Powder Coating Jig Heads with Fluid Bed

Has anyone made a Fluid Bed for powder coating jig heads? I would be interested to hear what worked and what didn’t.

I have and they work great. Those in your pic look way more complex than the plans I used.

I’ll try to get a photo of one of my beds today. They were easy to make and really put a nice coat on your jigs.

What didnt work: too much air when trying to open valve...powder goes all over.

What works: the more powder in the pipe, the better it will “fluid”

Haven't done any in a while. You are right about keeping the air down when you flip the switch or you just powder coated the room. Once you get the time in down on heating the jig head it works great. Make sure and put a little clear coat in the powder to make them really slick looking when they come out. Have done several hundred in different colors,weights, and hook sizes when I tournament fished.

btomlin- pics would be appreciated, those couplers are $9 each in the post and overkill for the application.

WhieTrash88- I plan to run a clear coat UV dip on all my jigs as last step. Did you bake (ie' toaster oven or heat gun) after dip or just pre-heat prior to dip?

Another tip is hold the jig head by the eye when you heat and dunk it in the powder. I use forceps to do them. Saves you from having to clean out the eye after there dry.

Just an update:
Finished my Fluid Bed and happy with the results, I used a coffee filter to separate the air chamber from the powder and that worked better than copy paper for me. I can powder coat (4) colors at once but a single chamber would be fine.

They work great for powder coating. I have only used the white. Be careful not to let jig melt over the heat gun.

Lol...sounds like you speak from experience...
I've done it a time or 3 myself...lol

My set up uses two fluid beds and a heat gun, also a small compressor set to just let the powder flow...

Also have a designated toaster oven just for baking on the finish...





















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here are some bucktails these are 7 and 8 oz heavy deep water jigs... We loose up to 20 per trip






























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You've shown us the jigs lets see some of these fish that are worth losing a bunch of jigs for.

What is the overal length of those heavy jigs River....?

Thanks
Osky

The big fish lay in sticky cover and we drift over loosing jigs...













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they are about 7" and as you can see in the first picture we add a 6" grub and they still inhale the bait...

River Birch,
Nice set-up... I also have a dedicated toaster oven - on the first batch, I had it on Bake @ 300 degrees for 20mins and I had drips on the jig heads. I had better success on Warm at 300 for 18 minutes, how long do you leave your jigs in and at what temp?

Your set up is way nicer Eagleye I went the simple route.


I do get "drips" and just snip them off with a bull nosed pliers.... Usually I bake for about one hour at 350 haven't tried lower temps for shorter times... Maybe next batch

My fluid beds look like the ones in the first picture and they are ran by an aquarium pump that looks like the one in the second picture. I only made two beds though and mostly make jigs from 1/8 to 5/8 oz. I have a toaster oven as well that I use to bake them in. Some of them I don't bother baking because they are gone before the paint gets a chance to chip off. I don't clean many eyes out if the paint is "fluid" enough it doesn't go on thick enough to clog up the eye in my experience. I use coffee filters as well. Some nice looking jigs you guys are making.

Very nice guys