Need help with Weedless Jig pour

[dannyp]

Just got a weedless jig from DO-IT, I have smoked the mold and made a couple of pours without the hook or pin, I am using the hook (mustad) that its called for,, But I am not getting a good pour around the shank of the hook for the barb?? I poured about 20 or so and some either didnt get that far or some only part of the way or coated it on one side but not the other:huh:

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Oh and I apolige if this is in the wrong forum but the hard bait stuff seemed to be all swimbait

[reeves]

dannyp,

You are in the correct forum.

You might try tilting the mold when pouring. Open the mold and observe how the sprue is cut into the jig. This will let you see the path the lead takes as it enters the cavity. Try tilting in this direction to aid the lead flow into the cavity.

There are a lot of other reasons for the incomplete pour you are getting, but that would be one of the first to check.

Is the mold hot enough? Make several pours without the hook or pin to preheat the mold, take your time between pouring and demolding.

Is the lead hot enough? What temp are you running?

Last thing is to cut vents, but lets try everything else first.

Hope this helps.

George

[Basseducer]

Danny,

Which mold is it and how hard is your lead? I had trouble with the poisontail and the Ultra Minnow Jig and Spinnerbait. I tried everything including mold modification. The suggestion I got from Do-It customer service was to use soft lead. As soon as I started using pure soft lead my problems went away. The good thing was that I didn't have to modify any more molds. Try soft lead before you start hacking your mold. Hope this helps.

[dannyp]

Thanks Guys,,

After I posted I went and used some soft lead that I used on my spinnerbaits and that cured 90% of the problem.

Now where to buy it other then the hardware store:?

[Basseducer]

Danny,

You need to befriend a plumber or a roofer. I get all my soft stuff from a roofer friend when he does tearoffs on older houses. My cost is a few jigs and dropshot weights. Some auto body shops may also have some in a back corner somewhere.

[turkeylegs1246]

Danny

You might try a metal recyler for soft lead. Plumbing pipe, lead sheathing for wiring, roof flashings, shower pans etc. should work. Medical weights used for shielding x-rays are usually soft lead too. If you can scrape the lead with your thumbnail the lead should be soft enough to pour most baits.

If you are still having problems with incomplete pours, you might stick a piece of masking tape inside the mold. That will allow better venting and allow trapped air to escape w/o modifying your mold. Do not block any of the vents with the masking tape. Eventually after molding enough jigs the masking tape will not be needed.

Also, I find that if I preheat the hooks on a hot plate that I can reduce incomplete pours around the hook shank. Don't over heat the hooks or you might lose some temper. You can use a heat gun, alcohol lamp, a candle flame, a propane torch or other heat source to do the same thing. Wearing a pair of gloves will reduce burning your hand from hot hooks and if you do over pour you are less apt to burn your hands. Cold hooks tend to limit lead flow around the hook shank.

I pre-heat most of my wire inserts to reduce incomplete pours.

[Jig Man]

If you have any hospital connections, they get radioactive meds in lead containers and have to pay to have them hauled off. I got about 100 # that way.

[A.C.T. LURES]

You can also heat your mold by putting it on your lead pot for awhile. When o turn my pot on i put my mold on top, my HOT POT takes about ten minutes, so that is where i start my time. Depending on how cold it is in my shop depends on how long i let it warm up. If your mold id hot to the touch it is perfect.

Hope that helps you out.

[Uncle Grump]

Danny

If you can scrape the lead with your thumbnail the lead should be soft enough to pour most baits.

Are there any other rules-of-thumb for detirmining hard vs soft lead?

I aquired some lead this summer that I thought was soft based on this rule - in reality - it is likely wheel weight lead....

I found I can do the same thing with some ingots I made from wheel weight lead.

Thanks

UG