Painting...Ain't As Easy As It Looks

I have been powder painting 1/16 and 1/8 oz jig heads for my very first time and its not quite as easy as it looks. Jamie at Simply Crappie fixed me up with some jigs and paint and I read a lot of threads then watched some videos and set about powder coating my jig heads. I used a sterno flame and eventually a heat gun to preheat my jigs. I do not have a fluid bed so I fluffed up the powder and swished the heads around in the paint. Fluffing the powder every four or five jigs. After I had about fifty of them made I used a toaster oven to bake them.

Challenge number one was cleaning out the hook eye after swishing them in the powder. What a chore this was. Some of them came out okay with only minimal cleaning needed and some of them came out fully coated. I was using a tooth pick and had little pieces of vinyl plugging the eyes and just generally being hard to remove. I would push the tooth pick through, spin it a couple of times, and pull it back. The vinyl would just build up in the eye. Eventually I got them all clean but what a chore. A couple of the jigs I let cool too much and the eye is simply closed up. A hook won't even pierce through to open the eye.

Challenge number two was after letting them bake in my toaster oven at 350 degrees for fifteen minutes many of them had stalagmites dripping off. Some of them were just deformed a little and some turned out pretty good. Also, some of the paint melted into the hook eye and this was near impossible to open. Took a hook to pierce through the paint. A pair of wiring side cutters made short work of the stalagmites.

Obviously I am applying too much powder to the jigs. What do I need to change to make this a much more successful evolution? Would a fluid bed help with this? Is the preheat too much / not enough? Would an oil lamp be a better choice for preheat? I'm pretty sure the jigs I used the heat gun on were better than those heated from the sterno. I have two kinds of powder paint, ProTec and Columbia, I can't say either of them performed better than the other.

Dan

When I was pouring I did it exactly like you are doing. I discovered the thermostat in the toaster oven was way off. (I used an oven thermometer to check it) That solved a lot of problems except the eyes were still a pain. Also after swishing the jig around in the paint, tap it on the side of the jar to get rid of the excess powder.

Jigs are almost too big for fluff and stuff - might think about getting a fluid bed...
Heat your jigs just enough for the paint to stick - eyes are easier to clean - before you cure. I use a heat gun and count - while rotating the jig.
Pre-heat your oven (at least 10 minutes) before you bake.
I use a thermocouple wire to monitor temp while ramping up the temp. My target is 15 min. @ 220*F for all colors. All my paints are custom mixes.

I haven't started painting my own yet so I'm no expert. But I did watch SK's video and he heats up a paper clip to clean his eyes on his hooks. Just putting that out there as an idea you can try.

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Call Jamie and get you a fluid bed to start. Then using heat gun heat head by slightly rotating head side to side for a count of 5 just dip in paint. Check your coverage then adjust your count up or down by one each time until you get the best coverage. It just takes practice. I have found every day is different based on air temp and humidity that affects how quick head heats and how well paint flows. I keep a coffee cup of water at my paint station. As soon as I dip in paint I watch for paint to slick over then dip in water to cool so easier to handle hook. Then I hang them on a rack until I have finished painting all I’m going to do. Then I sit with my old pocket knife and clean any excess paint from eyes. The cooler you can get the paint to cover the easier it is to clean excess off. Then I bake. Attached are a picture of my forceps and knife. Yes it’s a bit tedious but I can’t stand paint in eyes or on barb for plastics. Practice, Practice and more Practice and there are lots of guys way better than me at painting.
Attachment 347899Attachment 347900

I agree with above posters, on oven temp, and heating jig to lowest temp the paint will adhere to the head and melt out, or get shinny. One trick I seen on a you tube video, and I apologize I don't remember who had it, is when gripping the jig to paint grip it covering the eye. Granted you will get a bit of paint adhering to the tips of your pliers or hemostats or what ever your gripping with, but it's easier to scrape it off them than trying to reopen those eyes back up. Since I started this way of gripping the jigs, I have not had to clean another eye out... and on the fluid bed, you will use less powder as it is suspended by the air flow. Same great coverage, just don't use as much...

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Originally Posted by Cray

Call Jamie and get you a fluid bed to start.

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Who is Jamie selling fluid beds?

I would say keep swishing motion to a minimum while dipping. Gives you to much paint. I use a small propane plumbers torch. I get about two years out of a bottle of propane. A couple seconds and dip in my fluid bed.

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Originally Posted by SuperDave336

Who is Jamie selling fluid beds?

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Might be referring to Bugman on the Missouri boards. I kind of thought that was who he was referring to when in the same post said he had gotten some jigs from him...

Look at one of my old posts...
Keeping eyes clean - a new way?
Keeping eyes clean - a new way?


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by SuperDave336

Who is Jamie selling fluid beds?

