Delw

Oh yeah one other thing, when you get into more complexed molds whether it be bob shawn or I, sometimes they don't pour like we want. sure we can make anything and as small as you want , but is it pour able . the alum mold craze is a whole new deal, and using cnc machines allows you to make pretty much anything no matter how small, the problem lies in that some just have to be injected ( thats how most commercial baits are done now anyhow) The beaver type baits are a perfect example. thats an injected bait, it was a nightmare to get made so it would hand pour correctly, too much salt and it wont pour that well, too little salt and people don't like them. another example remember that weird bait a while ago that someone put a video up, someone mentioned that it would be impossible to make? I made it and it pours ok however you have to make three pours from three spots( yes the mold is all closed) look identicle to the real thing too. the reason you don't see it online is because it will be a problem someone will ultimately complain cause they have to pour in three holes. same goes for the javalon swim bait made in japan, that mold is pretty nice but there are steps you need to do to make it pour correctly, some guys don't mind and some guys do, Bob Shawn and I have molds that are pretty cool but you won't see them cause they are hard to pour. hope that made sence Delw

so you got one with out the holes in the side?, you never sent me the pics either so how could I tell what was up? can't fix a problem if I don't know what it is. btw bobs is a completely different type of frog in the legs, mine are based off the ribbit with flat legs. I made them like this due to thats what my customers wanted. when I find a problem or customers have problems pouring them we try to resolve the issue. the issue can be anywhere from salt, plastic tempature , mold vent holes etc. I never ship out anything I can't pour but due to the above varibles we can't control everything. so when someone has a problem I look into how to fix it. but again if I don't get feed back I don't know how to fix it. your problem could have been resolved very easily by sending me a picture,like I asked but instead I get to read it on the internet 3-6 months later. I have one mold I am working on now that I poured 50 baits with and used them, they poured flawlessly. so I figured it was a done deal and put them online. 2 months later I have one customer who is having a problem pouring them. he sent me some pics. I couldn't duplicate it. then one day a few weeks ago I was pouring some for a tourny walla I can't pour them and its the same mold I used the first time. one of my buddies comes to the shop and pours them just fine and I can't now, I am beating my head against a wall, Called a few of my customers that have them and they have no problems, (one guy told me he gets one bad one out of 10) but I do and so does the org. customer. I have 40 of these molds out. try figuring that one out. Delw

then I would get reemed cause I wasn't answering emails or the telephone. BTW the cnc is always running and so is my cad-cam program but thanks for the advice

Gunnie, there is no substance or material that will shrink evenly for what your asking. saint has it right in the case of this bait it would have to be scaled down. which since I made the org. cam file it can be done, however its not as easy at it sounds and will take a bit of programming and time. we are going to eventually offer them in sizes from 4" -10", right now we are just trying to get all our 11 swim baits out in the common sizes then we will go back and make other size's. unfortunately they take a lot of time to do the one swimbait in which you are talking about I have over 83 hours of programming time and set-up machine time alone in it( this includes changes to make the final). right now I am hoping by the end of july to have all the swimbaits done and some in a few different sizes, but that depends on everything else we get in to run. I am only off by a month this time

Jim, you never had a problem pouring ths mold like you said or at least you didn't tell me. there was a problem in the early version ones were sometimes the feet would have a small little dent in it every once in a while usually when the mold was cold or if the plastic was very thick. I poured them my partners 12 year old son had poured them and still does. but 1 in 20 come on man don't stretch the truth. The newer ones I put a vent in the legs they pour 100% and I havent heard anything stating otherwise I've sold well over 100 of these molds , and in the 4 cavity ones well over 30. some of the guys who had the early version had some problems Like I mentioned above, they sent them back and we fixed them free of charge. The toad mold ( close to the horney toad) you can't pour in one shot its impossible, it was never even designed or mentioned you could. so if your complaining about this one its a mute point and your just complaining to complain again, cause it was never stated you can pour in one shot and never intended to. The buzz frog ( like the ribbit frog)is the one that you can pour in one shot. Delw

I recommend the hard or a 50-50 hard and med mix. The soft is just way way to soft

Like Ryan said its not worth it for a hand pour guy, and its expensive, it doesnt really save you any money. to make it worth your while you need to have 6-10 cubes(do to cooling) and you need to inject them. the cooling off takes a very long time, I built 2 for a guy in upper Ca 3 years ago, he ended up buying extra sides so he could use them with only one middle section. basically have 14 cavities 7 per row. He has all the pieces still and the last time I talked to him he was thinking fo water cooling the mold with some runners to get the plastic cool, but it just wasnt worth it. we used drill rod to align them. Its very time consuming to put them all together and the molds get extreamly hot, they need to clamped with clamps ( quick clamps). then to top it all off you have alot of weight and when full your probally talking 50-100 lbs per block. plus when its heavy and that many piece's they get dropped alot, this will ding the sides and you have to sand them.

