Da big tuna Posted January 8, 2012 Report Share Posted January 8, 2012 I am going to be doing some mass production on some ice jigs and painting . Going to airbrush them and then paint eyes. Question is can I spray envirotex lite in an air brush? I powder paint now and I do the eyes and seal in envirotex. I really love the stuff. I still will do some powder paints but like the idea off spaying a topcoat . The reason I'm top coating is to protect the eye art etc. ( does that sound reasonable?) Ice jigs don't take a real beating as opposed to a jig being banged off the bottom so maybe can be a little less durable if that makes sense .. I'm stuck in neutral, Thanks you for any help... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da big tuna Posted January 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 Anyone want to take a crack at this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 (edited) Well, I don't do powder painting nor do I tie jigs, but I have used quite a few different top coats so I'll give it a go. I started out top coating hard baits by brushing on Etex. I didn't like how long it took to cure and that I could still dig a fingernail into it after it was fully cured. I then started using D2T and even tried thinning it and spraying it with an airbrush. I only did this once as I was a nervous wreck after I kept worrying about the epoxy setting up in my airbrush before I could get it cleaned out. To make a long story short I have been spraying my baits with an auto clear for a good while now and don't see myself going back to anything else. I like the water clear, hard finish that auto clears give. Spraying auto clear does present some serious health hazards to you, your pets or anyone that's exposed to the fumes. There are other alternatives to auto clears that can be sprayed and that were designed to be sprayed. I think Matt (The_Rookie) sprays his baits with Glisten PC. DN can also be sprayed by thinning with acetone if you don't have a problem dealing with the storage issues. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are lots of alternatives for spraying a top coat on your lures. Especially since your planning on spraying large numbers of them. I would also suggest that if your planning on spraying large numbers of baits that you invest in an HVLP gun. (high volume low pressure) They have a much larger reservoir to hold the larger quantities of top coat needed to spray multiple baits and also come with a larger nozzle size than airbrushes. The auto clears may not hold up as well on jigs as they do cranks because jigs are constantly being drug across rocks or being banged into them. This is probably one reason you like it so well. I've never sprayed Etex, but would imagine that it could be thinned enough to spray just like I did with the D2T. The easiest thing to do would be to try it. I would think you would need a fairly large nozzle to spray it though. Something in the range of a .5mm or larger. Hope some of this helped. Ben Edited January 9, 2012 by RayburnGuy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da big tuna Posted January 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 I guess I'm not opposed to spraying some thing else but im not into sucking fumes so auto clear is out.What are the storage issues with dick night? I take it spraying a top coating is a road less traveled here. Not many people reply to this one. I dont know what glison pc is either but I will research that. Thanks Ben! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da big tuna Posted January 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 And also let me say that I will be painting several thousand not tens of thousands like a Cabelas gig. Is there a special brush for topcoating? One that allows you to grab much topcoat excess off the bait so I can eliminate the big globs of run off and apply a thinner coat .OR maybe I need to thin. I'm doing very small ice jigs that dont take much of a beating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 (edited) The trouble with storing DN is that it's a moisture cured urethane and the moisture in the air is what starts the curing process. There are a couple ways to combat this problem and they're are numerous discussions on this topic in the hard baits forum. One way is to use Bloxygen. Another that has been discussed a lot is "tapping the can". There's a thread in hard baits on this topic being discussed right now. Just type in Bloxygen or "tapping the can" in the search feature and you will get way more information than I care to type. (I'm lousy at typing .......two fingers.....hunt and peck) Several thousand is still a lot of baits. No matter how small they are. You may not need an HVLP gun to shoot them if they are that small, but if you decide to go with an airbrush I would possibly think about getting a siphon fed brush that is bottle fed. They usually have a larger capacity than the gravity fed brushes. I would still think you'd need a larger tip size because most of your top coats are much thicker than paint and need a bigger nozzle to allow them to be sprayed. Something in the .5mm range. As far as eliminating "big globs" and "run off" this is something that you will have to learn to avoid by controlling the amount of product your spraying through whatever airbrush or sprayer you use. Spraying top coat is still a lot like spraying paint. When you spray paint a house or a car you don't come back with a paint brush and smooth out the imperfections. You will need to spray thin, even coats to get a quality finish. And if your going to be top coating even a couple hundred jigs I still think spraying is the way to go. If you tried to brush your top coat on you would still need to put them on a lure turner and your talking about a LOT of time. By spraying thin, even