booneangler Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 So i bought a weedless football jig mold and i poured about 3 just to see how it was going to do. I poured 1/2 ounce with the weedguard in the mold. But then when i went to heat the jig for powder painting the weedguards melted. Do i half to use a base hole pin for this or what can i do? If i just pour the jig without it will there be a hole there to insert the weedguard? Or do you half to use a base hole pin? I dont understand how you could pour the jigs with the weedguard and then heat them to paint and then bake them without the weed guards melting or fraying out. Can anyone help me on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basseducer Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 booneangler, There are many ways to wrap and protect the weedguard while powder painting, but for me it is easier to pour without it. Use the basehole pin and remove it before you dip and bake. ream the hole out with the appropriate size drill bit. I use a small cordless screwdriver. I them tie the skirt and glue in the weedguard with D2T. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troul Hawk Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 booneangler,There are many ways to wrap and protect the weedguard while powder painting, but for me it is easier to pour without it. Use the basehole pin and remove it before you dip and bake. ream the hole out with the appropriate size drill bit. I use a small cordless screwdriver. I them tie the skirt and glue in the weedguard with D2T. YUP...the only way to go. One difference is that someone here at TU mentioned using Marine GOOP and MAN that stuff is the shiznit for weed guards. Sorry I would give credit, but can't remember who mentioned it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jig Man Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 I use the pins also or make them when no pins are available for a mold. I don't like to tie them with the weedguard in. So I paint,etc then put weedguard in last. Sometimes I paint them with the pins left in on my homemade pins. That way I don't have to drill. I glue with superglue gel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EironBreaker Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Here's how I pour and paint with the guards in. Get your mold hot before you start. I use one of the small top pour pots, have a bottom pour but don't like it as well. Learned to do this with the small pot and am too stuborn to change. Lay your mold on the pot while it heats up. The mold will be hot to the touch when hot enough. Get your work area ready while waiting for the mold/pot to heat. Lay out your hooks and guards, pliers, gate shears and powder paint. I would assume you have small jars of Pro-Tec, shake it up before opening. Fluffy paint is better. Load the mold with the hook and guard. I pour with my left hand and hold the mold shut with my right. Pour quickly to get a full pour and the very moment the spru hardens, open the mold, grab the spru with a needle nose pliers to remove from the mold. Grab the hook with your left hand, drop the pliers and clip the spru off with the gate shears. I collect the clippings on a paper plate to reload into the pot after 10-20 pours. Drop the shears and grab the powder paint cup (right hand), immediately swish the hot jig in the paint and tap on the edge of the cup to knock off any excess. Hang the jig on a cooling rack and repeat with the next million jigs you will be doing because you are hooked on making your own stuff. Time is the most important factor, the faster you do this the better. With 1/2 oz footballs, they retain their heat better than smaller jigs. I have to leave a 3/4 oz jig in the mold to cool for a 5 count otherwise the guard might melt and the paint bubbles. You shouldn't have any problem with painting immediately, no need to reheat them. I work in the garage and it is cold out there so sometimes I need to warm the lead on the hook shank because it cools quicker. I use a small butane torch but most of the time the process is fast enough. I clear the eyes with a jig eye-buster so they don't close up while baking. As far as what to do about the weedguards, get some wooden dowels from the hardware store. I think a 1/4 inch is what I used. Cut it down to lengths that are just a bit longer than a weedguard. Take a 1/8" drill bit and run a hole down the center. Take a big drill bit and make a funnel on one end. I have about 75 of these and they have been reused for about 3 years now. Slip them over the weedguards (use the funnel end to get the guard in the cover), hang them on a rack and into the oven. I bake at 285 degrees for 45 minutes. Heat over 300 will make the weedguards a little stiffer. The weedguards will come out better than glueing them in. Perfectly straight and you'll never get them out. Not all molds pour the same and not all paint colors are created equal. You get to know every mold you have and how to make things work out. Hope this helped and good luck. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HybridMX6 Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Not all molds pour the same and not all paint colors are created equal. You get to know every mold you have and how to make things work out. Hope this helped and good luck. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Agreed! I have approx. 