N00B Jig Making Question

[Bass XL]

Ok so I'm pouring my own jigs now (so much fun), but have run into 2 problems. When using powder coat paint, how to I keep my weed-guard slot and hook eyelet from filling with paint??

[rooster123]

Barlows carries Teflon base pins that you can put in the weedguard hole. They are $2.39 for 10 or 100 for $17.89. You can paint and bake with them in and scrape the paint off when your done. You can also just leave the medal base pin in that the mold came with. As far as the eyelet filling with paint, do yourself a favor and build or buy a fluid bed. That really helps with even coating your jigs and does not let paint build up on the eyelet. Hope this helps.

[Jig Man]

I use a fluid bed to get a thinner coat of pait. To keep the hook eye clean I hold the jig with a pair of needle nose pliers hanging on to the hook eye so no paint gets on it.

After dipping the head I tap it to get most of the paint out of the wg hole. After baking I take a drill and bit and lightly drill out the wg hole so I can glue some in. I used to keep the pins in but did not like to mess with them and did not like the way the hole looked after I too the pins out.

[cadman]

If you're looking for fluid bed plans PM me and I can e-mail them to you and you can build it yourself, or if you're not handy I can send you a link on where to get a really good one for a fair price. As far as painting goes, I recommend you do not leave the pins in for baking it will adhere to the pins and you will not get a clean even surface around the hole. If you want more info on this I can e-mail you that as well.

[BigBassin144]

Those Teflon base bins are great. They have made painting my jigs so much easier. I'd definitely take them out before baking. Here's how I do it. Heat my jigs for a couple seconds in a blow torch, quickly insert the Teflon pin, dip into powder paint, pull pin out, hand in toaster. Once I get the batch done, I bake them all.

Like others have said, a fluid bed helps a great deal with the hook eyes. If you don't have one and don't want to build/buy one, try shaking the jar of powder paint after every couple jigs (with the lid on). This will "fluff up" the paint, aerating it slightly. This should help until you can get yourself a fluid bed. Also, don't heat your jigs too hot, that will also get too much paint on the eye, even with a fluid bed.

cadman, what do you use for the bottom porous part of the fluid bed cups? I built myself a fluid bed, and have a few cups from a retailer with the white porous material, but need a couple more on the cheap.

[Jig Man]

what do you use for the bottom porous part of the fluid bed cups? I built myself a fluid bed, and have a few cups from a retailer with the white porous material, but need a couple more on the cheap.

(brown paper bags from the grocery, coffee filters, vaccum cleaner filters) I use them all and they do fine.

[kanasbassfisher08]

i always heat dip and bake then i just drill it out with a 1/8 drill bit and glue them in with gorrila glue works great and never had an issue and plus your not messing around with the wg hole until its time to glue. i like to glue reguardless even if i feel it pop into place. it give me more confidence but try any of these guys ways and see what you like best

[cadman]

cadman, what do you use for the bottom porous part of the fluid bed cups? I built myself a fluid bed, and have a few cups from a retailer with the white porous material, but need a couple more on the cheap.

I use the same stuff as jigman does. You can also use the tyvek envelopes (free) from the Post office, and old allergy free pillow cases. One thing on powder paints is that not all powder colors will work in one fluid bed media. What works for white may not work for black. So mark it down on the cup what colors work with what and make several cups. You can also buy your media from CSI.