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What do you ladies and gentlemen prefer, vinyl paint or powder coat? Because I'm planning on starting a business. I was wondering what is best for painting jigs in bulk and the pros and cons of your opinion on this matter? And please answer the poll at the top of my thread. It would be greatly appreciated.
-Mack
powder for bulk. Vinyl just takes to long to base coat, then color coat, and then clear coat..
I love both it's kind of hard to pick for me because I use them both together quite a bit I do like vinyl very much because it is very tough also is powder paint but they're still a lot of work on both powder paint is time-consuming because you have to Kier It in the oven vinyl you have to wait for it to dry but if I have to choose I would probably pick both of them is be and even to work with but I will favor vinyl because I enjoy working with it the most the only thing with powder paint is you can do some very interesting stuff so there you have it.
powder paint, dries in about 5 sec, and no stinky up the house
I use both but if you are going to paint numbers it would be best to use powder. Making a profit = time and have to agree with PBug vinyl take way to long. Go for the powder and make money. Follow your bliss and be happy my friend.
Redman
Up to you..... Vinyl can be tricky to work with. Gotta have the right humidity and ambient room temp, the paint has to be the right temp and consistency. Vinyl smells so you need to use lots of ventilation. Plus it is ridiculously flammable. On the upside if you are setup for it you can paint a rather large number of jigs at once. I set myself up with a system of dip trays, rods and racks. I could paint at least 2 dozen jigs in one fell swoop. Repeat as often as possible and soon you have a ton of jigs. That's just one coat though. Gotta hit it again. and again and again. 2 coats of white, the color and then a clear-coat. Best if each has cured off completely before doing the next. The last thing vinyl has going for itself is that a few solid colors, most specifically the fluorescents look much better in vinyl than they do in powder. In fact I powder most everything now but still use vinyl over powder for Flame Red.
Powder is a near miracle. No smell. You can work fast and the colors look really good. It's environmental requirements are much less stringent. You can go from bare jig to a fish-able one in under 10 seconds. To much paint when you cure and they will drip. I do know that there is a bulk fluid bed out there with a motor/vibrator that makes powder painting a ton of jigs at once a breeze. Cure it and it's tough. Still not as tough as cured vinyl but tough. If you are doing any sort of shading, blending or fading then it is the way to go. Plus doing any of the glitter or flake finishes is far easier with powder.
Best thing I can say is to try both. For me I'd lean towards the powder and break out the vinyl only when I couldn't get a satisfactory color in powder.
2x... My workshop is 60 or less in the winter. Makes for longer dry times but you learn to work around that.Quote:
Originally Posted by WiCrappie
I use both, some colors you can't get in powder
powder..its predictable...in the south its up or down with vinyl.....humidity.
Welcome from Alabama. You can do more in bulk using powder paint as well as have a consistent uniform color to the jig heads.
I use vinyl, paint 300 at a time and hang on rack to dry. I really like the look of vinyl after you clear coat it.
Powder paint is definitely easier and not as messy. It's also more durable by a mile.
I used vinyl for years on my jigheads, and it seemed to react unfavorably with some soft plastics. Vinyl paint does work well for painting eyes, and the clear vinyl works pretty well as a head cement for thread wraps on feather and hair jigs. That's about all I use it for anymoer.
Tom
Powder paint easier and not as messy. I agree. But to say it is more durable.. I can not agree with that. Cured powder paint is ROCK hard but when you are working jigs with heavy main lines and leaders in big flows the paint is going to lose that battle. I know this is a crappie forum, but I know walleye and steelhead fishermen that won't buy powder painted heads and jigs. The west cost steelhead fishermen are running 12 to 15 lb. flourocarbon leaders with 2x strength hooks. Those heads take a beating and most of those guys use vinyl exclusively. Not trying to cause an arguement just offering another opinion.Quote:
Originally Posted by tholmes
PA Slabs,
I have been thinking about vinyl. On the walleye jigs does it hold up a bit better than powder because it doesn't crack when it hits rocks, etc? That is, doe sthe paint just deform when the jig head gets dented? I have noticed that even cured powder will crack when hit against rocks. However, I haven't tried vinyl.
Pete
Correct. Vinyl's most redeeming quality is that it remains pliable. Since it remains ever so slightly flexible, it will cut to the lead but will remain intact. Will it last forever? No.Quote:
Originally Posted by psilvers
Gotta be powder unless you're talking about massive dipping rigs.
Looks like powdercoat wins for what I need to do. But I will experiment with vinyl when doing heavy duty jigs later on. Feel free to keep voting and reply because the more votes the more accurate. Here are the vote percentages so far: :)
Vinyl paint: 10.53%
Powdercoat paint: 89.47%
i have been experimenting with vinyl paint for about 2 yrs. I got mine to where i would put it up against powder paint any day of the week.
but if your looking to color bulk quanities powder is the way to go...
Interesting topic, if you get out and about, none of the commercial manufacturers use either one. They use a ureathane based paint. Some places for it include: Lurecraft and Hagens. I'm not sure what your expectations are, but for speed or assembly line style of production, few dip and some use an airbrush (Northland). Neither Cabelas or BPS dip anything, it's airbrush. For a basecoat, try using powder 1st, then flourescent top-coat. Vinyl's diffinitely the toughest, and can get you the 'highest' if proper ventilation isn't used. The 2-part catalyst ureathanes are the fastest from start to finish, you can airbrush in hundreds and cure in 1/2 hour. Some manufacturers charge $30/100 retail. The hooks are also important, and this is where the biggest percentage of your profit will be. I know of one guy who produces about 20K jigheads a week, 1st he's a spincaster, 2nd he uses a electrostatic powder painting system. Good luck, it's a very tough market. Go non-toxic and the market begins to broaden.
