Multi Purpose Painting Powder Vs Vinyl

[sstone2591]

Hey guys I have been reading y'all's info for a while and it had helped a ton, and I finally created an account. I am trying to get ready to start painting my own stuff and once I get the practice in I want to be able to paint my cranks, blades and jigs. I plan to start off with jigs because it seams to be not as hard as the others, and I am in the need for high quality jigs over cranks. My main thing is that I want to be able to be very detailed with my colors similar to the way revenge does there baits, and I am on a budget (college student). I know this will take lots of practice. So since I am on a budget I can only really afford to start off with one painting process vinyl or powder, My main question for y'all is in your opinion should I go vinyl with an airbrush so I will have the ability to do cranks and very small details or should I go powder and wait till I have money to go vinyl?

My thoughts and questions on what I have read to give y'all some background

I have seen people get very detailed with powder paints but is it possible to do the small things like gill outlines on a bluegill swim jig? Does that powder airbrus help with this?

I know powder is stronger than vinyl but I lose a lot of jigs so is it that big of a deal?

Also I know vinyl paint setups are more expensive but I already have some of the tools.

Thanks

[Americanzero]

Powder paint all the way for jigs. You can buy a cheap heat gun, a $20 toaster oven, and a rack. Those three things are all the equipment you need to get started. The main thing though, is durability. You really just can't do better than heat cured powder paint for a jig. You have to remember, a crank goes to a specific segment of the water column, while a jig drags along the bottom, bouncing off of rocks and any other detritus that may be on the bottom.

[mark poulson]

When I tried vinyl paint I found the soft plastic trailers melted the paint.

If you have an airbrush, use Createx water based paints, and then epoxy over them with Devcon 2 Ton 30 minute epoxy (D2T).

[sstone2591]

When I tried vinyl paint I found the soft plastic trailers melted the paint.

If you have an airbrush, use Createx water based paints, and then epoxy over them with Devcon 2 Ton 30 minute epoxy (D2T).

Yea I heard about the plastics melting, I was told you can put a clear coat over the vinyl paint and it will stop this. Not sure if that's true though.

Have you done jigs with the water based paint and epoxy? How did they hold up? The only reason I was going to go vinyl over water is that I was told it would hold up better

Thanks

[sstone2591]

Powder paint all the way for jigs. You can buy a cheap heat gun, a $20 toaster oven, and a rack. Those three things are all the equipment you need to get started. The main thing though, is durability. You really just can't do better than heat cured powder paint for a jig. You have to remember, a crank goes to a specific segment of the water column, while a jig drags along the bottom, bouncing off of rocks and any other detritus that may be on the bottom.

Yea the setup shouldn't be too expensive, we have heat guns from my family's construction company and I have a convection oven. My thing is the paint because if I want to do multi colors I need many different colors if paint and flake which can get expensive. And I won't be able to use that paint for any thing other than lead lures.

Also have you ever tried to get very detailed with the powder? How did it turn out

Edited September 18, 2013 by sstone2591

[patrick reif]

I can't offer much advise, but I use an old cookie cooling rack to cure my jigs on.  It has individual squares formed by the wires cross hatching.  It helps keep the jigs separated while in the oven and I can generally cure about 50 at a time.

 

I also use two bricks for the rack to be placed on while in the oven.  It's a simple redneck fix, but it works and it was all free.

 

http://allpowderpaints.com/searchquick-submit.sc?keywords=+super+durable+

 

These are the toughest paints I've found.

[smalljaw]

I use a powder paint spray brush aka a hobby sand blaster, it does a great job of blending colors and you can add fading effects to for nice color transition but it is impossible to get fine detail just because of the way powder paint is applied. Vinyl needs to be thinned to be used in an air brush plus it will give you some real headaches if you aren't in a well ventilated area and even then you may still get them because there are fumes associated with it. If Cadman sees this he can help, he can do a lot of colors using a method of loading up a brush with powder and tapping the brush so the powder falls onto the jig surface, he is quite good at it. I do my spinnerbaits and swim jigs with the powder air brush but my regular jigs I just use a fluid bed and I may use the tap method to add a single accent color every now and again.

[sstone2591]

so, has any body on here ever tried to paint jigs with vinyl paint and then a epoxy coating? did you have any bad results besides the fact that in will give you a terrible headache? 

