Cabrilla Grande

Thanks for the replies, guys. Has given me a couple more variables to experiment with. I don't think I can really add in any more powder w/o making a taller cup, though. I was hoping not to have to go too MacGyver with this stuff. Oh well.

I finally got a fluid bed from TJ's tackle and it works great so far, except on one color. I'm using the 2" cups with pro tec white, chartruese and watermelon colors and it works fine and gets that nice boiling effect. But when I try the red pro tec it creates these volcanoes no matter what. I even tried using extra filters below the cups and it still volcanoes. Is it just bad paint? Or are there colors that just won't work with the fluid beds because of their density or other factors?

No indentation but I made a flat so I can glue them on. Hoping to epoxy over them so they stay put. I got the eyes from barlow's tackle. I like the style but hoping they're not too trendy since I've seen alot of them used now.

I think I got the pouring part down, now onto the painting part. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on where to buy powder paint. First off, I don't have a fluidized bed, yet. I'm gonna be building one this weekend, so my results so far were with just plain dipping. I had decent results with the pro-tec powder I purchased. The few colors I had dipped reasonably well except for the chartruese. I did try the harbor freight brand powder, since a saw a few threads where it was recommended, but I didn't do very well with that at all. It went on really thick and it had an unpleasant odor which I would describe as "burnt licorice". Protec is really expensive, though. I saw the sites, columbia coating and powderbuythepound recommended... how does their powder do? Is it as workable as the protec? I see they have listing for "standard" colors and "epoxy" colors. What should I get? What dips the best? Isn't protec an epoxy? Also... I plan on epoxying the heads after painting. Seems like the devcon/permatex 2ton 30min is recommended. How does flex coat rod finish work? I got a guy who can get me that for cheap. Those little devcon syringes are kinda pricey. Here's a pic of one of my first painted heads so far, just because I find threads w/o pictures kind of boring:

Here's an update. I not only modified my original mold but I finished a second mold incorporating some of the tips you guys gave me. The original still pours a little wrinkly but at least I can get it to consistently fill everything out now. The wrinkling only occurs on the flat face where I plan to put a stick on eye so I can deal with it. It fills out so well now that the lead even goes into the vent holes... I believe expanding the gate hole to 5/32 in. made a much bigger difference than making the sprue conical, though. Unfortunately making the hole bigger also made it way uglier where you cut the sprue off. I got flush cutters now but it still looks like I'm gonna have to sand or file it a bit and I'm not really looking forward to that at all since I don't want to have to deal with heavy metal dust. Here's the second mold. I used a surface toolpath to make the cone 60 degrees since I wanted a steep cone and the steepest cutter I have is only 90 degrees. I was hoping I could actually just stick the nozzle into the tapered cone and pour away but the sprue cools and sticks to the nozzle so I still have to hover over the nozzle and "aim" into the gate. Definitely a few things that I would want to do over on the 2nd mold. I think I made the eye recess too deep... it's very hard to get it to pour. I also made 4 alignment pins and made it fit too good! If I had to do over I would only use 2 alignment pins on the mold centerline and give it a looser tolerance so I can pull it apart easier. I have a few things to try still. Next mold definitely making the vents smaller since I don't want to deal with microflash. I'm also going to make the sprues shallower so I can see the gate better to aim into it. Also going to bring the original molds back to the shop and remove a bunch of material from the back so that they heat up faster. And I'm still waiting for my friend to give me the welding rod that I was gonna use as a weedguard pin!

Thanks for the tips guys. I cleaned out the pot really good then I lowered the heat setting like was suggested and it made all the difference in the world. I didn't get any more powdery stuff formed, just the black sooty stuff when I fluxed. The wierd thing is I used the remelted sinkers before trying to add the fresh metal and it didn't have the powdery crust problem at all.

