Kasilofchrisn

You can make you fluid bed cups as wide and tall as you like. I usually run 2" wide by 12" tall cups for my saltwater slab jigs. The bigger the cups the more air and paint you need so size your pump accordingly. If you dont mind both sides being painted it should work. You can paint whatever size blades fit in your fluid bed.

Wire cores are easy to make. Just go to your local welding store and buy a stick of TIG welding wire. One stick should make several of them as they come in three foot sticks in a whole host of diameters. Bring your mold and find the wire that fits it. Drill a matching hole in a dowel rod or a stick and epoxy it in or drill straight through and bend a small L in the wire. You could even just bend the wire into an L shape without the handle. I know I can buy tig wire locally by the stick for $0.50 each so if you have a piece of scrap dowel or a round stick you should have less than $1 invested. Way cheaper tha a Do-It wire.

Try watching the blade painting how to video from TJ's tackle. http://www.tjstackle.com/

Well I found some hot stamp foil rolls on EBAY I am going to try. http://www.ebay.com/itm/290994823891 Thanks for the help guys and I'll post some pics when I have some tested.

Yeah I noticed that this morning. Hopefully they get it back working again soon. The Stamppe appears to be the one I need. I was also thinking of trying Jones Tones but I am not sure how that one will work for this kind of application.

Thats weird I was doing bigger jigs and didn't have problems. I had at least 6 oz in a 8" tall 2" diameter cup and didn't have volcano problems. It isn't perfect but I certainly don't have trouble using it.

Thanks Ben I will check them out. Hopefully I can figure out how to make it work for me.

yes I buy it by the pound from TJ's tackle. I normally do use a cheap white for a base coat. I also normally add a UV Blast top coat. It is very good stuff. Spendy but good. The glow lasts a long time and unlike most glow paints the super glow colors glow the same color the paint is. So the orange is orange in the light and orange in the dark. Whereas many other glows are orange(or whatever color) in the light but glow in a whiteish color in the dark.

I have had good luck with the Harbor freight white. I just did 100 4oz jigs in it in my fluid bed with out any issues. They have since decided they can no longer ship it to me in Alaska. Then I found another source of white I am going to try next time I need some.http://cadmansjigs.weebly.com/powder-paint.html He is a forum member and a world class jig maker.

I like the looks of your mount. Unfortunately the temperature adjustment dial on my Ryobi is on the back so I can't mount mine the same way. I would have to have a way to access the dial and read the lights to see where I have my temp set at and to adjust it. I suppose i could just set it and forget it when doing most jigs then remove it for different applications. Might even be able to mount it differently Hmmmmm..... Not you got me thinking.

So while I was searching Youtube for jig making ideas I came across this video. It appears to be an oriental jig making factory. What I a wanting to do is foil some slab jigs that I make. the jigs are quite similiar to those in the video. They say it is an america made foil. Anybody have any insight into making foiled jigs like this? I have made a few test jigs with the foil ducting tape with a rolled pattern from some expanded metal on it. That works but is not nearly as nice as the foil job in this video.

Yes he needs to file form 637 so he can send in his quaterly excise taxes via form 720. If you don't file the proper taxes they will pinch you and it probably won't be pretty. I would also suggest he look into any state and/or local sales taxes etc. I would hate to see him have to pay some big fines for not paying his taxes. He might end up in trouble like this young man did. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/topic/27554-tax-help-needed-from-a-teen-entrepreneurlure-maker/?hl=taxes#entry213893 i don't know anything about trademarks but making jigs from a stock do-it mold maynot be eligible for trademarking. Just a guess on my part.

I Use my adjustable Ryobi heat gun and I really like it. I like to dial it in so the heat is in the 400*-500* range. That way I lessen the risk of melting small jigs. And yes I have had that happen before. Saving a few seconds here or there doesn't matter to me if I accidently melt one or burn the paint occasionaly as I feel it is a wash timewise when that happens. All my bigger stuff gets heated in my toaster oven then dipped and/or sprayed with powder.

Yes I would suggest these jig clamps from TJ's tackle: http://tjstackle.com/ I have several of his jig clamps and they work great.

bass100 I couldn't agree more! Use what works for you! I just find it much simpler,easier and less hassle to buy eyes that I can stick on and epoxy over that actually stick to the bait. When I am working on an order for say 100 jigs every little step makes a difference in total time and effort involved. I had tried just epoxying over the cheap eyes and had some slip off during drying and get stuck in the wrong spot. Now I have a few of those dud jigs I use myself but I wouldn't sell them that way. I tried supergluing some on and while it worked it was messier and it took up more of my time especially putting big eyes on my big (20oz+) jigs. Any superglue(I didn't try the gel version) that got out from under the eye did cloud my D2T. Just my personal observation. In my Honest Opinion using the better eyes offsets the cost and hassle of glueing on the cheaper eyes. By the way nice looking baits!

