Weedless mold

[NAC89]

Hello all! First post here but have been lingering for some time. I have a question about a mold, specifically this one RVB-6-1632F. I have a chance to buy this mold used for a good price and am wondering if anyone has found a way to powder paint this jig with the weed guard in or perhaps a trick to use to pour the mold without weed guard and glue one in later, like the larger weed less jigs. I know that no base hole pin for this mold is stated that way on Do-It. This looks like a great jig for panfish and I would like to give it a try if I can find a way to easily powder paint it. Thanks!

[ctom]

Welcome to the Do-It forums.

The fiber guard that fits this mold has a 1/16" base. They do not list the pins used for casting in 1/16" but any soft metal rod of 1/16" cut to fit in the area the guard fits will suffice. Cast with the pins in place. Powder paint then pull the pins just prior to gluing the guards in place. You should be able to make a pile of pins for just a few bucks.

[smalljaw]

Get some 16 gauge finish nails and cut the heads off, they are 1/16" diameter and work well as a pin. The only thing is you will want to wrap a little masking tape to the bottom of the pin that doesn't go into the jig cavity. This will keep the pin from sliding down which could happen as there is a little tolerance in the weed guard slot.

[efishnc]

I've cut the eyes off of larger straight shanked hooks and used them as pins with great success... the bend not only gives me something to hold on to when placing them the mold, but it also seems to be held by the mold fairly well keeping them from slipping out... and it is easy to grip for twisting out of the cast heads.

[Lamar]

  Like said I would make a pin for it. But I would pull the pin after pouring the mold and then powder paint it and bake it. Then take a 1/16 drill bit and clean the hole out for the guard. This way you don't get paint all over the pin and you'll have a nice clean hole for the guard. Use super glue gell and they'll never pull out.

[NAC89]

   Smalljaw that should work perfectly! I didn’t even think of that as an option and for a couple bucks for a box of nails that will yield a lot of pins to use.

Get some 16 gauge finish nails and cut the heads off, they are 1/16" diameter and work well as a pin. The only thing is you will want to wrap a little masking tape to the bottom of the pin that doesn't go into the jig cavity. This will keep the pin from sliding down which could happen as there is a little tolerance in the weed guard slot.

     Thanks Lamar that’s a good idea. I’ve seen the Teflon pin used for painting the larger jigs because the paint doesn’t stick to it, but no 1/16 Teflon pin that I’ve been able to find.

  Like said I would make a pin for it. But I would pull the pin after pouring the mold and then powder paint it and bake it. Then take a 1/16 drill bit and clean the hole out for the guard. This way you don't get paint all over the pin and you'll have a nice clean hole for the guard. Use super glue gell and they'll never pull out.

   Thanks everyone for the replies! When I get some made up I will post them up. I’m really getting into this now. I started with the small Shad dart mold about 5 years ago to make some jigs for panfish, then about 2 months ago while on my fishing trip in Michigan I realized I was catching more fish on those than any store bought jigs and here I am now, I went from having just the Shad dart mold to now having 8 molds and still looking for more!

[smalljaw]

  Like said I would make a pin for it. But I would pull the pin after pouring the mold and then powder paint it and bake it. Then take a 1/16 drill bit and clean the hole out for the guard. This way you don't get paint all over the pin and you'll have a nice clean hole for the guard. Use super glue gell and they'll never pull out.

When I paint I have an effective way to avoid the drill bit. I have a small metal plate in front of me and I heat the jig head holding it by the bend of the hook with a hemostat. After the jig is heated I hold the head on the metal plate and insert a pin and then dip in the fluid bed and after it is painted I pull the pin right out. By doing it like that the pin doesn't get too hot and so it only takes a little scrape with a pair of pliers to clean the little bit of paint that may stick to it. The metal plate is there because if I put the jig head against wood it will cause it to burn a little when I'm doing a lot of jigs so the metal works better. After that I cure the jig with no pin in the hole and there isn't any issues with the hole after the curing process, it is much easier than trying to drill out the hole because that small hole will almost fill.

[Lamar]

When I paint I have an effective way to avoid the drill bit. I have a small metal plate in front of me and I heat the jig head holding it by the bend of the hook with a hemostat. After the jig is heated I hold the head on the metal plate and insert a pin and then dip in the fluid bed and after it is painted I pull the pin right out. By doing it like that the pin doesn't get too hot and so it only takes a little scrape with a pair of pliers to clean the little bit of paint that may stick to it. The metal plate is there because if I put the jig head against wood it will cause it to burn a little when I'm doing a lot of jigs so the metal works better. After that I cure the jig with no pin in the hole and there isn't any issues with the hole after the curing process, it is much easier than trying to drill out the hole because that small hole will almost fill.

  I guess we all have our own ways. For me I find that no matter what way you do it you always need to clean the hole out of some of them. It's just as easy for me to take a drill bite with a cordless drill and clean it out on each one.