robalo01

I don't see why the Aluminite wouldn't work. Keep adding filler until it is as thick as you can manage. So far the resin I use has helkp up to hundreds of casts. The more molds you make the less they are individually exposed to the heat.

This is the "template" for the mold: http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b602/Stephen_Ashcraft/IMG-20130630-00028_zpsb997ada5.jpg A couple of pics of the finished molds: http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b602/Stephen_Ashcraft/IMG-20130630-00029_zps2cf379dc.jpg http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b602/Stephen_Ashcraft/IMG-20130630-00030_zps78f66798.jpg I like to add little bit of color to the resin to helkp distinguish them. Keeps me from mixing them up. I am using a casting resin and adding about 30% (volume) industrial Talk. I have also used POP as a filler with similar success. The talk is cheaper. The filler makes the resin shrink less and makes the mold a lot stronge. They flex better when clamping the sides together.

That is exactly it. You can replicate the mold as many times as you want.

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b602/Stephen_Ashcraft/IMG-20130612-00002_zpsc11a85b8.jpg http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b602/Stephen_Ashcraft/IMG-20130612-00001_zpsf10e0f4d.jpg http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b602/Stephen_Ashcraft/Santiago-20130608-00688_zpscc5db156.jpg

I have been able to make a Resin injection mold of a 9" Fluke (about 1" in diameter at the thickest point.) I was concerned that I would have trouble making such a large size, but after a couple of adjustments to the resin formula, they are working out fine. We are introducing them at a local outdoors expo this weekend, people like them so far. We will see how they sell. I don't miss aluminum molds. The resin molds do just as well. I feel like I have been given back the freedom to experiment and compete with the big boys in terms of designing and prototyping.

I have Bears in botht the 5.5 and 6.5. Don't be fooled by the size descriptions, they are very close to zoom's baby BH and original BH. I like the design better than BT or Dels. the Wings are longer.

One thing I have struggled with for the last couple of years, since the whole hand injection craze started, is that I was moving to less and less bait designing and more simply replicating someone else's design in custom colors and textures. I have continued to hand pour about 60% of what I make, but my clients have more often than not opted to go for the hand injection model that I did not design -- no flat sides and versitilty of working in full 3-d is hard to compete with, especially in bass lures. I have experimented with diferent ways of creating my own hand injected designs: Had some custom aluminum molds made but the cost of experimenting is not practical Made some POP molds, but the ability to replicate the molds in a accurate and practical way is not ideal and time it takes to make a truly good mold is way too long for me. Used different epoxys for 2-part molds but most didn't last under the heat of multiple plastic pours. Attempted many, many ways of making resin molds but failed due to shrinkage until now. I have found a way to make hand injection molds out of resin that is fairly simple and I can replicate my molds to make as many as I want in about 30 min for each mold. Here is what I am doing: 1. I make my original out of any hard substance (wood, resin, ect). I suppose this process could be used to copy another soft plastice, but that just isn't what I am in to. The quality of the surface of the original is very important. The eventual product will only be as good as the model. The modle should be about 5-7% larger than you want the finished product to be. 2. Make a bondo (body filler) mold taking great car to make the exterior sides perfectly square to each other. (I suppose any medium which you could succesfully use to make an accurate 2-par mild would work as long as you can mill the exterior) I use a sander to make the exterior sides smooth and flat. I add just a shot of resin to the bondo to lower the vescocity. Took a long to time to learn how to make these without air pockets, mostly practice. It sometimes take 2-3 tries for me to make a "perfect" bondo mold, but I keep trying until I have something I want to replicate. From the outside it should look kind of like a single cavity alunimum mold. Each half should be no thinner that 3/4 inch, 1.5 inches overall. These dementions might go higher for large models. 3. Make an RTV "mold" of each side of the bondo mold. Make sure you do this on a level surface. so everything is square. 4. Mix enough resin for both sides of the mold and pour both at the same time. 5. Once the resin is solid but verytender (will be very hot), pull both sides out, quickly lubricate the ajoining faces with petrolium jelly, and clamp together. I use several clamps applying even but firm pressure. It is important that the sides are all square so the the mold doesn't deform. 6. Every three or four minutes (probably more often at first), re-adjust the pressure on the clamps. As the resin shrinks, the clamps will loosen. if you don't adjust the sides will not cure "together." Do this until the molds are completely cold. 7. Sometimes you have to "crack them open" once they are cold, but so far I haven't broken any molds. I have been able to use this process to perfectly replicate a hand-made injection mold up to 25 times without any failures. This means I can once again design my own creations and injucet them economically, working with 25 molds of the same model at a time, I can be more productive than hand pouring. I am too stingy to buy 25 aluminum injection molds of the same model. Making then perfectly square allows me to clamp sever molds together, the way you would do with alluminum molds. Each duplicate takes about 20-40 minutes to make. I do have some concerns about the durability of the molds. I am sure they won't last as long as their aluminum counter parts, but It is reallt cheap and easy to make a few more if I need them. I am still experimenting with making very small appendages and the larger the model, the more difficult this process becomes, but for me this is a game changer. I will likely be buying very few aluminum injection molds in the future.

How do you fish those?

Looks like you did use blades that are too large. You might be able to fix it by shortening the upper arm (the one the blades are attached to). The shorter that arm in relation to the lower arm (the one with the head and hook), the larger the blade you can use. But you still may be a little bit too light for #5 and #3 Colorado.