Ahh land locked salmon that makes more sense. I am sure you could powder coat them. I would grip the hook with forceps. Heat with one pair then switch to a cold pair and grab by the eye (preventing your forceps getting tons of paint on them) and dip. Then be sure and sharpen your hook real good.

Welcome to the forum ninrigger. I have never heard of people painting hooks with powder but I suppose it can be done. I do know they make dyes that can be used on blades and probably hooks have you considered that? Depending on color you may want to use a white base coat it really all depends on the desired end result.Trial and error will tell you if you like it one way or another. I cure all my paints regardless of color at ~325-350 for ~25 minutes and do not have problems. When doing your base coat if you are fast enough just dip in the white then dip immediatly in the second color. Works great for me on my big saltwater jigs. No need for reheating or curing the base coat first. I have never heard of someone painting hooks for salmon up here,but, what would an alaskan know about catching Salmon?lol Might be the next big thing?

I can't trust just a dab of superglue. I use D2T over all my eyes and they hold and don't come out. That is what me and my customers expect especially fishing in the rocks in the saltwater. Like Cadman and Smalljaw i have had the cheap eyes move all over while trying to epoxy them on and that is a pain and a time consuming hassle that I don't need. I have also had the excess superglue from glueiing make the epoxy cloudy when it comes in contact with it. Again something the fish probably don't care about but my customers might. I buy from Barlows in the quantities that give me the best price per unit. To each his own but I just cannot afford to waste the time messing with the cheap eyes.

i have had good luck with the eyes from Barlows. They seem to me to be as good as WTP and a bit cheaper. I did buy some eyes in bulk from an advertiser here and had to superglue them on first. Even sealing them with D2T was a pain with out superglueing them all on first as they would come off with the lighest brush strokes. I will stick with WTP or the ones from Barlows from now on. If you buy them in bulk from Barlows you save a few bucks which is nice.

I use a regular lead thermometer that goes to 1,000*f and it works good. Like I said I built a bracket out of angle iron that holds it in the pot on the side out of the way. Also your wax should be burning when you flux. If not light it on fire. the burning is part of what brings out the dross from your lead. If the wax just smokes your not fluxing properly.

If you primarily use a ladle and pot such as I do on my larger saltwater jigs I highly recommend a thermometer in your pot, I built a bracket for mine to hold it on the side of my 50# pot. My burner is 30,000 BTU's and I know it can quickly overheat my lead to unsafe levels. With the thermometer I can quickly make adjustments to regulate my heat better. I highly recommend the Drop Out.I have never smoked a mold but do use the drop out on all my molds. It works great and I have never had it cause any flash even on my CNC molds and certainly not on my Do-It molds even when it gets on the flats of a mold. All I do is mask off any wording in the molds and spray them. I used to tape off all but the mold cavities then spray them. I have since found it doesn't make a difference for me so I don't bother. It can easily be cleaned up with a rag and mineral spirits if you are worried about it.

While the CNC mold option is a bit spendy it does ensure a working mold. No trial and error or modifying required and you have all the sizes you need and they all work and work well. You could also contact a local machine shop to modify a mold for you. I have had machinist friends at work mod old molds for me. What would have been time consuming for me was quite easy for them on the milling machine.

Have you tried preheating or warming the hooks. Cold hooks can certainly be a problem. Sometimes all I need to do with a very hot mold is to leave the hooks in the mold a few seconds longer before pouring to preheat them. But often times I warm them in a small cast iron pot I heat with my propane burns o matic torch. I heat them and then do several pours then I reheat them. The pot seems to hold the heat fairly well. I sometimes use a camp stove set as low as possible with the pot on it as well. But they do get too hot sometimes and I have to let them cool so I can pick them up.

The one I am using is the Whisper 30-60 I bought from wally world (walmart). I am running two cups with it each one being 2" in diameter and 12" tall for some larger saltwater slab jigs. Plenty of air for what I need. Been using it for a couple of years without a hiccup and it runs fairly quiet. I just bought another one so I can run more cups at one time.

Check out Shawn Collins molds. He has the exact mold you are looking for on EBAY. A little Spendy at $130 but his molds are all first class and you will not be disappointed. He goes by CNCworks on EBAY. Look up "freshwater Tube rattler jig mold". I tried to cut and paste a link but it didn't work.