painted. On the other hand if you wanted to get a simple glow ball in one step look at powder. With a cheap electrostatic paint gun you will get a perfect finish in one coat with no top coat needed. The powder is a uniform layer so there are no drips or runs. To get the best glow for your buck you could consider a white base coat but chances are you won't need it.

I think the problem he had in the past was not waiting 24hrs before letting the jigs come into contact. If done before this amount of time they will stick together. The other thing is the vinyl paint reacts with the soft plastics unless epoxy coated turning the paint into goo. For the downrigger balls I would air brush it on and let it sit for 24 hrs. Don't forget the white base coat if you want the paint to last. If you want to speed up curing you can use a heat lamp or a floor heater. I would not put them in an oven.

Try a little bigger bead under the blade. If it is not spinning the bead is not creating a large enough angle between the line the blade. The clevis should also spin freely. If there is any friction with the clevis holes and the wire the blade will also not spin freely. If you want to keep the bead size you have try adding a couple more to get some separation between the lure body and the blade. I think checking these 3 things should get your blades turning.

Looks good. I want to save you a couple of burns. Make sure you have something under your pot as a catch basin and a screw driver handy. For a catch basin I use an ingot mold. There will be times you let go of the handle and the lead doesn't stop. Grab the screwdriver and give the pin a twist. It will happen. It is just a matter of time so be prepared. A fan would be helpful too. Have it blow across the top to blow the lead fumes laterally. Welcome to the club and have fun.

Sorry, can't reply to that avatar.

There are many different ways to snell a hook for a crawler harness. Non of which you would need 12 wraps. Do yourself a favor and get some bottom bouncers. That will keep your spinners off the bottom. You can use floater beads or jig heads too if you choose. The bottom bouncer will help reduce the snags. As far as the number of beads goes, you just want enough to keep the blade up around the hook eye on the top hook. If the blade is lower than that it could act as a shield and block the top hook. Clevises need only be big enough to spin freely. I prefer the plastic ones that you can just snap a blade on. Makes color changes easy. For line I like 10-14 lb. Fluorocarbon. Tough enough to bring a big pike in if needed. Good luck and have a great time.

3. If your pot is dripping the nozzle is blocked. Be careful, use a longer wire with a 90 degree bend. Keep your hands away from the nozzle. Raise the pouring handle and insert the wire all the way to the top of the pouring nipple. The lead will start to flow freely. When you turn off the pot be sure to have a couple of inches of lead in it. Always be there when you turn it on because it may leak as the lead heats from the bottom. Have a screw driver ready and turn the pin if you start getting a run before the top liquefies. In my experience that is the worst time for run away lead. . 2.) Could be your lead alloy. If these are for yourself, take a non serrated pliers and give it a little squeeze. You could also warm your hooks a little. Use a softer alloy or pure lead and this won't be an issue. 1.) There is more than 1 style of screw loc-coils. If you can interlock them I would. They will work either way. They may break but they should not pull out.

Frank did a real nice video on dipping swim baits. I think you will see if you have a sufficient amount of plastic you can keep it hot long enough to accomplish your goal. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/20897-dipping-swim-baits/

I have not used it for rattles. I mainly use it for altering hook slots and hook eye posts. I hate any flash. If it is going to stick to the rattles it will probably only be the first couple. It seems to dry out a little after you pour a couple. It can easily be removed if you don't like the result. As far as touch up just put a dab on you finger and swipe it over the cavity. Shut it a couple of times with a rattle in place and remove any excess. You want to be sure your mold closes all the way. The clay is much easier to work with than the JB weld. Good luck and let us know how it works on the rattles if you go that route.

A much easier solution is take some modeling clay put it in the rattle slot on both sides of the mold. Insert your rattle an close the mold. The excess clay will squeeze out of the slot. Clean it off and do it a couple of times until no excess squeezes out. You are now ready to cast and your flash problem will be gone. You may have to touch it up from time to time but it only takes a second to do.

If you can get the pattern just how you like it there is no reason to remove the mesh. The silicone mold will reproduce exactly what you see. When you have the pattern cast in the jig you will loose some detail in painting. (unless you are painting electrostatic ally)..I would not even worry about the powder not being melted completely(fuzzy) when I went to make the mold. The painting will take care of the minor roughness in the finish of the jig.

Electrostatic. If you are doing a small amount you can do the powder air brush. If you are planning on doing many electrostatic will give you a uniform finish with very little waste. Multi colors can be done with a combination of electostatic, cure then powder air brush followed by curing again. I have never had any luck dipping spoons.

Is there any recourse if a person steals your design and patents it behind your back? I have pics, emails and all correspondence. I read about the bait in the paper along with a bs story about how he came up with the idea. He has been going to various sport shows saying the patent has been approved. I can't believe it could be approved that fast. I was made aware of the newspaper articles by people I had sold the lure to before I ever met this guy.

I think I have a workable solution for you. If you want that pattern to be able to be painted and cured you will need to transfer the pattern to the mold. The easiest way to to do this is get several the way you want.(leave the mesh on). If you can over exaggerate the pattern even better. You then make a high heat silicone mold of your pattern with the mesh on. You now can pour your tube jigs and the surface texture will be on the jig. Just powder paint and cure. The reason for the over exaggeration of the pattern is you will lose some detail anyway just from the painting unless you paint them electrostatically.

I can't say it has never happened but for the most part no. I have said in other posts that I have my fist half in the mold on a griddle heated at 250 degrees while I am heating the second color. I don't know if this makes a difference but it works for me.

Spray the flat plate with pam. Wipe all of it off with a clean rag. If you still have separation issues wipe it off 2x with different clean rags. Don't spray the mold cavity. Your half bait will stay in place.

Did the powder water ever pan out for anyone? I never did get around to trying that.

. You can clear coat the jig with D2T without curing and should be able to keep your desired pattern. The epoxy will provide the durability and may even enhance the detail. It is not an efficient method but could possibly give you the end result you are looking for. Good luck.

I may be wrong but I think what you are trying to achieve is a pre cure pattern that you like. The problem with powders is that if you want a durable finish you have to cure the finished work of art in an oven. You will lose your fine detail and 3d effects as the powder and colors flow out at different rates. You will be left with a nice durable finish that vaguely resembles the pre cure product. If I am understanding the post right and you are not planning on curing the final jig, dip your mesh in the second color and lay it on the still warm first color. Unfortunately most of the 3d (not all) depending on colors will be lost if cured or even heated too much. I apologize if I am not visualizing this correctly. Just trying to help.

1/2 inch punch and 3-4 wacks with a hammer and you will be set.