Need a little help from you guys

Okay here is the deal, I clean my jig heads before painting by filing the little ridge all around and any other stuff near the eye. I use a hand file or I use my Drimel tool on low (10,000 RPM) with a wire brush wheel. Now the little wire bristles keep coming out and go every where, I do use glasses as they also hit me in the face all the time. If I use the hand file my arthritis kills my hand holding the jig heads so both ways are just not fun at all.

So do you have a different method for this? Something that will help out? I tie way too many jigs to keep doing that the way I am. So please anyone that has a better way please let me know.

Skip

Just curious. Why would you accept production quality jig heads that are ridged (I'm assuming burrs) from a vendor?

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Originally Posted by Pup

Just curious. Why would you accept production quality jig heads that are ridged (I'm assuming burrs) from a vendor?

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They are not bad by any means, but I want them smooth. Mostly just the seam that comes from the mold. It is not like stuff is hanging all over the place, but if you know someone that make heads that don't need any touch up I am all ears.

Skip

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Originally Posted by skiptomylu

They are not bad by any means, but I want them smooth. Mostly just the seam that comes from the mold. It is not like stuff is hanging all over the place, but if you know someone that make heads that don't need any touch up I am all ears.

Skip

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Gee-Whiz,

Don't tie for any part of my living, but Galyan's (before they became absorbed by Dick's) had really low-priced, unpainted, retail jig heads that had no burrs on the head or collar surfaces. Their leaden, jig head forms seemed to have no seam.

The hook points beat Ultras by a long shot imho. Manufactured in China, I believe.

You'd have to have lived in Indiana, pre-buyout, perhaps.

Skip, I have been using a rough scotch brite pad to remove the casting lines from the heads that I pour. Just hold the hook and rub the head on the pad, and it smooths it right out. I got the scotch brite from a local auto body paint supply shop. It is dark brown and pretty rough, but it leaves a nice finish on the lead. If you PM me your address I will send you some to try out.

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Originally Posted by jigtwins

Skip, I have been using a rough scotch brite pad to remove the casting lines from the heads that I pour. Just hold the hook and rub the head on the pad, and it smooths it right out. I got the scotch brite from a local auto body paint supply shop. It is dark brown and pretty rough, but it leaves a nice finish on the lead. If you PM me your address I will send you some to try out.

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I have used that stuff before and just had not thought about it, but that sounds better than what I have been doing.

Skip

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Originally Posted by Pup

Gee-Whiz,

Don't tie for any part of my living, but Galyan's (before they became absorbed by Dick's) had really low-priced, unpainted, retail jig heads that had no burrs on the head or collar surfaces. Their leaden, jig head forms seemed to have no seam.

The hook points beat Ultras by a long shot imho. Manufactured in China, I believe.

You'd have to have lived in Indiana, pre-buyout, perhaps.

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I don't use my jigs to add anything to our income and if I did there wouldn't be as much materials as I have to use. I have probably taken or paid for maybe $500 in over the last 3 years. So if it was for income I wouldn't do it at all.

So none of this counts to my living and if I quit tomorrow I would actually make more money in my pocket just going fishing, LOL!

I am sure some try to supplement their income doing this, but I am not one of them.

Will keep looking though as I hate that part of this jig thing. I just can't with my health do this without adding pain and that is becoming a real pain in the rear. Even thought of getting someone near me to clean them up like I want and pay them a little for their trouble, but I wouldn't pay much for that and not sure anyone would want to do that.

Skip

Skip, have you tried both the brass and stainless steel brushes. One idea i have is that you could get a piece of plexiglass about 18'x18" and make some brackets to mount it on where it sits on your table and slants away from you. Then you can reach around it and do your jigs behind and you won't get hit in you face with debris.

Skip, I am thinking I have seen a super small electric bench grinder somewheres, maybe a jeweler uses it with a small plexiglass cover on it. Might be something worth checking out.

Maybe there is a tiny grinder with cover and I will see what I can find.

Yes I tried the carbon steel (best so far), brass and ever stainless, but the stainless it too much for the lead and the other two just trow that stuff out like crazy. With the Drimel being low at 10,000 rpms is a bit much so I know the 30,000 rpm will just be a lot worse.

Maybe Drimel makes something I can use with that other piece I have never used and I think some have used that thing with some kind of speed control which would help a lot I think.

Thanks guys,
Skip

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Originally Posted by skiptomylu

So none of this counts to my living and if I quit tomorrow I would actually make more money in my pocket just going fishing, LOL!


Skip

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That, my friend, is so true!

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Originally Posted by skiptomylu

...Maybe Drimel makes something I can use with that other piece I have never used and I think some have used that thing with some kind of speed control which would help a lot I think....

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WHAT??? Ya kinda lost me there.....



How bout a rock tumbler, will polish anything under the sun! At least I tried it on anything that would fit in the hole when I was a bit younger. ;)

Here's a thought..... I've done this @ work on some repetetive (sp?) jobs for rounding corners on plastic signs. Lock a variable speen drill into a bench vise, use a pipe wrench on the trigger and tighten it up till the drill is running at the speed you want. I used a stone grinder to eat away the plastic, but would guess you have alot more bit insert (and speed) options on a norm. drill. And if one is sitting around somewhere......... :cool:

The scotch brite pads I believe are grit rated I can't remember what the reddish brown ones are rated at but they make a version of them to attach on your dremel as well. They go on the arbor attachment like the cut off wheels. They don't last too long on harder metals but they do a great job. I have used them on aluminum and steel with great success.

Heres a link they have built in arbors.

