Kasilofchrisn

I have considered the rectangular fluid bed. The problem is the fluidizing plate I have is only 8"x8". So I would have to splice two pieces together. I worry the joint may be a problem area for the paint to fluidize properly over the whole length of the jig. That and the whole idea of fluidizing that much paint in general. If I do make a rectangular one I may have a buddy with a good wood shop make the base and router in some channels so the plate will just slide in . I don't know for sure more to think about I guess. I think at least for starters I will flip and dip. Thanks for the advice.

So last year I made some 24oz Hilts Big Mojo Bullet head jigs. They are a standard in my area for Halibut and Lingcod in the saltwater. This year I also plan to make some 16oz versions of the same thing. The problem I have is the flat part on the back of the jig holds too much powder paint on them when I dip them in my fluid bed kinda like a shelf. The jigs are too large to quickly dip and tap off the excess like I would on a smaller jig. The fish didn't mind and neither did I really but I want to make some of these for coworkers and friends of mine and I would like them too look a little nicer without the paint runs. This might also save me a little paint. I may try not dipping them in as far to try and get less paint on the back of them but it is difficult to get just right. I would prefer to continue using the fluid bed and powder paint as the jigs are a bit large for the hobby sandblaster spray gun I have but I am open to suggestions. Any other ideas?

So I am going to make my fluid bed with Vibration (there is another thread on this in this forum) and I got to thinking about how deep to make my cups. I have some 8" tall cups now and they work pretty good. My new jigs are butterfly style and the longest one is 10 and 1/2 inches long. The question I have is should I make my cups 12" tall and dip once or stick with my 8" length but dip the jig halfway then flip it and dip the other half ? I was thinking I would use less paint dipping half then flipping and have a reduced risk of getting too much paint on the jigs. If I make the taller cups the bottom of the jig may be in the paint too long and get too much paint on that half. The jigs have a stainless #3 eye on each end and I have bent some tig welding wire so I have some hooks with handles to use for the dipping process. So I would dip ~half then put another hook tool in the other side remove the first tool and quickly dip the other half. Any thoughts/ideas on this?

I have and use the Protec super glow powders. The blue, green, white, and orange glow. They all seem to glow the color of the powder for me. The blue and green don't seem to glow as bright as the orange and white do for me but they all do glow. Now vinyl paints never seem to glow the paint color. They always glow the standard glow.

Yup slow for me as well. I am all for a small fee for site upkeep if it would makes things better.

A lot of times people figure the cost of materials but forget to add in some $ for their time. Then they find out they are making minimum wage or less for all this time making stuff. They also often forget things like the time and expense of smelting old wheel weights or other cheap lead sources. Those free tire weights you may have are not exactly free as they do not turn themselves into ingots. Also anytime spent making jigs is less time spent with family,friends or doing our favorite hobbies such as fishing.

I would have to agree with what others have said. It is not what they are willing to pay but what you are charging. Figure out your cost add a small profit and that is your price. If they want what you sell for your price then make the order. If not then it wasn't worth it to them or you. When you order supplies they don't ask what you want to pay. The catalog or website has a set price and you can accept it and order or go elsewhere. If the quality or service is lacking then you can make the decision on whether or not you will continue to deal with that vendor. I don't always order from the cheapest vendor. Service and quality make a difference to me and those things cost them more money. Set your ow price and stick to it. Is it really worth it to break even just to sell a few jigs?

It's called fluidizing plate. I recently bought some on EBAY. Check out this thread. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/topic/25695-fluid-bed-plate-source/

I haven't had time to test it I am out of town for work right now but I will before I get to using it. I do have a hardness test kit for rocks (wifes an agate collector) I can use to help me figure it out as well. Thanks guys for the reminders about ways to test it. I should have remembered those when he dropped it off.

Thanks guys I kind of figured I should flux them anyway. I have plenty of wax and it is easy to do. Since I have no way of knowing what alloy they are I will most likely blend them with some of the wheel weights.

