about powder painting

This is new to me though I have had the powder hanging around for a while. The first times I tried I was not at all satisfied with using a flame to heat the jig heads; so this time I tried a toaster oven and that worked out easier.

I noticed that I had fewer filled in hook eyes when I dipped the jigs in the powder at a lower temperature. Low enough in fact that the powder just stuck and didn't melt completely. Then the cure fixed that and seems to have produced a good hard coat with open hook eyes that I did not have to clean between steps. I hate cleaning hook eyes and it can be a real hassle with the powder paints.

I had to take the jig heads out one at a time and close the oven door between jig heads which is a bit of a slowdown, but I am not doing this on much of a scale, since this is only for personal use.

I only paint black since that is about all I fish with and hook sizes are 6's and 8's which have small enough eyes that it is hard to keep them clean dipping. This seems to work though.

Is there some issue about doing it this way that will cause problems later?

If not I will not be using the other paints anymore. This way seems to work just fine for what jigs I need for myself, and there is no drying time involved at all.

I am one that likes the saying if it ain't broke don't fix it. If it is working for you then that is all that matters.

A lot of people powder paint different ways. To me, as long as I am satisfied with the way it comes out. If you are doing this for sale well you are looking for time and the same results. By the way you it is very good. Time is not put in as to the what you get out of it.I never thought of reducing heat to the lead will work that way. Good thinking and some people may try it the way you do it. Thanks for the post.

Just curious here - no1son at what temps did you start with and at what temp was it reduced to where you liked the results better?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LBM

Just curious here - no1son at what temps did you start with and at what temp was it reduced to where you liked the results better?

---

I was going to ask the same thing.

Your method does sound time consuming, but effective for you, so that's what matters. I use a Wagner heat gun, and once you find a good distance from the element, and the right number of seconds to hold it in front of the heat source, your golden, just don't deviate! I use a fluid bed for the powder, because I want a perfect coat, so you will get a little on the eyes, but like you said temp and timing can cut down the amount.

no1son you hit the nail on the head. I've been doing this for some time and it speeds up the process tremendously. It's just physics since lead is more dense than the wire hooks so it retains heat longer. By lowering the temp to an acceptable coating level for particular pigmented paint you are using, the retained heat in the lead head is what makes it work. This leaves little to no paint on the hook and not enough to fill in the eye.

Each color or type of powder paint will have it's own characteristics and require more or less heat to achieve the coating thickness you desire. Experiment with each and keep a record so you can quickly set back up for each paint.

After getting the rough coat on the head, just hang it on the rack and load into the oven when it's full or job done. The temp/time the paint requires will complete the cure and results in just as hard a jig as if done with some of the more time consuming ways others use.

Charlie

Thanks charlie,

It sorta seemed a little too good to be true, and far too often when I have ignored that, something I overlooked came along and bit me on the sitdown. I certainly see the physics now. That explains why some of the jigs came out with a coat of powder on the lead and none on some of the hook eyes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LBM

Just curious here - no1son at what temps did you start with and at what temp was it reduced to where you liked the results better?

---

Bear in mind that I was using the dial numbers on the toaster oven. I can't actually tell you what the actual temperature was. Preheated about 375 on the oven dial, and kept up dipping temp by extracting one at a time and closing the oven door between. With the door left open the jigs inside cooled down too far, too fast. It is an old and beat up toaster oven and I sorta had to watch when the element came on; so there was some little constant adjustment. I shot for just above when the lead wouldn't take any powder, but when that happened I just put that particular head back on the rack and reheated it. I eventually got to the temp where I could do one at a time with the oven door closed between but not having to pause between jigs. I think it is still faster than dipping liquid paint, dabbing off any sag and finish coating and the end product is much more quickly available. That I like a lot, not having to wait for a full dry down and cure, and the fumes are light to non-existent.

I took out the rack and the pan from the oven and put a crude handmade rack made out of a metal coat hanger. My rods are very thin threaded rod, small enough to hang size 8 hooks on and have them swing freely, and I did one rod or about 2 dozen little jigs per batch. It went just about as fast as I could take one jig at a time out of the oven with a longnose pliers, close the door, swish it through the powder in the jar, pound it on the jar edge and check it to make sure the eye was still open while hanging it on the outside rack. Mostly I did not have to pause between jig heads and the whole thing became a sort of rhythm. I only preheated one rack at a time, and do not have a trough to dip a whole rod at once. Those could both be adjusted for more efficient production, I would think, but I don't need to for my own use. Pretty much a standard cure finished it off. That is not time fussy so one could cure quite a number of rods at the same time. The preheating and dipping are the real time consumers.

The first time I tried powder paint I tried heating with a candle and ended with some melted blobs of lead, empty hooks or either some really heavy paint coats or none at all. No consistency whatsoever and no patience left about it either. I put it away and have been reading and listening since, but painting my jigs with liquid in the mean time and not satisfied with that either. This looks to suit my purposes really well.

But like I said before if something is just too good to be true, it probably is; so I wanted to find out if I had overlooked something important.

Get an oven thermometer from Walmart, about $6.00. I get good results with black polyester TGIC powder paint at about 225f, red I'm using now needs about 280. Toaster ovens heat probe is not in the oven but in the sheetmetal so you don't get a good reading. Take a notebook and record what temps give you the best results. For instance, less temp means the hook eye cools faster and doesn't get clogged as easily. And keep some round toothpicks on the bench, they work great with rough coat if you get too much in the eye.

Little trick is to learn the best temp, then raise your heat so that the oven maintains that temp as much as possible while the oven door is constantly being opened and closed. And of course, a fluid bed combined with this way gives excellent results.

I spent time trying to explain this way on another site and got frustrated. I've learned a lot of other things but don't try to take the lead since a lot of site members are happy with their way and rightly so since it works for them. But I'm willing to share.

Charlie

What got me to this point was frustration with heat guns, dipping in jars, etc., just to get a jighead with too much paint, nipples, clogged eyes, and so on. I felt there had to be a better way and started thinking of metal properties I had to learn in a previous career. Also, I concentrated on what could be eliminated from the steps that were being passed on from paint manufacturers, youtube how to vids and site members. So the experimenting started.

Smaller heads will cool faster and have to come out of the oven at a higher temp than larger heads. Larger heads that are hotter will bond paint quicker so don't leave them in the fluid bed as long. Experiment and learn the paint temp levels. Faster production is more time to fish, more products to sale, and satisfaction of efficiently producing a quality jighead.

Charlie

Charlie,

I see that rough coating works for others, too,which is really what I wanted to know. That it is scaleable up to production quantities is good to know, but a bit beyond my needs at this point, but I can see how you are doing it and were I doing quantities I would probably do it very much like you are. I am using Pro-Tec powder, which appears to need a bit higher temps, and that is all right for me. I am not going into production, just doing enough to meet my own requirements, which means I may only paint a couple of times a year; so it is very likely that one little bottle is going to last me a long time.

The oven thermometer is a good idea but I wouldn't put a foot inside Walmart if I was paid to. Don't have to anyway, I got a couple of solid Ace hardwares right down the street and I would much rather shop in the neighborhood.

Thanks for the information.