First Attempt at a Fluid Bed

[Kman]

Ok. Here's my first attempt at making one of those fluid bed thingies with whatever was laying around. The bottom piece is the "bell" end of a stick of 1.25" conduit epoxied to a piece of acrylic. It has a hole drilled in it to accept an aquarium air line nipple. The top piece is the conduit with the end sanded down so it will sandwich the coffee filter between it and the bell. You could make the same thing with a piece of PVC pipe and a coupler.

Someone said vibration was important, so I rubber banded the unit to the top of a (giant) aquarium air pump that was laying around. Since the air isn?t always on to the bottom chamber, I?m thinking maybe the vibration is working against me, settling the powder.

I don't have a valve to set the flow, so when the head is ready to dip, Mr. Thumb goes over the end of the open air line to partially block the airflow, forcing air into the bottom chamber. The powder rises to the occasion and I dip the head. Works beautifully! Nice coverage and WAY thinner than regular dipping.

This is what it looks like after painting maybe 30 1.5 and 1 oz shad heads. The unused part of the coffee filter works as a catcher for the loose powder coat that bounces off when you tap the head on the tube to knock off the excess. Anyways, it's crude, but it works.

Need to go finish before the wife catches me in the kitchen :grin:

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[robbor]

I love it, I always sneak into the kitchen, I just finished cleaning two reels in there! I have this project in the back of my head but have not got to it yet. Looks a little messy? . Most have said the vibrator is not needed. Also yes you should get a valve. That is the biggest aquarium pump I have seen. I have an old little itty bitty pump from my aquarium days. I was thinking alsong the lines of a large compression connector cut in half so I could easily replace the filter(was going to try two pieces of filter) Also I was thinking of adding a lead weight int the base, A big piece or a buncg of shot mught do for you to make it more stable. I dont see any pictures of the lures though Good job! RUN THE WIFE IS COMMING!!! :-D

[Kman]

I have an old little itty bitty pump from my aquarium days. Good job! RUN THE WIFE IS COMMING!!! :-D

Here is V2.0. I scrounged up a little bity air pump (Elite 800) and it worked! Still need to put a valve on it to bleed off some air though. Those #9 shad heads in the pic are .5 through 1.5 oz. You can't tell from the picture, but the hook eyes are open.

You guys using the polyethylene membrane: How are you affixing it to the bottom of the cup? Poly can be REALLY tough to epoxy. Anyone have extra membrane material laying around?

[LedHed]

Kman

PM your contact info - can hook you up with some micro mesh. I'm in Riverside.

[robbor]

You need to ask if anybody has "2" membranes around, I want one!

Since you STOLE my ideas, it looks alot better (i forgot who I stole them from!) Your base is perfect to mount to a metal plate through the 4 corners to make it real stable. You ocean fish or use swimbaits for bass? The paint looks nice, but I would still cure them, if all the same. One question(from a perfectionist) why not powder paint all the lead and not leave the lead on the barb exposed? Also how much powder paint did it take to fill your fluidbed. Thanks for the pics it just might give the the nudge to build mine.

[ominousone]

kman,

I would love to make one of those fluid beds you have been describing, however I just am not understanding how exactly it all works. I'm not very mech inclined, so bear with me. I also have never seen a fluid bed work. O.k. does the paint go into the hole on the top of the tube? Does the pump just blow the paint in the air? What keeps the paint from just plain blowing out and all over the kitchen much to the wife's dismay, and to the delight of the local inn's keeper? <---yeah that's right, I said inn's keeper. Anyway, if there is any way you could pm me please to describe in more detail or if you want maybe others are in the same situation and would like it here. Either way I have an old pump that's dying to paint some jigs, so any help would be appreciated.

Mat

[dwendt1978]

I'm with Mat, I don't even know what the heck it is. I've always airbrush every lure I make and then dip it in polyurethene. Pretty durable but I bet not as much as that fluidbed thingymajig.

[Kman]

You need to ask if anybody has "2" membranes around' date=' I want one!

Since you STOLE my ideas, it looks alot better (i forgot who I stole them from!) Your base is perfect to mount to a metal plate through the 4 corners to make it real stable. You ocean fish or use swimbaits for bass? The paint looks nice, but I would still cure them, if all the same. One question(from a perfectionist) why not powder paint all the lead and not leave the lead on the barb exposed? Also how much powder paint did it take to fill your fluidbed. Thanks for the pics it just might give the the nudge to build mine.[/quote']

One at a time:

Yup, I stole it. Thanks

I made the base small so it would fit on top of the air pump. It's no big deal to glue on a larger base.

Ocean fishing is pretty much all we do. Inshore stuff--Calico bass sand bass, barracuda, yellowtail etc. We use mostly swimbaits, but also use large grubs, bugs, beavers, Mogambos etc. Oh and we throw the iron--a lot!

I don't coat the barb end with powder coat so the barbs will stay relatively sharp, holding the swimbait on the shank that much better. Coating the barbs smooths them.

With the 1.25" conduit as the cup, It takes about 1/3 of a 2oz jar of paint to put maybe one inch in it. When you turn on the air, it balloons to over two inches.

All the jigheads get cured. I use the $18 Wally World Sunbeam toaster oven upside down. The jigs hang on the wire rack and the trap door (that was on the bottom, but is now on the top) makes it easy to load/unload.

You guys wanting a tutorial, try searching this site and Google. There's all kinds of info out there.

[dayooper]

dwendt1978/Mat/others,

A fluid bed works on the principle of mixing air with the powder paint to gently float the powder paint around in the cup to where the powder paint looks like water at a soft boil. The fluid beds I make have a powder cup that has a porous membrane on the bottom that allows air to pass through but not allow the powder to fall through it. The cup is then put into the base (this allows you to store different colors in different cups and switch them as needed). Air is then pumped into the base causing the air to be forced through the bottom of the cup and into the paint. The pressure is set so that is doesn't blow thepowder paint out of the cup. This fluidizes the powder and it will double in volume inside the cup. The advantage of this over dipping into a jar is that since the paint is less dense it is easier to swish the jig in the powder. Also since the volume has doubled, it uses less paint to paint the jig, therefore you will have little or no runs when curing and the eyes will not fill in with paint. Painting large jigs is a snap. It is like dipping them into water instead of trying to force them into the stagnant jar of powder paint. Once you use a fluid bed, you will never go back to dipping in jars. If you look down farther in the forum, I have a topic out there with instructions on powder painting jigs using a fluid bed. I hope this gives you a better understanding of how a fluid bed works. If you have any other questions on using a fluid bed, please let me know.

dwendt1978,

I live just West of GR. Small world eh?

Thanks,

Benjamin

[jigmaster]

I happen to have one of dayooper's beds.........i love the darn thing......I use it every day.

simple design, and durable as hell....

worth every penny

I am west of GR, too..........small world, eh?

JM

www.daimonlures.com