I figure a picture is worth 1000 words so what am I doing wrong here? I did try to flux it... here's what I did. I got some paraffin wax and threw it in there. It flamed up within seconds and I scooped the black sooty looking junk off the top. I did this several times but this crust keeps on coming back. I even tried a big piece of wax and it boiled over the top. It looks almost like powdery rust or something but the pot isn't hot enough to melt iron?? Sulfur maybe? I don't think it's zinc because zinc oxide is white? I dunno what's going on. I put like 2 lbs of old sinkers in there and 6 lbs of fresh lead from rotometals. Is it contaminated too badly? Do I need to start over with fresh stuff? I had to drain it out and clean it because it clogged the nozzle today when I was messing around. Do I have it too hot? I had the pot cranked. I also have one related question: Has anyone ever tried to drill out the nozzle on their bottom pour pot to make it flow faster? Even unclogged it doesn't seem to pour fast enough. This noob would appreciate any help. Thanks.

I think the ball mill slot is already too deep to make into a cone without having to face off all of my top alignment pin holes in the corner. I kind of want to make a steeper angle than 90 anyway. I'll just to use that for my next mold. I like the idea of your oval shaped gate making it easier to cut off the sprue. Thanks, dude. Yeah I can definitely see the benefit of that now. I meant the finished pours looked horrible. Sorry. Thanks for the tip.. Ill give it a try. I just used some dykes. I haven't had a chance to buy some gate cutters yet. Precision sandblaster sounds interesting. I do have some buffing compound and a dremel... think that would help? -------------------------- Oh, and thanks for all the advice everyone. I had a few other mold designs that were ready to cut but I decided to revise them so I just made a top pour plastic mold with my machine time today. They're shrimps.

Oh cool, good idea. I didn't even think about that as a way to heat it up. The mold itself got pretty warm to where it was uncomfortable to hold it very long w/o gloves but it never got super hot. I guess I'll give it another try! Thanks.

I did the sprue that way to save time. It's slotted with a 1/2" ball nose endmill. To make a conical shape on a 3 axis mill I would have to do a surfacing toolpath which takes much longer. I saw that most of the soft plastics molds that bear/ del make have this style sprue so I thought I would try it out.

I just finished my first mold, and it came out of the CNC machine beautifully....but the pouring results weren't as great as I expected. My concept is a football style jighead with a flat on it so I can glue on a molded eye. Also let me say I am a machining student not an engineer or tool and die maker. They all came out like this: Horrible! I was pleased with the fact that there was no flashing on the parting line at all and that the hook fit perfectly but otherwise they look like crap. So my question is... is it my mold or is my lead/ technique? Here's what I used. Lee pro pot 4 10lb bottom pour on max heat setting. I admit I am unsure of the lead purity... I just remelted about a few pounds of old egg sinkers I had on hand. I didn't order any other lead yet and I really wanted to try it out! I did flux it with candlewax and skim the junk off the top. No release agent. I did a few pours with no hook before to heat up the mold, also. Here are pictures of my mold. (pictures are before I deburred it) The questions I have regarding the mold are: Do you think my gate is big enough? It's 1/8 inch diameter. I noticed I only filled out the barbs and shank if I poured the stream directly into the gate. Is that normal? I was hoping I could just fill up the sprue without having to be super accurate with my lead stream. Should I make the sprue shallower so I can see the hole better? Would more vent slots help? Any constructive criticism on the mold would be great. I do plan on ordering some quality lead soon I just wanted to know if I should revise the mold first before I try any more pours. Also... how full should I keep my Lee Pot? Will it hurt it if it's only like 1/4 full? Thanks!

BBK, I do plan on selling these if I can get them perfect. I guess I just need to try it, huh. Thanks guys.

Pro cure is good. A lot of locals (san diego) love this stuff called uni butter that's made out of sea urchin guts. I find it doesn't stay on well, but it definitely works. I like the hot sauce gel, though. I squeeze some of it into a plastic sandwich baggie then just reapply every few casts.

So would you recommend the Lyman #2 over buying wheel weight lead? I'm just looking for whatever is going to be the easiest to work with.

Thanks for the responses, guys. So basically, just hit up ebay and search for hard lead wheel weight ingots then try to pour it and if it doesn't work mix in some pure stuff. I can do that. Looks like a less expensive route than buying the rotometal stuff.