Skip I don't know if this would work for you or not but reloaders use a little devive to clean fired brass cases with that works by vibration and different additives that you pour in a plastic bowl that has a motor on the bottom that makes it vibrate. It will polish most anything that you might want to put in there and the cost is not very much. You use corn cob or walnut shell pieces to polish and you add jewelers rouge to increase the grit as needed. You basically pour in the stuff you want to polish pour in the polish media turn the thing on and go do something else for a while till it's finished. You can also buy a little separator to strain your polishing media from your product so you can reuse the media over and over again to further reduce your cost of operation. Midway reloading products sells these things and they have a huge website you can go to and look at them to see if it might be what you are looking for. Hope this helps.......brim

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Originally Posted by Jubs

The scotch brite pads I believe are grit rated I can't remember what the reddish brown ones are rated at but they make a version of them to attach on your dremel as well. They go on the arbor attachment like the cut off wheels. They don't last too long on harder metals but they do a great job. I have used them on aluminum and steel with great success.

Heres a link they have built in arbors.

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Looks very promising for sure. Thanks to everyone trying to help and I am going to give this a try, after all it will only cost me about $26 to find out, LOL!

Thanks,
Skip

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Originally Posted by AtticaFish

WHAT??? Ya kinda lost me there.....



How bout a rock tumbler, will polish anything under the sun! At least I tried it on anything that would fit in the hole when I was a bit younger. ;)

Here's a thought..... I've done this @ work on some repetetive (sp?) jobs for rounding corners on plastic signs. Lock a variable speen drill into a bench vise, use a pipe wrench on the trigger and tighten it up till the drill is running at the speed you want. I used a stone grinder to eat away the plastic, but would guess you have alot more bit insert (and speed) options on a norm. drill. And if one is sitting around somewhere......... :cool:

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I couldn't think of flex shaft when I posted that. I think there is a way to use that flex shaft and make it a variable speed, but not positive.

Skip

Just found out Dremel has a new rotary tool out that I may just get. It is a variable speed Dremel that has a dial for the speed. Not cheap by any means, but wow what a great looking tool. I think that my flex attachment will also fit right on that.

Skip

Just get a small belt sander they make a small one that only has a 1" belt.. It works and just touch the lead to to and its gone. But be warned. This is bad for your health. AS then you have lead dust in the air and your lungs..
I'm setting up a table with an over head vent. To take all the bad stuff out that I can from Pouring and painting and cleaning up jigs.
pete

Skip: I had to do this all the time when I use to work. 3 M made a bunch of wheels that took care of this problem for us most of the time. Most were fine grit 400 and 600. they came to us 4 inches in diameter. They were mounted on a old polishing machine like what the jewelers use. The rest of the time we used a magnetic tumbler. Every thing that we put in there came out looking like it had been hand polished. We also had a set of abrasive wheel that went in a foredom flex shaft. They were 7/8 inch in diameter and came in any grit you wanted. from 80 to 1600 and now I see they even have one at 2000. They have square edge and knife edge even points.

So don't work any harder that you have to. So don't let that arthurius get the best of you. Let me know if I can help.

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Originally Posted by ShilohRed

Just get a small belt sander they make a small one that only has a 1" belt.. It works and just touch the lead to to and its gone. But be warned. This is bad for your health. AS then you have lead dust in the air and your lungs..
I'm setting up a table with an over head vent. To take all the bad stuff out that I can from Pouring and painting and cleaning up jigs.
pete

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Guess I better start using one of the little mask huh?

I am getting the new variable speed Dremel and it has a dial to set what ever speed you want from nothing up to 35,000 RPM and I already have the thing that will hold it in place and the flex shaft so should be good to go. I got an order for 50 dozen and just couldn't see (ding all at one time) using a file or the little wheels I have been using on my old Dremel that throws the little wire pieces all over the place.

Thanks,
Skip

How about a torch? A quick run under a hot torch could melt the burrs from casting and make it all smooth. Other than that I agree with the small case and using a grinding wheel of some sort, maybe on an adjustable speed drill. Is easy to chuck in a dremel bit into a descent drill.

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Originally Posted by fish_4_all

How about a torch? A quick run under a hot torch could melt the burrs from casting and make it all smooth. Other than that I agree with the small case and using a grinding wheel of some sort, maybe on an adjustable speed drill. Is easy to chuck in a dremel bit into a descent drill.

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Plan on using some wheel buffs or scotch bright wheels on the Dremel for this. Wife is picking me up some of the buffs today to try out and if that works I am buying the scotch bright wheels on ebay where I can get them pretty cheap.

I think me and a torch would melt the lead right off the hooks, LOL! I even did that before leaving one in the fire off my alcohol lamp too long.

Also with this new Dremel I can set it at what ever speed I want so to not take too much off, LOL!

Skip

I think your on the right track...let us know how it works out.

The reloading tumbler with its media will leave a residue unless you get untreated stuff. Wanting to remove errant material I would use walnut media. I have a tumbler and if I can get some walnut shell media I will run a few thru the process and let you know how it works. It would be as easy as put it in tonite and remove it in the morning or a few hours with no one by one labor at all. If any one has any walnut shell media let me know and I'll buy enough to do the test. Please PM me as I sometimes don't get here to read up on y'all.

Skip: By all means use a mask. Remember not only are you going to deal with Silica dust but also with Heavy metals. We don't want you going crazy and have all your teeth fall out and your liver to fail. Please be carefull. Its hard enough having to cast lead heads but then to breath in the fine dust of it when cleaning them up.

Redman