3d Printed Fluid Bed for Powder Coating Larger Fishing Jigs and Lures

Thought I would share a video of the 3d printed fluid beds I made for horizontal powder coating of longer jigs. The typical PVC fluid bed was limiting due to its size and amount of paint they hold so I made some beds that better fit the profile of the lure. This used less powder paint and allowed more room for larger lures and dual color patterns.
If you have a 3d printer or know someone who does, the beds can be printed fairly cheap (approximately one dollar in filament cost) but may take a few hours. Files can be downloaded from thingiverse at
www.thingivers...
Additional comments: I would recommend wearing a respirator when powder coating as the stuff can get airborne especially indoors. You might want to spray coat or paint the inside of the fluid bed to help seal any air leaks that could occur in the print. Bake the lures according to the paint manufacturer after coating. This will make the paint very tough and it will not chip easily.
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[@AWatermansLife]

Awesome!! What parts do you use to attack the hosing?

[@pellegrinoglentz406]

Would you like to make one of those fluid beds I would buy one off of you I need it for 6 inch vertical jig

[@sablontransfer]

do you use any regular powder coating ? or need a special one ? tx

[@ncsinkers]

Regular powder paint used. No special powder needed.

[@jefferyduran]

Would you please post a video on dipping the diamond jig in the fluid bed? It’d be so helpful!... How does the chrome turn out? Beautiful jigs BTW!!

[@ncsinkers]

Thanks for the compliment on the lures. It may be a little while before I get around to another video but in the meantime, here is some information based on my experience with the paints and temps. I set the heat gun on high for most lures 1oz+. I use two wires, one in the front loop of the lure and one in the back of the lure and run the jig over the heat gun while moving back and forth and flipping. The heat gun can actually melt smaller lures easily so be careful. For 1oz in size I use roughly 1 min and for larger lures the time will vary (2+ min). Also paints behave differently when coating so you will have to experiment and take notes. Dip the lure when hot with a swishing action (prob not more than 1 sec). The silver paint is great and one of the easiest to work with. If you get what they call an orange peel effect when painting, you can sometimes correct it by running the lure back over the heat gun after dipping which will help the paint flow. The reflective lures at the end have holographic foil or stickers on them. Hope this helps.

[@jefferyduran]

NCSinkers Thank you!!.. This is a brilliant video. I’m part of several fishing Facebook fishing communities with contributors from around the world. Would be nice if you joined. The link is: facebook.com/groups/1835444716510128/?ref=share

[@Deqster]

Well that's an awesome solution for a small scale fluidized bed! Did you happen to add a mesh material in the bottom or anything? It looks like the model on thingiverse is just a simple box from what I can tell.

[@30gills]

Do you have a video of assembling your print with the compressor fitting. I don't see how the air is not blowing the paint all over. Great idea, way to think outside the box.

[@ncsinkers]

Sorry I don’t have a view since it has been a few years. Airflow into the bed is very low (small compressor and flow is adjusted at the manifold). Inside the printed bed is a layer of filter paper that distributes the low pressure/airflow more evenly to produce the fluid like behavior. Hope this helps.

[@joelhernandez1995]

Great video and very creative. I do have a question. At the end of the video you had some that had foil on them. How do you get the foil on them and how do you cut the pattern to make them look professional. Thanks

[@ncsinkers]

Hi Joel. The patterns of the finished jigs (top left ones) were done with your typical lure tape (WTP) cut on a vinyl cutter and the others are done using hot stamping foil which uses high heat and pressure to make the foil adhere. If you search KZbin G. Rosa has some videos showing the process on crankbaits. Please read the comments in his post because most answers to questions can be found there. Good luck if you end up trying it. It can be very tedious on smaller lures but when it works well, the lures look great.

[@falures]

Can you still make them I would like to buy 3 with the connector for the hose

[@ncsinkers]

Hello. Unfortunately I do not sell these and the video was just done to give ideas and thoughts to others. If looking for the connectors they are 1/8mnpt x 1/4” push to connect fittings that are quite inexpensive. Hope this helps in some way.

[@jefferyduran]

Dude I love you!!.. show some more!..

[@markinnis8404]

Cool

[@DynoJetz]

What did u use for a filter at the bottom

[@ncsinkers]

If you take a look at the previous comment from captchrisf you can find details about the filter media I used. Although it was something people prob can’t get ahold of easy alternate materials should work. Hope that helps.

[@stevee4883]

I downloaded the stl and when I open it there is nothing in my slicer am I missing something?

[@ncsinkers]

Hi Steve. I download the model from the site and upload into my slicer (simplify3d). I was able to get the model to import but I do get a notification that the model may be in inches format and asks if I would I like to convert to mm format. It is possible that this may be the issue (model is very small but is actually there). This was my first upload to thingiverse and I am not all that experienced with CAD and slicers. If you find this is the issue or find out the issue is something else, please let me know and I will include additional info in the description or upload a new model. Thanks in advance.

[@stevee4883]

Ahhhh that was it. It was small and could not see it . Thanks

[@ncsinkers]

Great. Take a look at the comments to Captchrisf below for some additional notes about drilling the beds. Things I have learned since. Good luck and I hope it works out for you!

[@captchrisf]

Awesome idea! What type of filter is that you use? Thank you!

[@ncsinkers]

Thanks. The filter I was using was some left over HEPA filter media I had at work from an old project. It is similar to tyvek in build but probably much more uniform when it comes to airflow. Sorry I don't have much more information on it. When I started trying to make my own fluid bed I thought I would try it out and it worked good enough so I stuck with it. I actually haven't tried any other filter paper since, so I can't really comment on how it compares. I think the others will work just as well but I have noted some paints just don't behave very well. Additional notes if you build one. Definitely coat the inside of the bed and drill carefully because the printed material can rip away if too aggressive with it. I used a 1/4" countersink bit on some later builds and it drilled nicely and all I had to do was insert the 1/4" tube vs using a fitting. Hope this helps.

[@captchrisf]

@@ncsinkers thank you so much! Your insight is greatly appreciated!

[@AWatermansLife]

What pump do you like to use?

[@ncsinkers]

I have a smaller airbrush pump that I like to use because it has a little more capacity than some other pumps. I think a basic aquarium pump would do the trick as that is what most people use. Not sure how many beds you could run on one aquarium pump though.

[@AWatermansLife]

@@ncsinkers I don't mean to bother, but do you mind seeing if you airbrush pump has a brand and model on it? so many out there any i'm not sure witch are good or not.

[@ncsinkers]

@@AWatermansLife it is a Master TC-18 airbrush compressor. The plastic silver one not the blue metal unit. It works well but there are probably some less expensive and better made ones out there. I just happened to pick one up for another reason and I ended up repurposing it for the fluid beds.