[tactical-bass]

Thanks to Bojon and others' posts regarding tube dipping and Bojon's horizontal method I managed to get 8 of them made this aft and I'm gonna try to find time to dip some tubes tonight... wish me luck. Used 3/8" aluminum rod (4" flipping tubes) and drilled in metal coat hanger for handles. Didn't have JB Weld so I crazy glued 'em in, think that'll hold for a bit?

Don

[wrm-n]

Those look great! I am making a dipper myself right now.

[Smallie]

Bojons horizontal tube method is great but don't get stuck on horizontal. You can use horizontal forms to dip tubes with one color body and a different color tail by dipping them vertically.

First do the whole body horizontal in the tail color, then color the body in the vertical position. You don't have to put but 2 or 3 ozs of plastic in your Pyrex cup to get the body colored.

[tactical-bass]

Great point Smallie, noticed that when I was testing them out. Well, I didn't have much luck tonight. My biggest problems with tubes is that I can't get a uniform dip - I always get runs, clumps, bubbles in them. I let the excess plastisol drip off from the bottom and when I hang them I always get this solidified drip on the head of the tube. My other problem is getting the finished tube off the rod afterward without rolling them off like a condom (excuse the analogy). I'll go back thru all the tube posts to figure out what the hell I am doing wrong.

Oh, and the head of the tube is quite squared off compared to any regular tube, should I have ground the rod round before dipping?

Here's the pic of the "1 and only" I could salvage from the 8 that I dipped, lol.





Thanks
Don

[bojon]

Problems you encountered are probably,no lubrication,or not enough.Spray the rods with Pam,then dab with a paper towel.Leave enough on the rod and it will come off easily.When you dip into the plastic,don't leave it more than about 1/2 second,repeat 1/2 second if you leave it longer it won't help,remove itfor about two seconds and then redip if you want it thicker and make sure the curve of your rod is covered,and do not shake.leave the excess plastic run down to the nose of the tube and you should have a point of dimminishing plastic,that you trim off.
Two color, to four color tubes, are easy.If you want just the nose a different color then do the partial dip in the Pyrex cup.Works best for me.
If you can tell me how you got that neat blunt nose on that tube that ,I could duplicate ,please tell me.My buddy would be happy.He said they push more water,and make more noise.I don't know.
Send me a privite messege with your email address and I will send a copy righted photo from my book,showing about Fourdifferent muticolored tubes.