So a coworker of mine recently brought me some lead to use. We made a deal where I will make him some Halibut fishing sinkers with his share of the lead and I can use my share for whatever I want on a 50-50 split. If I make him some jigs I will certainly get more of the lead for my costs and time. There are about 100 pounds of wheel weights and also some large lead ingots. The lead ingots are large and attached together in 3 groups of 5 and one group of 4 ingots. He apparently bought them off of craigslist a few years ago. The ingots are marked Doe Run. I am assuming this means they came from the Doe Run mine in Missouri. So I suppose they made these out of pure lead. Is that correct? Also at what ratios should I mix these with the wheel weights? I have made lots of ingots before from wheel weights and lead pipe etc. I just have never seen the mine ingots before. I suppose I should flux them with beeswax like I do my other lead but is it really neccessary on these larger mine ingots? Thanks guys.

Yes I believe all Tyvek whether its mailing envelops,chemical suits,or housewrap is made from layers of spun fibers.

I guess the key is to find what works for you and use that method. If Tyvek solves your problems with your problem colors then use it. I sure hope it solves some issues for you. I am going to try fluidizing plate on my next batch of fluid bed cups. The stuff I bought on EBAY and cut up into circles. This is mainly to prevent making a mess when painting larger jigs in the event one gets dropped in the fluid bed. A hole in your filter media does indeed make a mess.lol Other than a couple of hard bottom cups from Barlows I have been using vaccumm cleaner bag material on the cup bottoms using the test caps and that has worked real well for me with the exception of the one ripped bottom I had. I only make stuff for myself and friends so I don't do large runs of one color so I like to have multiple cups handy with different colors. I will remember to try the Tyvek in the future if I have problem powders. Thanks for the info.

Glad to hear you got this problem powder figured out. I have read mixed reviews on using Tyvek. Some say it isn't layered evenly so it doesn't spread the air out as evenly as a perfectly flat fluid bed media does. Obviously it worked well for you. Do you find a benefit to gluing on the filter material vs using the test caps to secure it?

That is basically what i was already trying to do. I had trouble getting the edges completly painted though. And if the jig wasn't quite hot enough the heat gun blew the powder right off of some of them. I do like Cadmans idea of using lacquer thinner to remove the little bit of uncured paint that gets on the back of the jig after tapping on the paint with a brush. Seems like the most logical solution so far anyway. I will post on my results after the first when I get time to get some more made.

I got the springs and I have had the vibratory motors for awhile now. I bought all the other parts I need including a small piece of Aluminum plate for the base from Home Depot. Unfortunately i have been busy with holiday stuff and family matters so have not found the time to get mine assembled. I did find time to make a few icefishing jigs and the same colors that give me trouble in my taller cups were not that bad in short cups. I do think the springs I ordered are going to work good. The conical springs I ordered from Grainger are 1x0.975. Good luck on your vibratory fluid bed. I will keep you updated awhen I get mine assembled and tested. I won't be home until January 1st so sometime after that i will try to find time to get this done.

I have thought about buying other kinds of paint. But, I already have a lot of powder paint and I like how it looks and its durability. So rather than buy a bunch of different colors of vinyl paint I will try to make my Powder paints work first.

Sounds like I need to buy some lacquer thinner thanks guys. I won't be able to paint any more jigs until after the 1st of January due to work. I'll let you know how it goes. I had given some thought to using the painters tape but that is a bigger hassle than the Lacquer thinner idea. But it is always another option. Andy1976 I may hit you up for some of that candy paint. Might send you a couple of my New saltwater jigs when I get some made as kinda a trade deal or something.

