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Everything posted by Kasilofchrisn
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I have a corded DeWalt heat gun and I really like it. Especially like the infinite temperature adjustment on the back. When I make jigs out of tin or when I make bladed ice jigs that are made with solder it is so nice to be able to turn down the heat so it can't melt my jigs but heats them up hot enough to powder paint. It still has a high and low fan setting but infinite adjustment on the back. I don't think I will ever go back to a standard heat gun with only high and low settings. I've owned mine for several years so I'm not sure on the price but I think they retail for around $80
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jig heads melting while curing powder coat
Kasilofchrisn replied to mark poulson's topic in Wire Baits
Even at 400°f that wouldn't melt your lead. In fact many of the powder paints I use actually recommend curing at 400° f. But a toaster oven being off 50° wouldn't be strange at all either. -
I'm with JD_mudbug on this one. I just use maps or blue fox etc as a pattern. You can either purchase one or just go to the store and take pictures of them. At least I have found this is a good place to start. I make a lot of my own colors and designs and everything, but if you want one that's guaranteed to work right right off the bat, just buy the same components as the commercial spinners and build them the same way.
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It wasn't the annual taxes I minded so much it was those dang quarterly excise taxes that I really hated. Losing 10% off the top just for that always sucked. That and having to get it in on time every quarter you know sometimes with my work schedule for my day job and everything it was a pain in the butt. Good luck with your venture anyways!
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They look good to me as well. I gave up selling jigs a few years ago and I'm sure glad I did. It certainly was more hassle for me than it was worth with a quarterly taxes and all that crap. The good luck to you and your jig sales venture.
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jig heads melting while curing powder coat
Kasilofchrisn replied to mark poulson's topic in Wire Baits
I routinely cure my jigs for 25 to 30 minutes at 400°f. Never had an issue with the jig head melting. When I say 400 degrees I actually set the thermostat slightly above 400° as my testing has shown my toaster oven runs a bit on the cool side. -
Do you mean hidden weight spinnerbaits? I've never seen a hidden head mold.lol But yes my understanding is a smaller profile but heavier weight. I haven't made any spinnerbaits yet but I have the molds to do so including a hidden weight spinnerbait mold.
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Another good option is D2T. Otherwise known as Devcon 2 ton clear epoxy. You want to make sure and get the 30 minute not the 5 minute. If need be you can thin it with a drop or two of denatured alcohol. I usually just brush it on as it's self leveling and then hang to cure.
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That's cool I'll have to check it out!
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There are tons of different materials to use as fluid bed membranes. Tyvek from the post office envelope works well for lots of paints. Just make sure you have the correct side up. Brown paper bag material of different thicknesses can work. Different weights of copy paper can work. Vacuum cleaner bag material can work. Again just make sure you have the correct side facing up. I find with a lot of my paints I have to stir them up first is sometimes they will settle and cake up a little bit. And some of them just never want to flow properly due to the heavy pigments in them. I actually built a vibratory fluid bed base for my problem paints and it does help quite a bit with some of them.
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As far as molds in stock I have noticed Barlows now has an option to be notified via email when something is back in stock. I've used it successfully to purchase a mold recently and can recommend signing up for this notification. My big problem with Zeiners is not wether or not they list things that are in stock. It is the fact that years ago on an order of mine they threw in a 2 oz jar of powder paint in with a lead mold. No tape on the jar lid and no additional packing materials. The jar cracked and there was powder paint all over the box. They were notified and yet made no effort to make it right. So I've since written them off completely. There's enough other suppliers put there who have treated me well enough that I don't need to use Zeiners! Barlows always tapes lids, staples bags shut, and packs things really well! Jann's and LPO also seem to pack things well. I know some of you have had good luck with Zeiners. But that's just my personal experience and why I refuse to buy from them. Had they attempted to make things right with me I might think differently. I hate to put down any company but when they treat you wrong it sometimes just leaves a bad taste in your mouth that's hard to get rid of.
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There really is no best bead answer it all really depends on what you're wanting to make and how you're wanting it to perform. For instance if you're copying a certain brand/model spinner than you would want to use the same beads they use. Metal beads are great for a bearing surface under your clevis. They're also good for adding weight to a spinner when needed. Glass beads also work well for adding weight and are often more colorful than the metal beads. Plastic beads are lighter but add a lot of color, come in a lot more colors, and are the cheapest. I'm planning on making some wedding ring spinners for some trout fishing this summer. Well the Mack's wedding ring spinner uses two plastic stack beads and of course the wedding ring in the center. So to replicate it I'm going to use the same plastic stack beads. And I will use a small brass bead under the clevis to act as a bearing bead for the spinner.
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The problem with Zeiners is their website doesn't show you if it's in stock or not. So they may list things even if they don't have any in stock and you won't find out until you place an order. I gave up on Zeiners years ago as there customer service is also lacking. Barlows has treated me the best. But Jann's and LPO have also done well for me.
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Swimbait mold jig heads sticking in the mold.
