Koalas Posted April 22, 2018 Report Share Posted April 22, 2018 Hi I am new to the website and today was my first time ever pouring jigs. I ran into a problem with the large amount of incomplete pours that occurred. I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how I can prevent the incomplete pours from happening. I only made a few complete jigs and I was frustrated as I could not figure out what I was doing wrong. Today was the first time that the molds have ever been used. Is my mold too cold? Is my lead not hot enough? After putting in almost $600 into buying all the things to make jigs, I really hope I can fix this problem and make boatloads of complete jigs. I was also wondering how I should keep my lead. I use a Lee Production Pot 4 and I was wondering If I am supposed to empty out the lead out of the pot before I allow it to cool. The instructions that came with the pot would not open so I can't read them. I really appreciate help into solving my problem as I am very new to this and could use some guidance on how to make complete, high quality bass jigs. I uploaded two pictures of the incomplete jigs. As you can see there is missing lead where the skirt goes. This was the only place where lead would not fill in the mold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basseducer Posted April 22, 2018 Report Share Posted April 22, 2018 Looks like maybe cold hooks and a cold mold. Some of the usual tricks are Place your mold on your pot while it heats up If you can, increase the flow of lead. Make sure your pot is hot. Use Drop-out. Flux your lead. Heat your hooks and other inserts. I'm sure someone will chime in with more tips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koalas Posted April 22, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2018 thank you for your information i will try to apply this to my next pour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saugerman Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 Try everything Basseducer said to do, and if that still don't work, rub the cavity with a little Baby powder, especially in the area that doesn't want to fill out. Works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dink Master Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, Basseducer said: Looks like maybe cold hooks and a cold mold. Some of the usual tricks are Place your mold on your pot while it heats up If you can, increase the flow of lead. Make sure your pot is hot. Use Drop-out. Flux your lead. Heat your hooks and other inserts. I'm sure someone will chime in with more tips. 2X Pour four times without a hook first. (some lead might come out the bottom - so pour on a metal surface) The #1 thing for me is heating the hook when it is in the mold with a Trigger Start Propane Torch (open mold) 1 second blast works every time, if I have a good flow of hot lead. Blast 3 pours in a row, then try one without a blast. Edited April 23, 2018 by Dink Master 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaery Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 All of those suggestions are good and necessary but it looks to me like the collar in the mold is too small for that hook. is that an oversize hook? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koalas Posted April 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 Dlaery, the hook is not an oversize hook. It is the recommended 4/0 hook. The pours that actually came out fine look perfect. The only problem is that there are too manky incomplete pours. I will try to heat up the hook before I pour the lead like Dink Master said to do. The only problem with that is that I do not currently own a heat gun to heat the hooks with. Will a lighter suffice to heat up the hooks enough? Also I did heat up the mold, to the point where my arm accidentally touched it and I got burned. So the mold was relatively hot. That leaves me to believe that it is the hooks that are causing the problem. Also I was wondering how to store the lead after it is melted. Do you leave it in the pot and let it harden? Or will that damage the pot? One other thing was that when I put weedgaurds on the Jigs that actually poured well, the weedgaurd wasn't as firm as I would like it. Is there a way I can stiffen it? I have heard of putting a dab of superglue in the bristles and that can help stiffen it. Thanks for the help above and I will try to apply your tips. Answers to the questions I just asked would be greatly appreciated as I am new to this and hope to start making many more jigs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdfd29 Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 As Basseducer said, use the Drop Out made by Frankford Arsenal. It will help with the pouring issues. It makes the mold very slick feeling. It is about $10 on Amazon. Looking at the picture, it appears that you had a small pour followed by the finishing pour. You have to make the pour one motion. If you start and stop the pour you will see the pour lines like your top image. It looks like the pour started and had only partially filled the mold, then the pour was stopped and restarted. This caused the lead from being completely poured into the collar of the jig. I have done this myself. I have this mold and it is usually easy to pour. Trying angling the mold a little when you are pouring the jig. This allows the air to flow out of the mold and not get trapped by the lead. I am assuming you are using a bottom pour pot. As far as the weed guards, they come in different thicknesses (individual fibers, not the size of the weed guard). You can purchase stiff or flexible weed guards, it appears that you got the more flexible ones. I have not tried the super glue method, but have seen some where the glue that I used wicked up the weed guard and it was a little stiffer. I use my toaster oven to heat up my hooks when it is cold here. I normally do not heat the hooks in this mold. I store my lead in the pot, i drain it from time to time and clean the pot. Otherwise I keep the pot covered and leave the lead in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koalas Posted April 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2018 Thank you so much sdfd29. Really great feedback. I will definitely be getting the drop out as soon as possible. Hopefully my jigs will start to look much better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basseducer Posted April 25, 2018 Report Share Posted April 25, 2018 I also heat my hooks in the mold with a mini torch, Just keep in mind that if it cold out and you heat the hook in a cold mold it will cause some condensation and when you introduce the lead it will spit a bit. This will only happen a few times until the mold worms up. Long sleeves and safety glasses for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m.t.pockets Posted April 26, 2018 Report Share Posted April 26, 2018 If needed I take an old heating pad ,lay the hooks on one end and then fold it in half. unfold and remove a HEATED HOOK when ready to pour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLT Posted April 26, 2018 Report Share Posted April 26, 2018 Don't know if someone mentioned it yet, but are you using good, soft lead? Some molds are a real bear to pour with unless you are using good lead. I have 2 molds like that. Also, I never empty the pot when done with a session of pouring. I see no need for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koalas Posted April 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2018 BLT, I am using soft lead ingots I bought off of jansnetcraft. I think I figured out the problem. I read in another post that the brush jig mold has problems with bottom pour pots. So I tried to ladle the lead into it and it filled the cavity perfectly. I was able to make around 50 jigs this way with only 3 incomplete pours. I think this may be due to the flow rate of the lead that comes out of the bottom pour pot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking Dead Posted April 27, 2018 Report Share Posted April 27, 2018 Agree if it is slow coming out you will get incomplete pours a lot. Make sure the pot is nearly full and the opening is clear. Get the mold close to the opening and no issues. Hot mold and 700 degrees on the lead. My take anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLT Posted April 28, 2018 Report Share Posted April 28, 2018 8 hours ago, Walking Dead said: Agree if it is slow coming out you will get incomplete pours a lot. Make sure the pot is nearly full and the opening is clear. Get the mold close to the opening and no issues. Hot mold and 700 degrees on the lead. My take anyway. I have an RCBS and from what I hear on the forum, the opening on the spout is larger on the RCBS. That being said, I still don't go below 1/3-1/2 pot, depending on what mold I am using. The extra weight pushing down helps the flow a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dink Master Posted April 28, 2018 Report Share Posted April 28, 2018 (edited) You might try to fix your flow rate -more lead in your pot? Watch this video for this guys fix. 5:20 Min. mark His first pour was bad 4:45 min. mark Check out his fix at the 5:20 min. mark 2nd & 3rd pour good flow 6:15 min. mark (not a good looking pour) I would hold my mold closer and would heat my hook & mold. Edited April 28, 2018 by Dink Master 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
