We are making weedless jig heads and have a question.

We have tried to powder coat and cure them with the weed guard installed. It looks sloppy and when you cure the paint is melts the weed guards. It appears that when you buy them the weed guard is epoxyed in after they are painted and cured. We tried to leave the pin in and paint but it makes getting the pin out very difficult.

Our question how do you keep the paint out of the weed guard hole?