Delw

Earth worm I know what the baits cost I was using those numbers as an example only. everyone seems to forget that there is other things involved in business also its called overhead. if you had to add insurance advertising and everything else your price would go up. the product generally costnoghting its all the other things that bring the price up. perfect example look at software, you know why its expensive its because of packaging. not the product.

Frank your correct we cant get bamboo stiks here that cheap. like you said people buy it so it dictates the price. Veyr few people know this GY does not do this to keep alive, he did this to make money. Do you really blame him? woudl you do it? He has one of the biggest specialty cattle ranchs in the use. I believ its called Kobe beef Most of his meat went to Japan Gary is a very very good buisness man and probally one fo the nicest guys someone can ever meet, He used to live here in AZ and was always at all the tournys including the little weekly ones, He would give out tons of baits , tackle fishing poles etc to kids at every tourny( he would just come to them to say hi and didnt fish them much) I have the utmost respect for gary and Ben Matusbu, I know them both. I cant say enough about those 2 people, they set my daughter up in bass fishing big local tournys here in az, Ben even went to the extent of checking up on her and seeing how she was doing in one tourny he was fishing here years ago. Yamamoto has donated more money and product to local tournys and charities than anyone else in the fishing industry here in AZ. They dont stop giving. At the same time they are in this business to make money. jmik26 what do you think he is giving these machines for free? a business to have like berkly , yamamoto, yum baits etc, yeah it takes MILLIONS, if you dont think it does try pricing equipment, buildings etc. better get your calculator cause its going to be more than you can count on your hands and toes. Which house? which car or truck? for that matter which boat, ( he has a few of them)does it really bother you that someone is creative enough to make a damn good living for them selves?

Oh yeah what should they cost? who are WE to dictate what a selling price is or how much profit we make? theres alot of things your not thinking about when it comes to business and people make money. People dont lay out large sums of cash to start a business only to give baits to people at a cheap cost. they start a bussiness to make a profit. so you think yamamoto baits should be less.? becuase its only cost 25 cents to make a bad of baits? look at it this way. cost of machines millions and millions cost of buildings millions and millions cost of advertising millins and millions then you have other cost employees insurance( from the employees to buildings to product libility) monthly plastic supplies monthly bag supplies printing catalogs up keep and the list goes on more than you can imagine. so lets say a bag of baits cost $10 and it cost him $5 to make. he makes a $5 profit, then due to price increases his baits cost $8 so instead of making $5 profit he is now making only $2 profit. why shouldnt he raise his rates to keep the same profit margin? the profit is what dictates what you can due for the future of the company and new machines unexpected problems etc. He spent millions and millions of dollars to make a product and because he is making a profit people get upset and say its too much, what they dont relize is with out people making profit companies cant grow. they employee people( like you and me) so we can afford to buy things, buy a house have a family etc.(which help companies grow and keep our butts from living off the goverment.) [/code]

genes patent ran out 2 or 3 years ago I believe. Salt is primarily used for weight to make a stik bait sink like a senko

Jim a 3/8 and 1/4 pipe tap can be bought at almost every autoparts store in the states and most hardware stores. The run about 3-12 bucks. Make sure beofre you even buy one that there is enough material to actually make it work( if its a 1/8" thick thats pushing it but will work ) Dont forget that a pipe thread is a tapered thread so dont go all the way through with the tap , go a turn or 2 then try you pipe and a turn or 2 more and try it again. if its thin material under 1/8" make sure you use high temp lock tight and be careful with it. if your pipe goes through to much just measure and cut off the excess that sticks through the pot. A better way to make it work on thin material is to get a knock out tool and punch a hole through the material( home depot sells them, used for electrical stuff)) then you find a brass nut and pipe thread with a flange that you can screw to it. Basically what you get is a brass piece with a pipe thread inside it and a regular out side thread with a nut and washers. Delw

Nova, in the states you need libility insuracne for everything and anything, just to rent a building you need it, too guide fishing trips you need it, machine shops need it. its not that expensive(well it is but not that bad). Problem is theres always some nutcase out there that wants to sue, why I have no clue other than its an easy buck for them. if you are selling baits and dont have insurance your taking a risk big time, all it takes is some nut ball claiming he go sick from your baits and BOOM your living in a cardboard box out in one of the many parks that are zoned for carboard box's