If you are not super in love with the 5/64ths, wh not modify the mold to accept 1/8th?

Do you bake the mold closed or do you opene it to bake?

I always do my clay models on a small piece of glass. (assuming a 1 piece mold). You can get it pretty thin that way. When you are done, use the caly to create a dam around the model and pour your resin or RTV. Be sure to put it on a level surface. Using resin (my favorite) you can then sand the edges smoothe and duplicate the mold with a silicone negative.

Do a Google search for Stephen Ashcraft. Youll see a really easy one I made a while back.

I have tried used just about all of the out there except Collins, and they are crap (LilMack included). I would love to buy one of Collins molds, but he never answers his email or phone, so I dont really trust sending him money. What I wound up doing is buyin blank lee molds and cutting my own concave work weights. They work breat even at one cavity per casting. I can make about 250 per hour. And since I polished out the cavities they really shine. I cut the cavities with my drill press (shaped the bits on a belt sander). I had to have the the concave portion turned at a local machine shop.

I have also been doing this for about 10 years. I make my masters from Sculpting clay and pour the first mold with polyester resin. If I really like the bait, I make a silicone "negative" of the resin mold and mutilply it between 50 and 100 calls. I keep my original resin mold in a safe place and make a new negative as needed. Although you lose you original clay master, you keep the original mold. I have found I can undercut about 15-20% of the cavity and the silicone still comes out of the resin without any difficulty. Keep in mind that the replicated molds could shrink about 7-8% compared to the original, so take that into accounf when making your master. This has worked great for me. Good luck, Stephen

I am interested in buying one and would like some insight into which one is best. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I just bought one of these molds a couple of weeks ago. I sent feedback tothe company yesterday. I will copy it in here: Vince, Thanks for sending the mold. I have some feedback for you on it. The surfaces of the mold cavities are of a very good quality. It should produce a much better quality product that Do-it, except for the enormous gate that needs to be cut. I never got it to work properly. About one out of twenty castings come out properly. I have about 25 other molds from Do-it, Hilts and Palmer (Mostly Do-it) and have never given up on making a mold work before, but this one I give up on. I have tried various temperatures, ladle pouring, pouring from the spout on my Lee pot, different alloys (I usually run pure lead), fluxing the lead with various materials, and blackening the cavities with soot. No luck. Cause: I think air is getting trapped in the based (rim of the concave area) and won’t let the mold fill completely. I eventually cut a new gate and was able to pour the mold, although very inefficiently, by making the opening to one side of the cavity to fit my Lee pot spout exactly (3/8”) and allowing only 3/32” for the spru. This way the lead is gravity injected directly into the cavity. It isn’t a solution to this particular mold, but it got me thinking: Suggestion I am certain that there is a market for molds that will work with Lee pots -- that is to say, molds that have a single gate opening for each cavity that is 3\8” in diameter, about 3/16” deep and have a gate of about 3/32”. This would allow the user to cast a perfect product every time (0 defects) and have an almost insignificant gate that can be twisted off. Nobody is catering to this market. Do a shout-out at tackleunderground.com in the wire baits forum. I believe lot of custom bait makers would be interested. I would like to purchase more of you molds, but the gate is so large that, when the spru iscut off, it overshadows the quality of the cavity surface. Hope this helps, Stephen[/size] I am now having a blank bullet mold from Lee cut for the worm slip sinker (concave base). I tried for weeks to get ahold of Collins with no luck, so this is my plan C.

I have a bout 25 Do-molds, a few hilts, Lil mac and Palmer as well. I have used the Do-it blank molds for a couple of projects very successfully. The proble with the Do-it molds for this particular indevour is that the face is too large for me to cut into it from two different angles with the tools that I have. That's why I am interesd in smaller Lee bullet blank molds: https://factorysales.com/html/xcart/catalog/bullmol1.html Has anybody tried this?

I am going to have a single cavity, custom lead pouring mold made, and I am considering using a blank, Lee bullet mold rather than a Doit mold. Any reason why I shouldn't do this?

I have a fairly large pot that I use to melt down all impure lead and/or pieces that won't fit in my Lee pot and cast them into managable ingots. The pot is about 9 inches around and about 6 inches deep. For large ingots that I get sometimes and other large shapes that have at least one end that will fit in my 9 inch pot, I drill a hole in one end and hang into the pot from a tripod with a cable and pully and lower the piece of lead into the pot. OPnce the pot is full, I hoist the remainder up and por ingots. The pot is empty, I lower it in again. This isa good way to quicly and efficientll make ingots out of large pieces of lead.

So, my next question was: Is there an alternative for a high quality concave base bullet weight mold?

I had an email conversation with these guys a couple of months ago. Not that I want to place an order, they don;t respond to emails and I only get an answering machine on the phone. I have tried for a week now. Anybody know anything? This is the contact info I have: Shawn Collins sc3696@aol.com Collins Customs PO Box 427 Smithfield, VA 23431 757-365-4834 http://www.shawncollinscustoms.net/ or does anybody know anyone else who makes a comperable worm sinker mold (high quality, concave base)? Robalo01

Hi guys, Does anybody know a spinnerbait mold that I could purchase (other than the Do-it molds) that has a recess for molded eyes? The Do-it ios a great mold, but there's another fellow in my area using this mold and I am looking to distiguish my products from his. Stephen