Fluid bed "system"

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Maybe I’m optimistic but I’m hoping  that the worst of our problems will be behind when the election is behind us - one way or another...

[Fatman 0]

I built one several years ago.  I can run 3- 2" beds at one time, but with two tones brush tapping is the game!

[tidewaterfly 0]

On 10/23/2020 at 9:55 AM, Fatman said:

I built one several years ago.  I can run 3- 2" beds at one time, but with two tones brush tapping is the game!

Fatman, I made a little gadget for doing the two tone colors, using a piece of fiberglass screen and a heavy wire frame. it's small and sits over one of my fluid bed cups. The screen was folded a few times, and after the first paint coat is cured, I reheat, and using a spoon, add a little of the second powder on top of the screen, and spread it with the spoon. 

When the jig has heated enough, I'll take one from the oven with needle nose pliers, position it under the screen, then tap the screen with the spoon. The powder falls down thru the screen and makes a nice and even coating, and the excess goes back into the cup. 

These are some spinnerbait heads & jigs that I've done using the screen method. The first photo is gloss greenpumpkin over gloss white, and the next two photo's are some I've been testing with a sparkle black powder over gloss white. My phone camera sucks, so the photo's aren't the best. 

I tried the brush method, and ended up with pieces of the brush bristles in my powder too many times, and never seemed to get the powder even on both sides of the heads and often too much in one spot. The screen has solved those issues for me, but I'm still in the learning process as far as two tone colors so have a lot to learn.

 

[Poopdeck 0]

Maybe it's the brush. I use one of those small black bristle brushes with a round metal handle. Not sure what they are called but I call them flux brushes because they are used a lot to put flux on copper pipe and fittings 

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Those cheap acid brushes will let you down but work great for a one time use with epoxy or other glues  - then tossed away... 

 

Here's the routine my mentor in the lure making world followed all those years ago... He was a school teacher, fanatic angler, and a professional lure maker in every spare moment for many years.   This was more than forty years ago now.  He made his own molds and poured at times a hundred dozen heads per week using a Lee production hot pot set to deliver the exact amount of molten lead to each mold to keep up with local demand (he was the premier lure maker in south Florida when  i met him - and had been for many years).  None of his lures (bucktail jigs of every size all the way up to 8ozs. and as tiny as the smallest bonefish skimmer) were ever powder coated - instead he dipped them, rack after threaded rack in acrylic lacquer - then hung them on a wall with sheets of plywood fastened to it using nails to hang each rack ( about 30" per rack) one after the other... First the dip was into primer - then, when that dried (very quickly...) each rack of jigheads was dipped into trays holding the desired paint - then back up onto the drying wall... That system had a second purpose since once a rack of lures was hung it was a simple matter using an airbrush to go over any order that was supposed to be two toned... 

 

Here's how it worked then - and I suspect would work now... After a rack of lures was thoroughly dried it was set so that the side needing a second color could be air brushed (or spray painted) in a single pass to provide a two toned paint job.  I suspect that after powder coating and allowing heads to cool afterwards it would be a simple matter to do the same - and that whatever paint you used would adhere just fine to the original powder coating... With the racks of lures set onto plywood sheets any overspray wasn't an issue at all... 

 

His name was Bob White and I never fail to remember him whenever I'm tying flies or working with leadheads or bucktail jigs.  He passed away years ago but was a founding member of the Tropical Anglers Club - just about the only surviving fishing club in the Miami area today... Not many would have had the patience for all of my questions years ago.  When I first started tying jigs commercially it was his that I used, long before I turned to having mine made by a big outfit up north - then shipped to me for powder coating and the other things needed to make finished bucktail jigs to custom order... 

[skeet3t 0]

When I built custom rods, I used the cheap paint brushes from Oriental Trading. 100 for a few bucks. Wipe with DNA to clean,  use and toss.

[tidewaterfly 0]

Capt. Bob, Very cool! 👍👍  I seem to recall that Bob White also did some writing. 

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Never saw a thing he wrote but that's entirely possible since he was an absolute master.... I was very lucky all those years ago since after a divorce a guy I knew talked me into joining the club that Bob was so active in way back in 1976.  The Tropical Angler Club was very competitive and had many different tackle categories for it's members to shine in -with a club competition every six months.  Every year a few more world records were set by club members...  When I saw they had a fly division to compete in - I actually built my first fly rod before I knew how to use it (not very smart and I soon learned that fly rods, built properly, have more than a little art needed than just following a given formula..). That club, still going strong today, produced more than a few Met Tournament Master Anglers and a fair number of guys who, like me, went on to become guides and that included some real legends like John Emery and Ralph Delph among others,  many of them long gone today.  Every month the club scheduled a weekend outing (and competition, of course) that ranged as far north as Stuart, as far south as Key West - and over towards the gulf coast at Naples or Marco Island... 

I left the club when I married again - but still keep in contact.... By the way, today, if you can find one -  an Emery fly reel will be big money since there were only a few of them built... It came out before the rise of Abel and other big game fly reels and every part was carefully machined out of bar stock in either stainless steel or aluminum (and each aluminum part was anodized before being used in assembly - something that's routine today, but back then required some careful attention - the way FinNor and SeaMaster did as well...). 

[Fatman 0]

I use makeup brush's they work great!!  Better bristles - and it took lots of practice!!!