Nova, ghost. Thats not entirly true. Big store chains. You need to be able to produce enough baits to keep in stock on there shelves. Walmart is the most difficult to get into, mainly due to the size of there stores nationwide. Cabelas and bass proshops Not sure on cableas or gander mountain but bass pro shop has three levels. one being local instore only catalog nation wide and finally all store nationwide. I have a few customers that are at the local level, for a few years, are are little guys and started out little and slowly built up. they started with just a few molds and hand pouring, now they are are big time and using injection machines. It was alot of work for these guys and cost them alot of money once they got in. but they worked hard at it and was able to fill the requierments needed for stock. Keeping stock and having a sell able product is the whole key to growing big and getting in with the big store chains. Hand pour guys just cant do it for the most part , there is noway to keep the kinda quanities for a nation wide store chain. one 2 or three guys just cant do it making baits one or 2 days a week. even at 5000 baits per week you wouldnt cover one store. 5000 baits a week sounds like alot but think about it its only 500 bags of ten then if you break it down to 5-10 colors your only looking at 100-50 bags a week. to just one store. store chains are not going to waste there time and shelf space just to have some one start then pull out 2 months later because they got tired or they took vacation and wont get this months or even weeks shipment. They want a real company that has employees and can run production if one or 2 quite or even decided to take some time off. for selling your baits your best bet is internet sales and local shops, word gets aorund and you slowly get bigger, but again if you cant produce the quanities your not going to sell. on cost if you have a product that sells for lets say 3.00 per bag. store chains are going to want to make a profit were not talking a profit of 10% either, typ. profits are like 75%-150% thats the same with most bait shops on baits as well. As far as what jmik is talking about Will companies buy his ideas. Yes if you can sell yourself. Zoom I know has a few people that freelance and do nothing but design baits for them however getting a job like this is next to impossible, you really need to know someone in the company. Most of there biat designs come from bigname pros( cause its easier to sell something if you have a name behind it like vandam then if you have some little guy named rick from tim buck 2 and uses this bait in a local farm pond). best bet is to talk to a manufacturer that sells baits and go from there. you chances are about 1% , think about it everyone has a better idea for a bait, making a bait is all about selling it wether it works or not. I am betting that big companies get calls almost ever day of someone saying hey I have a bait that will kill them will you produce it. Advertising is the whole key to getting big, advertising takes lots of money as well, perfect example is wave worms in fla., he started out very small. he was just able to sell himself in order to get the money from investors willing to take a chance. Reaction inovations is another small time success story. he won a tourny and used that money to finance his bait company and advertise it, however he had a heads up on advertising cause he was in the spotlight at that time. so if you want to go big, youd better buy or design a machine that wil reproduce your baits the way you pour them. Hand pour guys can design a machine to do exactly what they do with open cavity molds pour them the exact same way you do by hand. case in point robo worms. machines probally will cost 30-50k for 3-5 color pours plus molds. these machines are not widely used and would have to be made to specs from you. other baits if your serious about it get a injection machine your cost about 20- 40k from zorn molds plus the molds. and plan buying a few of these machines also. one guy that I know of has 30+ injection machines and uses 3000+ gals of plastic a week they do work for the big guys as some of you have put it ie cabelas and bass proshops he just one of many shops that do this.

One thing when useinga drill press the bigger the dia of the drill or stirr the less RMP'S you need to go. Ryan if you use a bigger stirrer make sure you go slower If Too slow is to fast Then you can either buy another pulley to put on the spindle end( a smaller pulley) or get a varible speed motor and put a varible speed controler on it( like we talked about in previous posts 1000 rpms on a 1/2 dia s very slow however you put 1000 rpms on a 3-8" dia and the thing loks like it flying and can be very dangerous ie whipping plastic around hot plastic and even throwing the drill press off balance. so make sure you have everything tighted down TIGHT. Delw

lure_learning you wont have to worry about the heat travilng to the motor. the motor is on the back and the chuck is ran by pulleys and belts. If you are concerned about it run a like PC case fan to the motor or to the chuck. The bearings wont get hurt if it gets hot either Delw

Do yourself a favor DONT USE THE PLASTIC INJECTOR They will melt in your hand and you will be in pain for a few months, Ask BOBBY I got it bad to the point where fishing 2 months later was even next to impossible.

Ryan Nice set-up if you know anyone with a welder have them make you a mixing blade off that shaft, put big holes in it off set or bend it like craw was saying, try to keep 1/2"-1" clearnace per side. Also I notice that pots has the non stick finish on it, how does that work? does the plastic come out pretty easy? or does it still stick? If it comes out easy DONT scratch it up at all other wise it will start sticking. Heres something that might help on clean up as well. when the plastic hardens on the 90? bend (after it gets cold) just unsrcew it and lightly screw in another one, cleaning that one later. You might want to keep a few elbows cleaned and ready. Also your using a ball valve thats very smart they shut off and open very easy when the plastic is cold( not real easy but easy) due to the sharp edges. you might want to lubricate the ball valve with softener so the plastic doesnt get between the ball and the inside of the vale assembly , just a few drops. keeping those fittings only hand tight wont hurt anything( ie wont leak) and they will make it easier for you to clean with out having tools all over. Nice job Delw

All yamamotos grubs and ikas are made like what I described, its fairly easy and extreamly fast heres another link for a how too. http://www.tackleunderground.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=4781&highlight=ika some people say skirts are expensive , One of my customers told me of a place to get them in the 1000's but I cant find the link its not a yamamoto skirt but they are really cheap. The yamamotos skirts are double skirts you cut them in half with a razor blade. so instead of having a 50 bag or a 25 bag you have a 50 bag and a 100 bag, after you cut them. The other way to do it instead of a soldering iron is to place the skirt on top of the bait immediatly after its been poured the hot plastic will fuse it together. I am going to try to make the mold so the cut skirt will fit right at the edge of the mold. one other thing fat ikas with out skirts is an awsum bait, mainly cause they are short and fat. I have pinched the skirt off the ika's a few times with good results.