Kasilofchrisn replied to Kasilofchrisn's topic in Wire Baits
So I tried some pure lead and that didn't solve the problem. But I did a little filing on the edge of the mold and then used the pure lead. After that I had to tap the mold with my hardwood dowel and then with a little jiggling of the spue with a stout pair of pliers I was able to remove the jigs. They wouldn't come out from tapping on the mold nor would they come out from just pulling on the sprue itself. I had to do both. My understanding is there is a design flaw with this mold that makes it difficult to release jigs from it. I only poured one cavity at a time because the mold is very hard to open when I poured all four cavities at once. But I was able to get some usable jigs. I think a little more file work and I will have it working better. -
Swimbait mold jig heads sticking in the mold.
Kasilofchrisn replied to Kasilofchrisn's topic in Wire Baits
I usually spray my dropout when the mold is warm to hot. That's where I seem to get a much more even and light coat of it and it's always worked well for me that way in the past. When I spray dropout on cold it seems to be much thicker and sometimes ends up with a drop pooling up in part of the cavity. I'm using an alloy of mixed scrap I'm sure there's some tin in it and some antimony. Though I couldn't tell you how much and I haven't tested the hardness of this batch. I don't have a ton of pure lead but I will give that a try. I usually like to save my pure lead for making muzzleloader balls and shotgun slugs. Someone on another forum suggested filing on the mold a little bit and I just did that I will see if it helps. They said the back part of the mold was made too flat and doesn't want to release well and I can see that being an issue. -
Swimbait mold jig heads sticking in the mold.
Kasilofchrisn replied to Kasilofchrisn's topic in Wire Baits
Yeah I tried grabbing the sprue and the sprues rip off before the jigs even move half a millimeter. I have a large hardwood dowel or closet rod that I use to tap on molds that have jigs or sinkers that don't want to release nicely. But in this case I'm just destroying the dowel. -
So I just got in a brand new swimbait head jig mold. It's the do it mold with the four larger sizes 3/4, 1, 1-1/4, 1-1/2. The problem I'm having is that the jig head stick in the mold to the point they just won't come out. I have a hardwood dowel that I normally use to tap out jigs that are slightly stuck in a mold. But this does not help at all. I'm actually having to melt them out of the mold using my plumbers torch. It is always the same side of the mold that is sticking. I went back and checked on Barlow's website and there are several reviews with others having the same issue. I used dropout in the mold but that didn't do anything to help. I ran a q-tip through the mold but cannot detect any serious burrs. So I scrubbed all the mold cavities on the side that was sticking with an old toothbrush and some toothpaste. But that didn't seem to help. So then I made a paste with some 400 grit powder for my rock tumbler and again scrubbed the cavities with the toothbrush for several minutes. And I still have not fixed the issue. Is there a way I can fix this mold or do I need to contact do it and get a new mold?
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I've shipped 40+ lb of jigs at a time in USPS flat rate boxes. That's usually the most economical way.
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Another good bead source is Fire mountain gems and beads. I've ordered from them with good results. https://www.firemountaingems.com/
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Whenever I've had a custom mold made I just gave the mold maker a good idea of what I wanted and he did all of the cad work for me. They usually have all that stuff figured out pretty well and are a lot better at it than I ever would be.
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There's two different solders that I use. One is a mostly lead solder that I purchase from Jann's netcraft. Or you can buy solder from your hardware store. You just want to be sure that your solder is rosin core solder. Usually the hardware store stuff is lead free but if you get the electronic solder you can get some that is 60/40 lead/tin . Make sure the 60% is lead. This is what gives you the weight for the jigs. And don't press the solder against the tip of the soldering iron as you'll just burn up your tips. You need to heat the blade and the hook until they're hot enough to melt the solder onto them and then just add enough solder until you're happy with the shape.
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Do you have one of the round silicone molds that Reinke brothers sold when they were in business? It basically holds the hook and the blade to make soldering ice jigs so much easier. I've got two of them that have all the different blade shapes on them. But they also made them where they were all of One shape. Hard to believe somebody else hasn't come up with something similar as it sure does make it a lot easier to make your soldered jigs
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I think we know why the prices went up. You can't just print all the money you want to and give it away to everyone and expect they're not to be consequences. Inflation is real. I watched a gardening video the other day where a guy built a raised bed to replace one he built in 2015. 2015 price was somewhere around $25. Fall 2021 price was over $85. It's not just fishing tackle that's gone up it is literally everything. Go price some lumber nowadays if you really want sticker shock! Let's go Brandon!
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I always touch mine up. I've been using dropout for the last 10 years or so and I've never completely cleaned out a cavity to recoat it. I like to heat my molds up first and then just the lightest coat should do it. The heat helps it set quickly so it won't drip or run. If you're finding there's marks in your jigs from the Dropout then I would consider removing it and recoating But that only happens to me if I end up spraying way too much and get it to where it has pooled in a cavity which is a pretty rare occurrence. Actually it's probably only happen to me a couple of times and I caught it before I even cast a jig. Rather than clean the entire mold I just got some q-tips and denatured alcohol and cleaned the one cavity and recoated just the one cavity. But if you got spare Time to kill and you have nothing else better to do I guess you could clean the whole mold out first and then recoat.
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I almost forgot I've also made ice fishing jigs from the freestyle jig mold, swim jig mold, tube jig mold, herring head under spin, and some others that I'm forgetting at this time. Hopefully this helps and gives you a place to start.