If say you are only powder coating up to a dozen or so jig heads at a sitting - do you need a fluid bed set up for powder coating jig heads ? 

You don’t need a fluid bed but it makes painting the heads a lot easier and it saves paint too. They’re easy and inexpensive to make

I haven’t done it for years but we used to just heat the heads up to the required temp, then stick the heads right into the jar of paint powder. We never used any fluids

No fluids are used. The air in the chamber fluffs up the paint. Making it look like fluid, thus the name fluid bed

If you aren’t doing a bunch, the jars will be fine.  Just keep it stirred so it remains fluffy.

Fluid bed is very nice to have but if you are just doing 20 jigheads probably not worth it. I have 3 that I got from TJ's tackle and highly recommend his though you can make your own.

 

Allen

I appreciate the replies - it appears that a fluid bed is very nice but not a deal breaker if just doing a few jig heads from time to time . 

41 minutes ago, ChrisD46 said:

I appreciate the replies - it appears that a fluid bed is very nice but not a deal breaker if just doing a few jig heads from time to time . 

Right.  I've just heated them with a butane lighter, side of the flame so as not to get ash/carbon on the head.  Might not work for bigger ones, mine are all pretty small.  One thing you can do to make the coating more durable is to bake them in an oven - I've not done it, so can someone who has give the temp and time?  

350 for 15 minutes per Do-It Molds.

^ That's pretty much the standard that any instructional article/vid gives.

 

I'm sure @Munkin can chime in as Allen is our BR expert.

When you bake them, a toaster oven is standard but they are notorious for not being close to accurate.  My garage sale $5 toaster oven has baked several thousand jigs.  However, I melted some of the heads completely off before I figured out that it was very inaccurate.  Mine works best at the 250° setting and baking for 10 minutes.  Check it often until you get it figured out.

 

When I decided to get a fluid bed I was making 1000 jigs each year for a customer and using the jars.  Fluid beds were going for $400 each at the time.  Mike Seibert sent me some directions and I built my own for about $30 with components from Wal-Mart and Lowe’s.

18 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

Mike Seibert sent me some directions and I built my own for about $30 with components from Wal-Mart and Lowe’s.

Ya - there's instructions out there to DIY fluid beds. One even uses a PVC coupler and an aquarium pump.

I used to tie a lot of steelhead jigs and used pro-tech powder. Like someone else said I'd just heat the head up and dunk it. Certain colors covered far easier but that's typical in the powder/paint world anyway. Using this method of powder coating in an actual setting is called hot flocking...Not a proper method per say (goes against mfg recommendations) but you can get good results in the auto/industrial world so therefore the results from hot flocking jigs is fine, with or without a fluid bed. 

The majority of my jig heads I use now for powder coating are for Ned Rig and Shakey Head applications , so 1/16th oz. ~ 3/8th oz. is 90% of jig head size range . No problem to use powder paint straight from the jar (making sure to keep it fluffed) . *When I retire soon , I will definitely build a deluxe DIY fluid bed set up for powder painting jigs (along with my new Do-It molds for Mid-West Finesse jig heads and Shaky Heads) ... I have to show my wife I have no plans of parting ways from the Bait Monkey and his close relative : The Tackle Making Bait Monkey" !!

I paint 2 - 4 dozen jigs at a sitting and have done hundreds using TJ's Tackle 3" fluid bed. Once you get a feel for this system the results are consistently excellent, much better than dipping the jig into the jar. I believe TJ's fluid bed is offered at the best price out there and has worked with no problems.

 

https://www.tjstackle.com/

 

If you're curing in a toaster oven, spend another few bucks on an oven thermometer so you'll know the exact temperature. You'll enjoy these modest investments for years.