The way they are made is you pour the fat part and glue the skirt on them with a soldering iron, Ive posted before how to make them its pretty simple. We have ika molds and should have stock built up sometime next week, Skirts can be bought from yamamoto or a few other companies Delw

Thats not a bad idea at all I never even thought about that and I have used both. Another way to make a cheap stirrrer is to take a 3/16-3/8 rod cut a slit in it with a hacksaw and stick an electrical box cover in the slit. Pop some holes in the cover about 1/2 -3/4 dia. and put it in the pot it will mix stuff extreamy well. On a lee pot cut the box cover so its about 1/2" clearance on each end of the pot and stagger the holes. this will keep everything mixed perfectly.

Monty a hand held would work fine if you could mount some how and keep it on all the time. if your pot wasnt big enough for both mixer attachments you could use just one. You need to keep it on the slowest speed

its basically the same thing. just get a little outdoor electrical box that will hold the dimmer switch. Delw

Dave get ahold of frank(senkosam) and try some of that sugar flake he has, it will allow you to have a more trasparent bait rather than opaque(sp) like the white salt gives you.

Take a picture of the whole bait and use photoshop and take a section of it out. Ive seen some very very nice color charts people have used. I heard the trick was to take the pic of the bait over glass.

Ryan You might want to try a dimmer switch. ( like the use on ceiling fans) the only problem I can see you haveing is drawing to many amps and burning the dimmer switch out. Basically the dimmer switch is a reostat. That would be interesting if it worked. but again you might have a problem with over amping as I am not sure what the frydaddy draws for amperage. one other thing you could do is take a lee pot thermostat control( same thing as a dimmer switch) it will handle more amps

jmik26. you just dont quit do ya,. James bought a large quanitys of a different batch number, ( if I remember correctly James also told me he had a few different batch numbers) he is not using it for hand pouring. this was purchased last summer.

That sluggo has been the hardest one for me to get as well I use a hard also which seems to be the closest but its not perfect. Delw

Jim From what I have been told by both the company and users is that they can go just past 400? , 375 being optimal. I never used a thermometer. According to calhoun the heat stabilizers burn off first, so keeping it heated for a long time is not a good thing unles you add more stabilizer, this would go for any plastic BTW. Ryan I dont think you need to worry, James buys it in bulk Direct and I am sure its a differnt batch number than what you recieved. But I did check to ease your mind. They will let me know in the AM. Frank Yes we had no problems with our last batch, we have more coming monday. in the microwave there are some slight bubbles just after it gels and they burn off when it gets to pouring temps. its pretty clear. on the stove I dont have any problems either way and the plastic is alot clearer. this goes with any plastic its really nice cooked on the stove. jmik26 you told me on the phone that you couldnt get it to pour thin, ie it was very thick, came out in clumps, so how did you pour stick baits with that? Like I told you on the phone there was only 5 people who got that problem and all was taken care of( franks buddy was one of them) so the rest of the drum didnt get sent out. Just thought I would let you know again incase you had forgotten our telephone coversation. If your still using it to pour stick baits or have used it to pour stick baits then it obviously pours fine. Please dont get me wrong, if there is plastic that isnt useable we will take care of it we always have and always will with any of our products, just like lure craft and m-f and the other companies selling products. But when I read about these problems on the internet and no one says anything to me on the phone how the heck am I suppose to know what is going on. its come down to one or 2 people bashing calhoun plastics, for what ever reason. These people wait 2-3 months to contact the seller, and will bitch up a storm on the internet before they even notify the seller. Personally I dont care if you bash calhoun lure craft or m-f or anything else for that matter it makes no difference to me. If something is wrong with something we sell we take care of it. what does tick me off is people who will tell half truths and not give out the whole story, Better yet not call and say HEY I HAVE A PROBLEM, but instead talk smack. Why I have no clue, maybe its to look cool in front of a few freinds, they didnt get there products fast enough, I couldnt make a custom mold fast enough for them and at there price range, I have know Idea and I really dont care, I think its about time Companies respond back to negitive stuff from buyers, why Other companies dont stick up for there products I could never understand. If something is bad most people know I am the first to say so if I have been told. BTW out of 3+ years in doing this with 1000's of gallons sold,Less than 20 people we had to replace plastic too. less than 10 ever said they were unhappy with it. and only 2 keep on bitching on the internet but have yet to send me the bad plastic. Delw

James, Keep in mind if you cook it very long ( like it a hot pot) that the heat stabilizer will burn off. same thing with reheating over and over. I believe heat stabilizer burns (evaporates ) the fastest. so if your useing a hot pot and its sitting for a while you might want to add heat stabilizer a few times every 1-2 hours? Delw

If plastic is turning yellow and this is pretty much all plastics its generally because of over heating. Try A capful or heat stabilizer in what ever brand you are using. Like senkosam said reheats are really prone to turning yellow mainly cause the stuff doesnt get stirred enough while heating.( its very hard to mix also) if your going to remelt cut it up very fine and if you still have the problem add a very small amount of heat stabilizer to it. Delw