One thing I have done recently is making teardrop style icefishing jigs. You buy the blades and hooks then solder the hook to the blade with a soldering gun. It is very easy to male a bunch up this way and doesn't use a lot of solder Use Rosin core solder then soak in Acetone to remove the excess solder before painting. One thing I would definetly buy though is this teardrop mold from Reinke brothers. It has a spot for the blade and slots for the hooks. It works great to keep everything aligned when soldering. http://shop.reinkebro.com/Ice-Blade-Molds-rei041.htm

Thanks Cadman I will definetly try the laquer thinner. The tapping paint method worked all right but I still had a little paint or residue on the back of the blade. The laquer thinner should take care of that.

So the other day I decided to try my hand at making some teardrop icefishing jigs, I bought this mold from Reinke brothers to hold the blade and hook while I added rosin core solder via a soldering gun. http://shop.reinkebro.com/Ice-Blade-Molds-rei041.htm The mold worked great to keep all the parts aligned and straight while soldering. I then soaked them in Acetone for awhile to remove any rosin left over from the soldering. The problem is when I tried to powder paint them. The goal is to have the front powder painted but the back blade part of the jig nice and shiny which is how they are when you get them and how they are when I buy them in stores. I know lot of guys just use nail (MALE) polish and sally hansens hard as nails for a clear coat. But I already have a lot of powder paints and I really like the powder paint look. Also I like the glow colors and I am not sure I would find glow nail polish locally. I tried the brush and tap method but it got a bit of paint on the back of the jig or if the back was clean then the jigs lacked paint all the way to the edge. I tried the powder paint paint spray gun with similiar results. I also tried just dipping the front of the heated jig in powder paint but that didn't turn out as well as I had hoped either. I sure hope I don't need to buy a bunch of nail polish just to get a few teardrops painted in various colors. The ones I made and painted will work for me but i wanted to give some away as gifts and I want them to look nice if I do that. Anybody make teardrops and powder paint them? Any thoughts and/or suggestions are appreciated.

This is where I bought mine recently off of EBAY. Looks like he still has a bunch up for sale. http://www.ebay.com/itm/fluidizing-pad-powder-coating-hopper-diy-/290817699256?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43b615edb8 When I bought mine he waived the shipping charge if you bought three sheets or more. So I got 3 sheets for $2 more than it would have cost me for 2 sheets with shipping. I didn't buy mine to make my powder paints fluidize better. As I stated in another thread as did Andy1976 that we bought the plate to avoid the mess if we dropped a larger jig by accident. So if I am making say a 12oz or larger saltwater jig and it acccidently gets dropped I don't make a big mess. Larger jigs can easily rip cloth or paper filter medias. The fluidizing plate eliminates that problem. It will still be a pain and a small mess but at least I don't have 6 oz of powder all over and inside my fluid bed that I have to clean up. Trust me it does make a mess of things.

I bought my plate on EBAY. Cost me $12 for an 8"x8" sheet. I got enough material in one sheet to make 9-2" cup bottoms. Rather than gluing the paper on your cups I read on here that using the knockout test caps works. I tried it and it is really easy and works great. Put the test caps on your pvc and punch out the center. Remove the outer ring and place your paper over the end of you pvc and replace the ring. Holds very tight and easy to replace when needed. They cost like $.39 each at home depot. Grainger is a good source for the springs.

On my last fluid bed I just screwed two 3" end caps to a scrap piece of 1x6 and siliconed over the screw heads just because. Then drilled my holes in the side and siliconed in my aquarium valves. I figured this time I would silicone the end caps directly to the aluminum base plate. I have some loctite 598 black to try. This stuff forms an almost permanent bond but goes on easily like regular silicone. Our turbine mechanics at work use this stuff as a gasket material to mate turbine parts on occasion. If that doesn't work I will use machine screws with nyloc nuts as well as the silicone.

Yeah I just ordered a custom CNC mold for a new jig. It is a cross between a butterfly jig and a crippled herring jig. It is going to be somewhere in the 25 oz range and is 10" long. I cant wait to try out these jigs next summer. I am also working on a torpedo jig that is in the 40 oz range. I have the fluidizing pad cut so I can make the taller paint cups. I am thinking I will cut an aluminum base plate for this tonight.