 

cs coating is claiming that their vinyl paint will hold up better than powder and that it is one of their strongest coatings.

[Apdriver]

I was looking at Columbia Coatings website and they have a product that is called powder water. I read on their website you can mix 1to1 and brush or spray the powder paint. Maybe this is something you could explore to get the detail you are looking for.

[sstone2591]

I was looking at Columbia Coatings website and they have a product that is called powder water. I read on their website you can mix 1to1 and brush or spray the powder paint. Maybe this is something you could explore to get the detail you are looking for.

sounds good will check that out

[cadman]

sstone,

If you heart is set on making your jigs look like some of the paint jobs the crankbait guys make, then powder paint is not for you. Follow the route of what Mark Poulson stated in post #3. You can never make powder painted jigs look like a painted crankbait. Now since I powder paint all my jigs, I personally feel that powder paint is more durable than anything else out there, and I can come up with any color scheme that I need. Powder paint will take some practice to get good at, but so does everything else. Also powder paint is very user friendly and no mess and no clean up. Pretty simple if you ask me. I personally would stay away from vinyl paint, although durable, it is really bad for your lungs and throat and it does give you massive headaches. The smell is not something that goes away quickly especially in a basement or garage.

The spinnerbait in my avatar is powder painted with 5 colors.

Edited September 20, 2013 by cadman

[sstone2591]

sstone,

If you heart is set on making your jigs look like some of the paint jobs the crankbait guys make, then powder paint is not for you. Follow the route of what Mark Poulson stated in post #3. You can never make powder painted jigs look like a painted crankbait. Now since I powder paint all my jigs, I personally feel that powder paint is more durable than anything else out there, and I can come up with any color scheme that I need. Powder paint will take some practice to get good at, but so does everything else. Also powder paint is very user friendly and no mess and no clean up. Pretty simple if you ask me. I personally would stay away from vinyl paint, although durable, it is really bad for your lungs and throat and it does give you massive headaches. The smell is not something that goes away quickly especially in a basement or garage.

The spinnerbait in my avatar is powder painted with 5 colors.

When your doing multiple colors like that are you using a brush tap method or a sandblaster airbrush. Also have any of y'all had any experience with laying your main colors down in powder coat and using that as a primer and then adding detail with vinyl or water base paint

[cadman]

When your doing multiple colors like that are you using a brush tap method or a sandblaster airbrush. Also have any of y'all had any experience with laying your main colors down in powder coat and using that as a primer and then adding detail with vinyl or water base paint

Yes when I do multiple colors, I use the brush tap method. It seems to work the best for me. Now if you want to use an airbrush for powder paint, then smalljaw is your man, he does some incredible color blending.

To answer your second question, I know you can use powder paint as a base and spray createx water base paint over it. However you will have to use lower air pressure, as powder paint is glossy and slick and if you have too much air pressure coming out of your airbrush, the paint will be blown off of the jig, also you will then have to use a clearcoat. The real question you want to ask yourself is how much time do you want to spend creating your masterpieces.

Edited September 20, 2013 by cadman

[sstone2591]

Haha Yea adding all of that stuff up would take some time... I don't even think I would have the time to fish. I'm probably just going to stay away from the liquid paints for now. And order a powder airbrush and get some cheap brushes and see what I like best. I did see a guy on a regular powder coating forum(not for lures) cut up some type of non adhesive heat resistant tape to use as a stencil. So I might give that a try too

[mark poulson]

It is said that in bass fishing, confidence is everything, because it allows you to fish your lures correctly, and get the most out of them.

I will never approach the level of artistic expertise that Cadman has achieved, but I do have confidence that my jigs and spinnerbaits will, and do, catch fish.

If you are just a hobby builder, like me, I'd suggest you find a relatively inexpensive, not-too time consuming way to paint your stuff, so you do have time to fish.

I've found that powdercoating jigs, which I use and lose a lot, makes sense, but only one color.  I add details with nail polish, either clears with glitter, or solids to add eyes.  

For spinnerbaits, an airbrushed base coat, added shoulder/back accents, and then details by hand with an artist's brush, all water based paints like Createx, followed by 3D eyes and D2T epoxy topcoat, is a system that works for me.

It's fun to fart around in the garage when I have time making stuff, but it's much more fun fishing, so I try not to let lure building consume me.

Edited September 20, 2013 by mark poulson