coats you can just spray and hang them. Even if you have to spray multiple coats you could hang the jigs on a rack and go down the line spraying them. By the time you get to the end of the line the top coat should be set up enough that you could start spraying the second coat. If you could do it this way it should save you an enormous amount of time. Let me say I am by no means a professional when it comes to using airbrushes or spray guns. What I know about it has all been learned here at TU. I have no doubt though that spraying will save you much time and will be way easier in the long run once you get set up to do it and conquer the learning curve. The choice of top coats is probably the most talked about subject in the hard baits forum. You might think about doing some reading up on them as it should help you choose a top coat that will give you a quality finish on your jigs and be easy to use. And don't forget that when trying to choose a top coat the manufacturers are more than willing to answer questions about their products because they like nothing more than to add new customers. Like I said, I'm no expert, but will do my best to give you choices that will help steer you in the right direction. good luck, Ben p.s. Had another thought. Since a lot of folks here at TU don't wander into forums other than the ones dealing with the type of baits they build, you might try posting a thread in the hard baits forum about spraying top coats on your ice jigs. There are quite a few folks over there that spray top coats. I'd use something other than "jigs" in the title though just so you'd get more views and responses. Edited January 9, 2012 by RayburnGuy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da big tuna Posted January 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 Wow, Great explanation and thank you very much. I guess there is only one way to find out and that"s thin it and spray. Typically how do you thin? Evtec is mixed 1 to 1 so how much thinner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted January 10, 2012 Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 My pleasure. That's hard to say. Etex is pretty thin already. Although not nearly thin enough to spray. And not having thinned Etex I'm not sure what would be best to thin it with. I thin D2T with Denatured Alcohol so you might give that a try. Start out with a small amount and keep adding until you think it's thin enough. I would try thinning it until it got somewhere close to the consistency of paint. It's going to be a trial and error type of thing. And I don't know if you will be destroying the properties of Etex by thinning it that much. Only one way to find out. And I think you know the answer to that one. These are the reasons I said you might ought to look at some other top coats that were designed to be sprayed. good luck, Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basseducer Posted January 10, 2012 Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 da big tuna, When I used to spray liquids I would mix my Etex or D2T 1 to 1 as normal and then thin it 1 to 1. for example 1 gram part A 1 gram part b 2 grams thinner I used Xylene because it was slower than most and gave you a little more working time. I sprayed it with a cheapie external mix airbrush. Be careful with the time if you mix large batches, when it starts to thicken, it's time to clean the brush or add thinner. I would hang my jigs by the hook on a rotary rack I made and didn't have any problems with drips since the coat was thin and didn't run. The rack hols 100 jigs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishAction Posted January 10, 2012 Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 Use two part epoxy paint for your eyes and you won't have to seal since this is a hard paint. I powder paint most jigs now but still spray some with epoxy but only use epoxy to paint eyes. Keeps it simple. I don't like extra work to get the same result. Charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da big tuna Posted January 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 My thought is if I have a gravity cup full of this stuff it should cover a bunch of ice jigs. Then I'm not wasting a bunch either every time I shoot. As far as cleaning do I just take everything apart and lay it in thinner? I just got to step up to the plate and have at it. I will keep you posted on the outcome. Etec is low smelling and I really like it. The only thing with Etex is the drying temp needs to be above 69 to get a cure in a 24 hour period . I use it on floating jigs and it is sweet. Not sure about 2 part epoxy paint? Can you buy it in a small quantity ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da big tuna Posted January 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Ben, Finally got around to spraying envirotex. It sprays wonderful . I cut just like bassducer said and perfect. I would say its really thin and sprays fine. I spent all this time him hawing around .Should have jumped on the horse a while back. I would say clean up is more time consuming and temperature is a big factor in dry time. I read mix two parts and then add xylene which is correct. Xylene alone will eat through certain recycled plastic products which I found interesting . Thanks for the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knifemaker3 Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 What about clear powder paint? You can even purchase the gun to spray it on with. I say this only because you said in your first post that you already powder paint. Seems like it would be the best for your situation on jigs. You can keep them in a toaster oven to keep them warmed and to cure as well. Just a thought........ Good luck with whatever you decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