I'll agree with you 100%Quote:
Originally Posted by drfish
Powder paint: did right and no paint in eyes, fast and a lot less messy and smelly.
Vinyl: A lot more durable by far than anything else I have ever used. For crappie and other lake fish the smell doesn't seem to matter as much. For those of us on the West coast, there are those that love vinyl but will not use a jig head that has not aired out for at least 8 month to a year. I know I won't.
I use powder paint for the following reasons:
Easy to do a lot of colors and do any number of color combinations I want at any time without having to set up a lot of dip trays.
I don't care if the paint chips off a little while using it. I have caught steelhead and salmon and jig that were clean and pretty and on one that had half the powder paint beaten off of them. IME, a little paint beaten off them works better than a clean head.
If you want to go big time production there is only one way to go, get an electrostatic powder paint system and paint tens of thousands of jig heads a month without any problem.
The other nice thing is you can buy bulk powder paint and store it for an eternity. I have pp that I bought 10 years ago and it still works as well as the day I got it.
Well I am not voting because I like both and some things I like vinyl more and actually I do believe if it's done right it's more durable, but I mostly use powder. Even clear coating over a acrylic eye I like clear vinyl and actually if you don't use it over a few colors the other clear coats will change the color and not in a positive way IMHO!
Powder is faster and easier once you get use to it and have your own way of heating the lead and know how each color may be a bit different.
So I use both and wish vinyl was easier because some colors are better in vinyl even if they are made by the same company and are called the same thing. Example: one would be Flame Red or FL Red is totally different when using powder Vs vinyl. The Vinyl is more like actual Flame Red. I like several colors much more in vinyl and some of my personal heads have the vinyl, but it takes longer to cure and needs to be done inside with AC on and you don't get much more humidity than we get here. Now if I painted outside like in my garage I think the curing would be horrible.
Too may differences to go into all of them so my suggestion would be that you try both at least in some colors, but for the vinyl be sure to keep plenty of thinner around and use it every time it gets too thick before you loose it. Have seen some say it only has a shelf live of 1 year, but all of mine is a good bit older and still fine, but I do pay attention to them. I don't think you can know the whole truth for you by taking a poll and not trying both.
just my 2 cents,
Skip
Very interesting to say the least.Quote:
Originally Posted by fish_4_all
My reply is a little off topic regarding crappie and paint selection, but I think it is relavent enough.. I love the topic of scent and I change my opinion about as often as the weather changes... I care for my roe for steelhead fishing proabably better then my crappie fillets in the freezer... If a salt brine is needed to toughen them up a tad I'm using water from my dehumidifier. I used to wear latex gloves when tying sacs to prevent any transfer of scent... But the problem I've ran into is the new rage of doctoring up your store bought trout beads by painting them with glitter, glow and/or translucent NAIL POLISHES! My bead box smells like it's had a bottle of nail polish dumped on it today and I haven't paint a bead in probably 4 months. I've painted beads same day and caught fish on them. This really puts a wrinkle in my view of scent...
Anyway, I'm not sure I added any value to the thread but I enjoyed most of the replies.
No I like using nail polish to paint jigs in smaller numbers... its beautiful and really tough if you put hard as nails invisible over the color... And i hang mine by the sealing on a string to dry so they cure enough so they don't smell like acetone... doesn't take very long.
I actually like the smell of vinyl paint, must be from teenage years growing up in the 70's.
I probably have something like 20 colors of vinyl, but hardly ever use them because they are a pain in the kiester. I do use the Clear a good bit over eyes on colors of powder that don't like the nail polish. I also use the Black for eyes on Roadrunners.
Decided to go on and vote.
After going through the headaches from the vinyl I'm glad Powder is here, although I still use some testor's paint and epoxy coating
X2 As I stated before, I started out many years ago doing vinyl. That was when I was just starting with tying etc. Now I use powder paint 98% of the time. Less mess and you can do more at a time. I'm just saying........Quote:
Originally Posted by Fatman
there is nothing like using vinyl paint it does give a beautiful look to your jigs I agree with you after clear coating they are awesome looking.Quote:
Originally Posted by drfish
but I bet you still use vinyl for making eyes.Quote:
Originally Posted by shipahoy41
I am betting the hundred percent that most the you guys are using vinyl paint for making eyes I have found nothing else to take its place except for stick on eyes which I really don't care for those they do look nice but I rather use vinyl paint on my eyeballs. I do wish I can get one other product that we use to use many years ago from Reed's they had a beautiful paint to work with is that you were able to cure it in the oven it would be class hard it virtually was indestructible Reed's has went out of business a few years back if anybody knows where they bought their paint I would deeply appreciate it also looking for aircraft type paint the stuff that they use on their dials or their estimate panels I introduce this to a manufacturer many years ago have lost contact with him and do not know where he purchased the paint but I bought small amounts of this aircraft paint it was excellent the good thing about this stuff was it did not fade in the sunlight most of it that we were using was florescent we use this for making salmon and steelhead tackle is we use to rainbow fishing blades I do not do any of that anymore or salmon or steelhead it is a business all by itself mostly for the West Coast or in upper states Great Lakes and on the East Coast a little bit we primarily candor to warm water fishing because it is so throughout the US.
Powder!!!