for curing powder painted jigs....

I know some guys use other setups, but I like to cure mine by hanging them in a toaster oven. I use ornament hangers that people use on Christmas trees. I stole some from my wife (shhhhhh!!!) and I had been using those. In November, I purchased packs from Wal-Mart, Target, and one of the hobby stores (Michaels?). Anyway, it turns out the ones from Target were great- and cheap- $1 for 200. That was fine - except I forgot to get more. Fortunately, I remembered the other day and they still had them at Target -- and at 50% off. Just a reminder - now is the time to get your ornament hangers if that is what you use!


Pete

Hey Pete,

I use ornament hangers myself, usually for my spoons and slabs. A friend made me some some awesome racks for jigheads and some times I'll hang the slabs with ornament hangers on my racks. But most of what I do is small compared to you, don't you pour stuff up to 9oz? Talk about draining the ole Hot Pot. Pretty good advice.

I use some rain gutter material re-shaped like I need and put them on a cookie sheet for the big oven. Just hang the jigs on that gutter.

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/jig-t...aint-bake.html

Here is what I use....Was glad when wife got new stove in house.......I moved old stove to shop

I am pretty new at this powder paint thing, but I like using an old toaster oven.

I usually only do a couple dozen jigs at a time. The toaster oven works just fine for that. I found a couple of pieces of very thin threaded rod in the garage, and made the rack by just bending an old coat hanger. I took the pan and the grill out and put my wire rack right on the bottom of the oven. I heat the jigs in the toaster oven, too, take them out one at a time to dip and hang on a second rod. It pays to close the oven door between jigs or they cool off too much, and use a real long needle nose to get them out of the oven for dipping.

Toaster over are notorious for their heat not being at what the dial says. I did use one for a long time, but finally gave up on it for the most part. I only use it now if I am just doing a few for some reason and even then I set it higher on the dial so it will at least be close to what I actually need. I have called the Mfg. many times about this and it's changed over the years as to what they say, but they have been consistent the last couple years. One they they keep saying is other than a couple colors, like Pearl White which cures lower, most cure right at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. I think this means once the lead inside has reached 400, not just the oven. Tis is when you get a proper cure! Also the longer you have them in an oven the darker the color gets.

Skip

We use a toaster oven as well as a old stove the neighbors was throwing out. Toaster oven is fine when only a few is needed, but my brother fixed up the oven to hold several hundred. Also as skip said the toaster oven is usually way off in heat. We set ours about 450, to high of temp will cause the heads to melt off

I only do a few for myself and my fishing partner, and we normally only use black for color, haven't needed more than that; so darkening is no problem for us. We change colors by switching out the plastic tails. Mostly we use 32nd oz heads, too; so one size more or less fits all. Last night I also found out that dull colors shine up nicely when cured; so as long as I get a good coating on the first dip that is good enough. That also leaves most of the eyes open and not needing to be cleaned, even on size 6 hooks. I hate cleaning hook eyes. The toaster oven I have is old but for what I need it does not have to be fabulously accurate. Tonight I will work on some size 8 hooks; hopefully those eyes will stay open like those on the 6's and 4's I did last night.

If using a toaster oven get an over thermometer to check it to see what temp you are really using. They can be off either way. When I only have a few to do I will use my toaster oven, but I have checked it and know I have to set it a little higher if I want a good cure. If you call CSI (Pro-Tec) and ask them they will tell you the magic happens on most colors at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and we are talking about the lead temp so probably 12 minutes in the actual oven once it hits the temp. If you are using some with plastic weed guard clearly you can't use 400 degrees so you have to do something like 25 minutes at what ever temp CSI says. However longer in heat the darker the cold will be.

Here is what they put in print, but if you call them you will hear what I said above as I have talked to them many times.
http://www.csipaint.com/instructions...der-paints.asp

Skip

I use a cake pan with 1/8 inch all thread rod across the pan. For larger jigs you can put some eyebolts on the pan lips and then raise the all thread rod. Hang jigs on the all thread rod and put in oven to cure. Jigs won't slip aroung or move when hung on the all thread rod. If you put on too much paint and they drip, paint goes in the pan and not the oven. Keeps the wife happy.

The threaded rod is a good idea; I use that too and the jigs do not slip around.

Sorry, I should have updated this earlier. I am pouring large jigs that do not have hooks (for deep jigging in salt water), so there is nothing to hang them by. The hook is added after the jig is poured and painted.

Pete