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Simply Crappie...Your one stop source for all your crappie fishing needs!

Welcome to TJ's Tackle

Wow, thanks for all of the great info guys. From the consensus it sounds like the two best things I could do is get a fluid bed and start holding the hook by the eye. These things I will be looking into.

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Originally Posted by LedHed

My target is 15 min. @ 220*F for all colors.

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Did you really mean 220*? Everything I have read says cure temp is 325* to 350*. I checked my oven with a thermometer and it is within +/- 5* of my target temp.

When I was trying to buy supplies I cannot get locally Jamie at Simply Crappie was the supplier I found that did not believe Alaska was a foreign country when it came to shipping. I expect I'll be buying through him again.

Again, many thanks for all of the info. I'll be incorporating some of these and hopefully my next jig painting session will not be as tedious as my last.

Dan

Here you go Dan.

Pro Tec Powder Paint Cure Times and Temps Info Here. - Texas Fishing Forum

There have been several colors added since this was poublished but the still run pretty close.

My bad - it's 320*F
I gave up on fluid beds and use brushes and tap paint on heated jigs. Clogged eyes are less of an issue and you can add several colors.

Thanks for the link to the cure time and temps. For the colors I'm using looks as though I stay around 350* for 15 - 20 minutes and it will work out. Also, glad you cleared up the temperature. 220* didn't seem quite warm enough based on what I had been reading.

Dan

I use a heat gun and heat jig until hot enough that when I pull it out of paint it is shiny. I then immediately dip in water and hang on rack to bake later on. I hold the jig by hook when heating then clasp the eye of the hook with 45 degree needle nose pliers when I dip it in the paint. This prevents the majority of the eye from getting paint on it.

AND that's why I use nail polish from the dollar store :Rofl

This works well to clean eye before baking
http://i63.tinypic.com/2rpvcpf.jpg

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Originally Posted by gaspumper

This works well to clean eye before baking
http://i63.tinypic.com/2rpvcpf.jpg

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gaspumper, What is that? I don't think I have ever seen any nail clippers that look quite like that.

Its called a eagle claw jig eye cleaning tool.Lure parts online 2019 catalog page 20 shows them.

Yep, I got one too, but found that covering eye with pliers or hemostats works better when dipping. Just saying...

So there is a tool for cleaning hook eyes. Never knew there was such a tool. Then again, never needed it until now. Thanks.

I always hated having to bust out the eyes in the jigs I bought. That’s what started me down this obsession of making my own LOL!


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I got some eye cleaners from a reccomendation from another member - they're surgical towel clamps and they work great for cleaning jig eyes!! even if they've been baked!!
10 PCS BACKHAUS TOWEL CLAMP 3.5" SURGICAL MEDICAL NEW | eBay

Attachment 348177Attachment 348177

Lure parts online carries one like that for $9.99
http://i66.tinypic.com/14x0x3a.jpg

Lure parts is just buying bulk packs and reselling I got 6 pairs for less than that! https://www.ebay.com/i/312036880352?...&ul_noapp=true

I have been using a bead reamer from Walmart craft section. It works ok but really have to watch and not punch a finger. May try some of the ideas posted here. Thanks for the ideas.

I HATE HATE HATE dealing with paint in the eyes of the jigs I make so I started using heat shrink tubing on the eyes of the jigs when I paint them. I use it on jigs from 1/80 to 1/2 ounce and the eyes come out clean as a whistle every time. The tubing comes in a variety of sizes and lengths and is pretty cheap on Ebay, Amazon etc. It is a little time consuming cutting it to length , putting it on and taking it off the jig eyes but it's the best way I have found to keep your eyes clean. It takes me about 15 minutes to easily cut enough tubing to cover a few hundred jigs.

I cut the tubing into roughly 1/8" pieces and keep them in a little tub like what sour cream comes in or a pill bottle. Once I get my jigs poured and ready to paint I cover the eyes of the jigs with a piece of shrink tube then paint them like normal. Once the jig cools I use a pocket knife and scrape the tubing off. It usually just pops right off then in the oven the jigs go. It is a little futsy but it takes about the same time for me as it does using an eye buster or knife to clean paint out of jig eyes. Bottom line is that it's well worth the effort it to me.

Hands down, the easiest way to clean eyes is to not paint them in the first place. If they do get covered, heat a bodkin and it will melt whatever paint is on it when it’s pushed through the hole. Haven’t used the bodkin for years since I started doing my own and holding the jig by the eye when painting.

My technique is to heat the jig with an alcohol lamp, dip jig in powder, then while the paint is still soft, poke a sharp object through the jig eye. After hanging to cool but before baking, I clean any remaining paint with a jig eye cleaning tool which comes out fairly easy at this point. Very difficult to remove the paint after baking. I then bake the jigs at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Super fast process and easy to do.