Hey matt have you every tried gelcoat? thats works pretty good also but it cracks easy if you drop it.

RTV gives off a dull finish a lot and the detail sucks pop gives a better detail and you can coat it for a very smooth finish. Like Matt said the surface of what you our into is what makes the shine

Aluminum will always give you the best finish,it will also give the best detail. Pop or something close with a good coat of something smooth would be second and silicon would be last

nyfisherman the mold can be made however it wont pour unless every single tenticle is vented all the way around. that means a 1/32 or smaller hole at the tip of every tenticle. you will probally have your best luck with RTV because RVT holds the heat better than alum and plastic flows better in it. you could use some piano wire for the vent holes but with RVT because it shrinks I would go with 1/16 size. now if you could find someone to inject it that would be the way to go.

you can add softener to it in the regular plastic when using it as an additive, but I assumed you were going to cook it by itself and wanted to add softener. It will act just like Salt in that its going to firm the bait up a tad., using a little bit wont affect it much

it works better as an additive. you can use it as full product but most guys just cant cook it with out burning it, mainly cause they dont stir it well enough. yes it contains the mirco-spheres. best way to cook it as and additive is: (example one cup) heat your soft plastic up as normal get 2 table spoons of the floating plastic and stir it into the already cookes plastic, let it absorb the heat so to speak( so it cooks) the heat it up some more( in a micro about 10-20 seconds) so you know its thorughly cooked. if you want to cook it alone. don't use a mircowave use a oven only ( yes an oven) cook it slow at about 300. The whole key to cooking this(by itself) is it must be stirred and I mean whipped type stirred. it will come out when mixed properly a little thinner than cool whip. the best way is to use an egg beater. and you must do it every time you use it even after it sets for 30 mins as the bubbles float to the top, leaving the softener on the bottom. it will pour alike a very heavy salt water plastic ie thick. you can't not pour it in frog molds with great success. best in open cavitie molds only ie super flukes, slug molds worms etc. you can't mix it will softener as wont cook right. Delw

$150-$1000, depneds what the swimbait looks like, alot of swimbaits cannot be cut in one piece of alum.

Hawg I was going to say the same thing, matts swimbaits are as close to real as you can get.

Ottoman, the blue fleck is made by berkley, its like a blackgrape with a hint of red in it, looks like a dark bing cherry if you have seen cherry trees. then you put blue flakes in it, if you put green flakes in it you will get close to a june bug, june bug has less red then blue

color #221 is nightcrawler the cinnamon and purple flake your bottom pic is the same thing just with blue blake

zooms redbug is built with bleeding colors, they have a special way of doing it the bait looks nothing like redbug for the first 12 hours after 24-36 hours it starts to change. you can get it really close by using non-bleeding colors like some of the recipes already givin. one of my customers who works for zoom over nighted me one and it was just starting to change, it looked green brown purple kinda like a motor oil with purple in it, then when it finally changed it looked just like the org redbug.

Chartreuse and yellows bleed even worse when using salt. most baits will change after a period of time when salt is in the plastic. we have found that using florescent yellow in place of chart in no salt baits will not bleed , on salted baits it wont bleed as bad. I have some flo yellow baits that are 3 years old and been sitting in my partners boat the whole time

A microwave wont work for salt, Reason being a microwave needs water(moisture) to cook, if there is no moisture then it wont cook. (yes even plastic has water in it), plus the moisture you have in the salt will just stay in there when its heating. if you want to dry your salt use corragated cardboard and stick pieces in the container. In order for salt to be completely dry it needs to be stored in cardboard or a paper container. plastic metal and other containers will draw moisture. paper and cardboard won't Before anyone say's " you sell you ship your salt in plastic" your right we do for a few reasons one being its cheaper and reduces a huge mess if one gets damaged in shipping. some guys say they fry there salt, I know one guy puts it in an over for a few hours on a backing sheet at 150º 20-30 lbs at a time me myself I just dump it in as its not that big of a deal. Delw

We send samples out only if we have them, I don't have much time to pour anymore, so samples pretty much dont get made unless I am taking pictures of new molds.

Yes, its possible. you need to have the fill hole were your last pour will be. take the top off pour the first to colors then close the mold and pour your final color.

Eric , do you pour out of a pan or out of a pyrex? you can get the tails really thin pouring out of a pan, just fill the pan about 1/4 of the way so you can pour a fine line. if you have some time the best method is to lay the mold on a griddle and heat it to about 250 degrees then pour the plastic in the tail, it will help the flow making it as thin as you want. you are right though RVT works really well for pouring extreamly thin tails

Most people just tie a treble hook on the end of the line and stick one hook of the treble into the bait. running a tube through the bait will just ruin the action of the tail Delw

Its your choice as it has to do with line size. if your throwing 20lb test you would need something big enough to for that line size to go through. the outside dia, doesnt make that much of a difference. I think you would probally be ok with .062 inside dia. as that should cover most lines and give plenty of play but not too much.