30 molds I use and each one is different. I had one of the football jig molds, but didn't sell enough of them to make it worth my while to hold on to the mold, so I sold it. I find it best to pre-warm all of my molds over the lead pot, same way as EironBreaker mentions. The only molds I don't pre-warm are for round jigs with no collar. They are 100% fool proof, so they work from a dead cold start. As for weedguards, what I do is different that everyone else apparently. I actually melt both ends of the weedguard so they can't splay out. Then I make my jigs, and leave the exposed end melted together. This enables me to re-heat the jig back up enough to powdercoat it and bake it in the oven. I do only go to 300* instead of 350* (as Pro-Tec suggests) and bake it for 30mins instead of 20. When I'm all done and the jigs have cooled off, I just cut off the very tip of the weedguard, and it looks like new. I also have the base pins for people who buy jigs from me unpainted and wish to paint their own, or for those who are tying onto the jig instead of using a skirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booneangler Posted January 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 there is no base pins that will fit my mold FBW-4-AF? And the weedguards that this mold call for are super super thin. Is there another weedguard that will fit this mold? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booneangler Posted January 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 i put some heat resistant tubing over the weedguard and the weedguard ended up coming out while i was heating the jig for powder paint. Does that mean i got it to hot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EironBreaker Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 yep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booneangler Posted January 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 well im gonna try again in the morning. Hopefully they dont melt or fall out. I will try using less heat. Im using a small butane torch like a plumber uses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 there is no base pins that will fit my mold FBW-4-AF? And the weedguards that this mold call for are super super thin. Is there another weedguard that will fit this mold? This mold does not take the std .125 base hole pin. If you want to pour this without the weedguard in place, use the shank end of a new .080 diameter drill bit. Take the drill bit stick it in the hole where the weedguard is supposed to go and pour away. It works all the time, and pours flawlessly. This jig was originally created, for guys that like a finer weedguard, instead of cutting off weedguard strands all the time. Everyone here pours to what works for them. I always pour without a weedguard, paint, bake and drill open if need be to put in the weed guard. One other thing, I do not put in full weedguards in any of my jigs that I pour. It usually is 12 to 15 strands. Most of the guys I sell painted jigs to always cut their strands off to make a suppler weedguard for better hook penetration and have asked me to put less strands in. It does work well this way also. JMHO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booneangler Posted January 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 (edited) what does a .80 drill bit equal out to? i mean what is the actual size? Is it smaller than a 1/16? Edited January 24, 2009 by booneangler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 (edited) what does a .80 drill bit equal out to? i mean what is the actual size? Is it smaller than a 1/16? Sorry about that, I'm so used to just measuring drill bits with a pair of calipers. A 1/16 " drill bit is .0625 diameter this drill bit is too small. The drill bit size you are looking for is around .080. When you measure drill bits they are measured by the shank not the flutes (cutting edges). In your case here are the following drill bits you can try. The reason I'm telling you to try them is that all molds aren't made the same, so your weedguard hole may be slightly bigger or slightly smaller than my mold. What you want to achieve when you put a drill bit in the mold, is to make sure #1 that when you turn the mold over the drill bit doesn't fall out, now remember that you are trying this out in the cold state, so when the mold heats up it will expand, and so will the weedguard hole maybe? #2 you also don't want a drill bit too big in diameter, because the mold will not close tightly, and you will get flash guaranteed. Take the mold to the store, put a drill bit in it, close the mold gently, turn it over to see if it falls out, hit the mold in your hand to test this, then take the mold with the drill in it, and look to bright light source to see if there is any noticeable gap between the mold halves. If there is go down to the next smaller size. Buy a couple new drill bits in different sizes, this way you will be prepared. Now here are the variables .078125 =5/64" drill bit, .0785 = #47, .0787 = 2mm, .080 = 2.05mm, .081 = #46, .082 = #45, and .086 = #44 drill bit. I hope this helps some. If you don't understand how this is done you can always PM me............Good luck...... Edited January 24, 2009 by cadman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booneangler Posted January 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 thanks for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elken Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Here is an Excel file with drill bit sizes and conversions. Hopefully it will help... http://www.superiorbass.net/drill-sizes.xls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Maxwell Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Or you can drill out the mold to accept 1/8 dia. (FG30) weedguards and use 1/8 in steel rod in place when pouring. I use 100 MPH tape along the sides of the mold to hold the rod in place. Drill out the hole after powder painting & glue in weedguard after tying skirt in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Grump Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Cadman Thanks for the explantion on how to handle the pinless molds and weed guards - this is a question I've wondered about - been looking at the RVB5AF mold for panfish, same issue. UG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
