Powder Paint Flaking Off Of Jig Heads

[Crymdawg]

I've been making jigs and powder painting them for about a year now. I sell them to guys in my club and use them myself. I have been getting complaints about the paint flaking off after hitting rocks, etc. underwater. I thought that the idea was that Powder Paint was suppossed to be so tough that it bends with the dented lead so it won't flake off. I use a fluid bed after heating the jig with a hot air gun. I lastly dip in CLEAR powder paint to give a shiny appearance. Don't want to get into the epoxy painting everything. The clear works great when I color spinnerbait bodies or blades. After coating I bake in a toaster over for the required time and temperature. Any suggestions? BTW, the jig heads are not dented when the flakes come off.

[dlaery]

I would say that you are not baking them long enough at the right temp.

After you oven is at the temp and you open the door to put the jigs in you loose quite a bit of heat. You need to add about 7 to 8 minuets to your baking time to allow to heat back up. I bake everything 20 min at 380 F.

[Crymdawg]

Yeah, Dave I thought that might have been the issue. The only problem is that there is no indicator on my toaster oven when it reaches the requested temp. I guess I'll have to put my stove thermometer inside or just UP the HEAT and TIME to compensate. Ray in PA "The Crym Dawg"

[Fatman]

Crym

Go to Target or Walmart and get a little stand up thermometer, around 5-6 dollars for a decent one and test what your toaster oven is at. There was a thread on another board where the guys were finding that temps were off by 5-20 degrees.

I know powder coated jigs are tough but if you're continually bouncing them off rocks they can chip.

Fatman

[ING]

Lead is very soft and gives up from colliding with rocks creating dents and cavities. No one hard core paint could withstand that.

May be it is reasonable to put some flexible clear coating over powder paint. It will keep paint on the place even if it's cracking.

Another issue: it you are fishing among the rocks, chances to snag and lost your lure much higher that peel it out to unfishable condition.

[ING]

By the way take a look discussion:

http://www.stripersonline.com/t/808956/painting-of-leadheads

[FishAction]

Powder paints are different just like liquid paints are different. Epoxies and epoxy/hybrids will chip easily, polyester is good, polyurethane's are toughest. Powder is made for interior or exterior use. Cure times/temp are paint specific and should be followed. Cure time starts after the painted item has reached core metal temp equal to temp specified by the paint manufacturer.

I suspect you are using epoxy powder paint and one of the worst for chipping is Harbor Freight paints. Pro-Tec paints from CSI are very chip resistant when cured properly and may solve your problem.

Charlie

[smalljaw]

I'll make this easy crym, do like the others have said and get a thermometer, toater ovens are really inaccurate. Try painting some scrap jigs a single color and then cure them at 350 for 24 minutes, I use 20 minutes with an extra 4 added to it for the heat to build back up. Once you do that take the jig out, let cool and then throw them againt a concrete floor or side walk, if they chip then try to cure a little longer. Another thing is this, even though powder doesn't chip easily, it will eventually chip as does every other paint, if a customer complains if his jig chipped after a full day of bouncing it off rocks, tell him to buy a jig off the shelf and try it, I'm not being smart but some people have unrealistic expectations. I use a top coat of epoxy on my jigs after they have been cured and they will eventually chip, I may get a lot of use before it happens but if I'm fishing rock piles all day the jig will be chipped when all is said and done.

[BLT]

See, we need to put our heads together and make a dye to put into the pot of melted lead so chipped pain is not an issue lol. Wouldn't that be nice....if one color jigs are what you like.