fluid beds

[braveviper]

When dipping lead jigs in fluid beds, do you remove the paint from the eye when done? Obviously the paint in the eye must be removed but how about along the outside?

[Stagio]

My experience says remove as much as you can if you hang for curing. As far as the outside, I don't unless I have repeated problems with specific hook eyes or jig styles. Couple of things to consider--

• Size of the eyelet- I do mostly bass jigs so eyes are bigger, less risk of them replugging when I cure them. 4/0 and larger don't usually pose a problem to me unless I under heat and/or keep in the paint too long.
  
• How you position your jigs to cure- I have 2 systems, I use a foil roasting pan with some old wire hangers strung across and foil to keep them separated. The pan cools quickly and allows me to catch any drips that happen when I overpaint. For jigs more prone to plugging, I have the clamp racks from Stamanic to keep the jigs upright. You can also get custom sizes directly from CSI at about $0.75 an inch. I never really worry about the outside when I use these racks, but they are semi-expensive and somewhat time consuming compared to other methods I have tried.
  

The paint will flow out when cured but onece it cures it can be a bear to remove. If they close and you don't remove the paint thoroughly, sharp edges WILL break the line with a good hookset.

Edited January 22, 2009 by Stagio

[Spike-A-Pike]

It is far easier to remove the paint before you cure it, but even then, it's a bit of a pain. I would use a small wire brush, like a tire detailing brush to remove as mush of the unwanted powder as possible before curing them.

The perfect solution would be to have eyes covered or protected while the jigs are being dipped. The guys that are painting in quantities are using racks to handle 10 to 20 at a time. Several members use these as part of their regular process - there are some great photos in the TU-mo-08 gallery on some of these racks. If you go to the TU MO 09 meet, you will be able to talk with others about these racks.

[cadman]

I remove the paint from the eye immediately after the jig is painted, and while the jig is still hot. I do not remove any paint on the outside of the hook eye.

[braveviper]

Im referring to large bucktail jigs....1 ounce to 4 ounces...The eye on a 8/0 hook is huge! I was thinking about coating the eye with grease or vasoline before dipping in the paint so it wouldnt stick.So far bearing grease works well but leaves a distinct "burnt wheel bearing odor".

[Troul Hawk]

I have had great luck holding the bait by the eyelet with a pair of hemostats, and then dipping them in. It gets on the hemo's but you can clean them by burning the excess off every now and then.

An added bonus, the hemo's make it easy to rotate the bait in the heat source and transfer from one hand to the other.

(OH and for those jigheads that I had already dipped and the eyelet filled, here is what I have done: Take a large flipping style hook, and cut the hook at the bend, so you have a straight shank "wire" then super heat this so it glows red hot, then simply push this through the already baked on paint and it will clear it and then make the residual super brittle so that a eyelet cleaner can finish it up pretty clean)

Edited January 22, 2009 by Troul Hawk

[kelly]

I think what ever cranks your tractor. Just make shore to remove before you bake. I like to do it three ways what ever I fill like doing at the time. First and favorite way is to stick a ball of modeling putty on the eye, then remove after painting. Second is to just use a eye buster (like split ring pliers) and chip away. Last I like the hot needle to burn threw the eye.

[Basseducer]

Taping the eye with high temp tape before you dip keeps the paint off the eye altogether, no chipping, no hot wires, no nothing.

[braveviper]

modeling clay THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT!! Thank you sir.

[clamboni]

I just heat up the end of a piece of wire and push it through the eye. Works very well. Also, on jigs that big, if the eyes are filling with paint, you might be getting them too hot before dipping. If it's just paint on the wire and you can still get your line through the eye, I'd leave it alone.

[Long Lake Lures]

Clamboni,

I'm with you on that one. After dipping, I pass a heated wire or hook through the eye to clear it and hang it in the oven. Sometimes I get lucky and the eye is clear coming out of the bed, but that's not very often. Maybe after a few thousand dips I'll have developed the technique.

Dave

[reeves]

I remove the paint immediately as it comes out of the fluid bed while the paint is still soft. Using a piece of stainless spinnerbait wire I will push it through the eye of the hook and then pull it through from the other side and rotate it as it passes through the eye. This helps grab the solft paint and pulls it off the hook eye. The wire must be just big enough to pass through the eye without binding up, any smaller and it is ineffective.

It takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, the job is done in one operation, no heating a wire or running a drill to clear the paint or messing with an eye-buster.

For an 8/0 hook, I don't think I would even worry about trying to clear the paint off as it would take a lot of paint to plug that eye, just MHO.