Painting a soldered spoon

[quivira kid]

Alright guys, got a question for ya.
I make soldiered ice spoons for use on winter time crappies and gills. It's a blade with the hook soldiered to it. Could I powder paint and cure something like that without the spoon falling apart?
I bought a few a year ago, and whatever paint this guy (Jason, these weren't yours)used to make 'em sucked. After 3 or 4 fish, half the paint was off. The fish didn't seem to care, but at over a dollar each, it ticked me off.

Do I go ahead and try it, or will I end up with a mess to clean up?

Zac

 

[papaperch]

Try and find out the melting temp. point of the solder you are using. Then cure your spoons at a temp . less than that.

If you have to use a low temp than you are used to cure for longer time. I powder paint my pinmins that I make with no problem.

I cured one at a time until right formula ( temp + heat setting was right ) didn't have a whole bunch of trouble as I recall.

 

[papaperch]

Her are a few examples

40/60 solder has a melting point of 440 degrees so would work on any cure temps for PP.
60/40 solder ( most common ) has a melting point of 370 degrees. I allow 50 degree variance and cure at 320 for 25 min

silver loaded solder has melt point of 354 degrees and works great giving a nice shiny finish and use same settings as above as the 60/40. Only drawback more expensive.

 

[upnort16]

Yes, you can use powder paint for your ice jigs, but why? I mean the area for color is small, the heating is extremely crucial (timing), powder generally ends up on the plated backing which can be difficult to remove. I have an assortment of paint from the hobby store and I use a brush. Intricate details or designs are limited to what your brush skills are, but always use a top coat. I use CS clearcoat or two part epoxy. Not one jig has the paint removed yet. I probably made 500 or so this past ice season alone, so I believe the system works good. I'm not telling you to not try pp, but I personally had such a hard time with a single color I did not attempt multi color. I will attempt to post a pic or two showing the results with powder and then brushed on paint. Good luck and I would be happy to explain or help in any way,

 

[quivira kid]

Thanks for the responses, guys. Guess I will have to play around with some different methods.

 

[moswampy]

I used PP on some ice jigs with good results. Getting the flux residue off was more of a problem than PPing the jig. I used a heat gun and just put enough heat on the jig to get paint to stick. kept up the process until I had good coverage. I prefered to use glow colors, after I put a clear coat on them and did not cure. Had no issues with them banging around in a tackle pack on each other all summer.

 

[upnort16]

Usually I solder quite a few jig/blades at a time and getting the flux off was a problem for me too. I found once the assembly was cool to the touch I put them in a plastic container with a snap fit lid and plain old dimestore rubbing alcohol just covering them. Snap the lid, give a few seconds of the shake an bake, swish them around, then lay them on paper towel to evaporate/dry. Quick, easy, cheap and no matter what paint or powder is used, it will stick very well. Hope this helps.

 

[quivira kid]

NICE! That has been the biggest pain for me, too. I will be trying that for sure!

 

[slipbobber]

myself I use finger nail polish. And clear coat it afterwards.....I to use powder paint. And what I do is cure it at 250 degrees for 25 mins.

 

[moswampy]

upnort thanks for the input on getting the flux off. is a pain to clean each on individual as I have done in the past.

 

[upnort16]

The alcohol cleans most right off the bat, the heavier concentrated stuff then needs a quick scrape with an xacto knife. For those glow colors, do you put that on over a white base first? I played with the glow powders and glow vinyl, neither worked well without multiple coats. Maybe I expect more than it can offer, or I need a new approach to the brand or application. I realize the surface area of a small rocker or teardrop is limited, but if I could really get a good glow........

 

[moswampy]

I did not paint over white at all. just built up thin layers of PP using only enough heat to get it to set.