Clearing Eyes

[Mr_Scrogg]

Im going to be a pourer soon. Ive dabbled in painting. Buying premade heads, and powder painting myself. I never could get a completely clean eye. I know cleaning before baking is key. Ive tried an awl, and just pressing into the eye to break up the residual paint. Ive tried a wire wheel on a bench grinder. Worked great, but hard to control and not get the heads.

[LimpNoodle]

Hold the head by the eye and dip it.  Works quite well for me.

[Kdog]

Although I have progressed to the point where I rearely have plugged eyes, I Epoxy coat quite a few jig heads and often have cured epoxy in the eyes. My solution was to modify a soldering iron cheapest oone I could find to use a needle for the soldering tip.  Plug it in and 5 mintues later needle is really hot and vaporizes the cured material from the eyes.

[mark poulson]

Hold the head by the eye and dip it.  Works quite well for me.

 

I do the same, using a cheap pair of needle nose pliers.  Smooth off the teeth a little so they don't scar your hook eye.

Edited September 15, 2014 by mark poulson

[FishAction]

Paint in the hook eye is the result of too much heat before dipping, too long in the paint or both. You're dealing with two different metals at the same time. Lead, being the denser and larger volume will retain heat longer than the wire hook eye. The object is to heat the jighead enough to bond a sufficent layer of paint to the lead body of the jig, but not fill in the hook eye.

 

I heat the heads in an oven in a small tray and use an oven thermo for consistant heat levels. I remove the heads using needle nose pliers, gripping the hook curve and dipping in the fluid bed then hang on an oven rack. They will not gloss over this way with lower heat but don't worry, they will when heated to cure temp in the oven. Close the oven door after extracting the jighead and keep an eye on the thermo as heat escapes each time the door is opened.

 

Using polyester based powder paints, the following temps have worked well for me. Info, Pro-Tec is polyester paint.

 

Black           250 to  280 degrees         good coat, 300 & up picks up too much paint

Watermelon Red Flake    310 degrees -- higher temp needed to give the deeper color, more eye           problems at higher temps

Blood red     300     slightly longer in the paint since red needs to be a little thicker to get a smooth      coat or thinning with clear gloss paint will allow less in paint time

 

Other colors have their own characteristics due to pigments. Different types of powder paint also. Experiment!

 

These notes are a result of experimenting with powder paint application. Never could get a consistant

result with a heat gun with most eyes plugged up, too much paint on the head, etc I rarely get a plugged eye this way plus it's quicker also.

 

Remember, a good quality paint job is the goal and there are several ways to get there, But frustration from the way you're trying means it's time to try another way or modify what you're doing. Read up on paint on the internet to understand which type works best in environmental conditions, experiment and keeps notes. You can lose the frustration!!

 

Charlie

[JimP]

Here is my quick no tech method of not clogging the eyes on jigs.  I do not do many jigs but this works for me.

• This method is based on the basic principle that larger mass/density retains heat longer than smaller mass/density.  
• A lead jig head will retain heat much longer than a steel hook.
• Shake the powder coat coat container to aerate.
• As Mark and Noodle said above - Using pliers to grab the jig buy the eye will help heat shield and serve as a heat sink for initial heating but then I grab with another tool to dip into the paint

 

FishAction said it right- Experiment!

 

Just grab a heat gun (not a hair drier) and let it warm up a bit, mine is dual heat and low is fine. Set it on the bench so you have both hands free.  Most heat guns are flat on the back just for that reason.

 

• Grab a jig by the hook and hold it about an inch over the nozzle. Spin to evenly distribute the heat.
• Small jigs take 5 or so seconds. Just count them off in your head. (Experiment) Your gun will be different.
• Remove the jig from the heat and do nothing for a few seconds. (Experiment start off with a 3 second rest period ) As we said above smaller mass will shed heat faster than larger mass. We want to paint the head of the jig and we do not want to fill the eye. its easy you get your timing correct.
• Quickly plunge the jig into the powder paint and give it a swirl and remove. 
• Tap the hook shank on the edge of the paint jar, so any excess can be knocked off.
• Your timing/heat is just right if the jig has an even color coat but the finish is flat. (not shiny) And the eye will be coated and open.  If the eye at this stage is clogged just send a wire through it and decrease the heat or heat time for the next one. A lightly clogged jig eye at this stage will open in the next step.
• Now back to the heat gun to convert the flat finish into a nice glossy coat. For smaller jigs just another 5 seconds.
• Bake in a toaster oven or what ever you use as a final cure.

This may not be helpful for the production guys but with just a bit of practice one can do several jigs per minute with no clogged hook eyes.  Much quick to do than to read bout.

 

Good luck!

[Kasilofchrisn]

Something I read on here that works real well for me is the 2 forceps/hemostats method.

Grip the hook bend with your hemostats and heat the jig over the heat gun.

Then using a cold pair grip the hook eye and dip in your fluid bed. Using this method the jig eye is clean and the cold hemostats do not have paint sticking to them.

Using pliers/hemostats to heat and dip results in a clean hook eye but paint builds up on the hemostats and becomes a problem after awhile and needs to be cleaned off periodically or it can get on jigs of different colors messing them up.

The other method is to heat a needle or paper clip(stretched out) until red hot on the tip and burn your way through the paint.

One of my pet peeves is a paint clogged jig eye so keeping things clean from the start work great for me. I also recommend the jig racks TJ's tackle sells. They allow excess paint to run down the hook shank where it is more easily removed. It also prevents you from having nipples on the heads of your jigs from excess paint and hanging by the hook.

[JimP]

Something I read on here that works real well for me is the 2 forceps/hemostats method.

Grip the hook bend with your hemostats and heat the jig over the heat gun.

Then using a cold pair grip the hook eye and dip in your fluid bed. Using this method the jig eye is clean and the cold hemostats do not have paint sticking to them.

Using pliers/hemostats to heat and dip results in a clean hook eye but paint builds up on the hemostats and becomes a problem after awhile and needs to be cleaned off periodically or it can get on jigs of different colors messing them up.

The other method is to heat a needle or paper clip(stretched out) until red hot on the tip and burn your way through the paint.

One of my pet peeves is a paint clogged jig eye so keeping things clean from the start work great for me. I also recommend the jig racks TJ's tackle sells. They allow excess paint to run down the hook shank where it is more easily removed. It also prevents you from having nipples on the heads of your jigs from excess paint and hanging by the hook.

I'm with you, if we do not clog the eye we don't have to clean it out.

[Mr_Scrogg]

Thanks for all the replies. I look to start pouring and painting soon.

I like all the tips. I definitely will experiment.