aulrich

I am just about to pull the trigger on a powder paint order. My plan is to be able to airbrush jigging spoons and then use powder as a clear coat. Here are the steps 1. powder coat FLAT white as a base coat, I am thinking flat is important so that paint and topcoats adhere better 2. Paint like I would a crank bait, 2b. Make sure the paint is dry. 3. Top coat with clear (the clear I found can cure at 325F it just needs longer to cross link and as I understand it acrylic paints should be able to handle up to 350F) Are there any flaws with this plan that I am missing? Back ground Last year for a trip to jig for salmon I had made myself some nice looking jigs with the do-it shad mold, I did not have powder paint solved for myself so they were primed with self etching primer , painted and top coated with etex. They caught fish well enough but the finish mostly chipped in very short order, and it chipped right down to bare metal. What I am thinking is that powder paint will stick to the lure reliably and be very durable, and if I can get the paint and the top coat to stick to the powder then I am golden.

here is a start, they were posted a couple of months ago

Has anyone gotten the HF powder to work in a fluid bed, I just can't seem to get it to flow like the pro-tec or any of the automotive supplier powders.

here is an interesting thread http://custombaits.com/index.php?topic=10574.0

The first thing that comes to mind is that a hoochie is basically a really skinny tube, a dip or 2 on a 1/8" rod,

And don't use it in California it seems a lot of things cause cancer in California I have seen a number of packages marked "The State of California has determined that "insert something fun here" causes ... So California must be a little toxic

Awesome thanks for the picture of the rolling cutter

Over the weekend my son and I were watching some fishing content on YouTube and it was the first time we saw big tubes, my son and I looked at each other and agreed we had to try and build some. What really struck me was that were rigged more like swimbaits so I looked into how to rig the big tubes I did find this video talks about how to rig a commercial product but it goes through how to rig it from swim bait to vertical jigging. Construction wise, I will either get a solid bar of aluminum and grind a tip or a bar of aluminum and make a bondo tip, probably in the 1 1/8” – 1 ¼” range . The closest thing I could think was halfway safe to dip in short of a presto pot, is a canning jar since it is tall and made of heat tolerant glass. But I would have it standing in another container to protect from failure.

Can someone post a picture of a roller cutter?

I totally agree thinner is better, The other week I did some balsa blanks using the vacuum bag to apply pressure. I left the baits in the bag until I figure the e-tex was fully cured, I ended up with what was essentially parting lines between the sides of the vacuum bag . Next time I try e-text it will be thinned. A major advantage of e-tex vs spray adhesive is the smoothness of the surface. What the Vac bag is showing me is that a foam press is the way to go. I like the around pressure, but the bags are too clunky.

Thanks, have you done any experimenting with different diameter rods. Is there any sort of ratio of length to width?

I did not have a lot of success with air brushed jigging spoons, I used the self etching primer and the paint just flaked off, I can’t remember exactly what I top coated them in It could have been rattle can clear or e-tex. But the spoons did have some flex to them and I suspect that the flex was what caused the paint to fail rapidly. Mind you a plain jig head should not have the flex so that may not be an issue. My next try is to first powder coat, air brush, then top with e-tex. My only concern is how glossy powder coat is, in theory making adhesion problematic. I did find an automotive power that was a flat white but I am no longer convinced automotive powder paints work in small scale fluid beds. Something I saw the other day got me interested, there is an air brush base that you can mix with powder paint so it shoots like regular airbrush paint (1 to 1 by weight and mix with a blender ) and after you give it a day to dry out you bake like normal. I see if I can find the youtube on this as well https://www.powderbuythepound.com/liquid_2_powder_-1_pint.html

On mine , it takes some tapping with a stick of pine , the 1/4oz chamber seems the worst. That also is running lousy diving weight lead.

I think we should have an little contest, on the most creative double sided paint job

OK now that is on the to do list

I have been using .035" on my pike stuff, with no issue but I do mostly thru wire, for some odd reason me and screw eyes don't get along.

Pike, will eat just about anything , but spoons are the most universal, len thompson 0 or 1's the Canadian standard would be the 5 of dimonds but I also like white with just about any color strip. At the lake where I have a cabin in August the meps cyclops spoon (#4 IIRC ) is better since it runs deeper. Even there where on a warm summer surface water temp is 71 or 72f or so the big fish run deeper. Lipless cranks are also very useful, a #5 rattling rap can work both for walleye and pike, though I like bigger if your just pitching for pike. My typical colors Sslver/blue, perch, pike, fire tiger, gold/flow, purple/flow orange Storm pike swimbaits the only problem they could last 1 fish or 5 it's a matter of luck For walleye jigs 3" grubs (white flow yellow and flow orange) crawler rigs and bottom bouncers and 4" minnow baits Pike don't follow the big bait for big fish rule like muskies do but depending on the day, having some big baits does not hurt. So something in the 8" bomber class. Skip the steel leader and use titanium or make florocarbon(60#) steels kinks and interferes wit the lure action , I used 1 titanium leader all of last season. In general pike are not that leader shy but depending on the clarity of the water using a floro leader can help , but check those after every fish regardless they will get chewed. If the pike are on then just about any sort of retrieve will work but in general never just straight crank a lure in, always be varying it some how. this is especially true if you are getting lots of followers. Also remember jaw spreaders , long pliers and side cutters for releasing safely And since you a bass guy don't lip them

How does top coat stick to the very polished surface. I am being convinced reconsider tape.

This is with top coat , the silver has Perl silver as a base coat, the perch I glued on to a clear blank. Oddly I like the splotchy it brings out some of the texture

Myself I have done the aluminum tape, epoxied plain aluminum foil and nail foil. I used both contact cement and epoxy with the nail foil and in all cases I top coat with e-tex. The only worry with the contact cement is that it will de-laminate and I could loose big chunks, but I don’t think that will happen before the pike chew the top coat up to uselessness anyways. I am only a few baits into nail foil baits but I can say I won’t do foil tape again.

Nail foils as well, this is a test body, should have undercoated pearl gold

I can get that I joke with my wife that I only have one hobby and that is collecting hobbies Wlure might have something worth looking at, I have had good success with some of their blanks some other were duds (the normal dangers of dealing with off shore product). Though more to do with dud shapes vs bait to bait quality .

The way I like to do flat sides, is a laminated blank. It’s very easy to get all the internals in place, and not particularly slow to construct

How about making them? there is more than one flavor of kool-aid to drink in this hobby

Oh darn, I might have to get a dual injector