Powder Paint in my eyes !!!!

Well not exactly my eyes but my jigs eyes!!!! I have just started powderpainting my jig heads and have read many threads about how to deal with PP in the eyes, so after dipping them in either the paint jar or in the fluid bed then I heat up my bodkin with my heat gun and clean out the eyes before putting the jigs in the toaster oven. Just today took out my first batch of "baked" jigs and after they cooled I noticed the EVERYONE had the eye filled up with cured powder paint. I had read that dealing with cured PP in the eye was pretty difficult but - MAN is it a pain the butt to get this out after the cure. I am using the same process - heating up the bodkin but it takes serveral heat and "Stick" through cycles before it is cleaned out.

Does anyone have a suggestion for preventing this from happening or a better process to follow.

Thanks

Tom

I use a tooth pick when I paint and I stick it through the eye after dipping and then I actually wipe the top of the eye
on that same tooth pick and it seems to help a lot.

Good luck,

Skip

I have an old pair of glat nose pliers with smooth inside edges and I scrape the sides of the eyes and clear them before I bake to cure.

I hold the jig in a pair of bent needlenose pliers by the eye, never had paint in the eye since.

Agree with Skeetbum. 45 degree angle needlenose holding the jig by the hookeye will prevent paint in the eye. Need to clean off the jaws of the pliers, occassionally, with a putty knife. Any paint in eyes can be easily broke with an old dental pick.

After you dip, hold the eye sideways over your heat source for a few seconds, it'll liquefy and fill the eye (unless you got the perfect amount of paint). Then just take your bodkin and poke it through while twisting when it's still hot and it'll clean right up. Just let it cool then pop off what you poke through, it'll pop right off leaving you a perfect jig eye.

Skeetbum put you on the money. I usually use a pair of needle-nosed pliers to hold the jig by the bend of the hook when heating it and then grab the eye with a pair of curved hemostats. (you must make sure you completely cover the eye) I then swish it thru the powder paint.

The hemostats are never near the heat so the powder paint does not cure on them. If I should get a little powder paint in the eye, I immediately clean them off with another jig hook. Since it has not been cured, it should clean out pretty easy.

Pliers holding the eye works best for me. I hate cleaning them out any other way. Heating the eye works best if you get paint in the jigs eye, I use a big hook to clean them out when hot because the barb acts as a kind of scourer to get the paint completely off.

I did think that you were talking about in your eyes and I could feel for ya. I did it once and hopefully never again. Saw red flecks for hours. Scratches hurt for 3 days.