camrynekai

It took me well over 10 years to develop a true Senko knock-off.....to be honest with you all, the biggest hurdle to get over in order to achieve a perfect Senko copy, is to have complete control of every aspect the delivery system and cooling process. it took countless hours to build a pumping system that yielded perfectly mixed plastic and salt from the very first bait to the last drop of the batch while maintaining precise temperature control. Once I achieved that, I focused on the proper rock salt required (no flake salt). There is an over whelming assortment of different styles of salt....OMG i must of had 50 different kinds of salt and only two of them were hands down the winner for clarity and density while having the appropriate size rock to work with. Then on to the plastic...yup have tried them all found two blends that work out of the box with no required addition of softener or any other stabilizers and such. Now I have it narrowed down to the correct plastic(best off the shelf), the correct salt with a precision control of the salt to plastic ratio, precise temp control...now I can safely work towards tuning it all in. During the tuning process I notice that even though I have everything super tuned in and have precise control of every aspect of the delivery system the cooling of the injected plastic was to slow causing the salt to shift within the bait while cooling....this how ever did not happen on my first shoot of the mold...this only happened after the mold started to heat up. This was an easy fix...I just purchased custom production molds to fit my batch size. I was very naive in the beginning of my quest to make a perfect Senko copy and it was expensive!!! to say the least with a shit load of failures ta-boot. This very looooong and expensive process was worth it, now having everything tuned it is a dream to be able to consistently make baits that are in spec. bait after bait after bait....I couldn't be happier!!

Been a M-F fan for 15+ years

Is oiling required by certain injector manufactures? I haven't had any issues with my ultra molds twin injector and it has 1000's of shoots under its belt using 70/30 plastic salt mix. Just curious.

Nice info!!!!

Reason I use the TA8-SNR is the auto tune is spot on(no need for a degree in P.I.D. programing). Basically you fill your pots with plastic, turn on mixer, put the TA8 into auto tune mode and set a desired working temp (330ish) the unit then will take over and it will heat and cool your plastic in a 3 cycle format....after it does this you controller WILL work perfect +or- 2 degrees with NO overshoot. The settings will automatically be saved so this is a one time needed alignment. After your alignment is done you use the PID just like the digital thermostat on the wall of your home. Just a note....use junk plastic for this alignment because it WILL burn during this process.

The trapped heat from the heating element would give you false readings....adding the vent holes around the sensor eliminated the anomaly. A well for the sensor would be great....but that puts this mod out of the reach for most DIYers.

Ran in PID Format....I dont have an over shoot problem??? My Pouring temp is a long ways down from my kick temp. That is the reason I have to wait.

At the present time I just pour in raw plastic....with the lee lead model that i am using it gets hot quickly. From raw plastic to filled molds is taking just under 20 minutes. 5-7 of the minutes are being wasted waiting for my plastic to cool down and hit its pouring temp.

It is touching the bottom of the pot. The K sensor is located approximately 1" from the outside edge of the of the outer shell. The perforated holes around the K sensor is a MUST for accurate operation.

Have had several emails in regards to how I modified my LEE Pot Temp Control. Here is the info needed. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-F-C-Thermostat-PIDTemperature-Controller-TA8-SNR-K-thermocouple-80A-SSR-/291314464213?hash=item43d3b1f5d5 I also recommend to remove/bypass the stock Lee Temp control and you MUST preform a PID auto tune!

I run my blending block at 330 and my pots are at 276 using M-F SS. Haven't had a single dented bait or unfilled appendage in the past 15 gallons. results will vary depending on brand and hardness of the plastic your using.

They are hi-temp ones....the coarse salt I use is the culprit causing the o-rings to fray every now and then. I can run an endless amount of plastic with out any failures without salt....but when im using salt i go through a o-ring about every 5 gallons of plastic.

Update....Been beating this thing to death this summer and other then a few nozzle o-rings going bad, it has been truly flawless. The Ultra molds twin injector is soooooo freaking cool! From raw plastic to empty molds is taking me about 17 minutes for 90 5" salted sticks. Wish I had this years ago!!!

For open pour and salt-less baits, I wouldn't use anything else but the Lee pots. The Lee's work great for open-pour laminated baits....however the stock temp control sucks for the most part. If using salt in your baits.....Lee is NOT the best option.....but with the correct mixer it can be the bomb for smaller quantity's.

WOW!!!! did I ever jinx myself ordered a bunch of production molds from a company that I have been dealing with for ever....been 5 months and have only received half of my PAID my order so far. Have called many, many times and get ZERO response......starting to get very agitated!!!!

Thanks....looking forward to the results.

I used Kysan 57BYGH310 hi-torque 1/4" shaft stepper motors. 0-200 Variable RPM's and whisper quiet....cost about $25ea.

It is .035-.040 in size, I have the MF lavender....not quite the same and Its too opaque to be a disco glitter....if i didnt know any better it has UV glow in it. Need to get a black light and see. surly has a look all to its own.

Ahhhhhhhhh the very long awaited mold order has begun to come in. Got the first batch of production molds yesterday!!!! will be putting the new system to work this weekend... hopefully all goes smoothly.

Any idea what color glitter Yamamoto is using in his 973 Electric Shad??? I cant seem to find anything like it out there. Photo doesn't do it justice.

For $10 you cant beat it. Nice way to accurately measure powders and glitter. I have always been a proponent of accurate measurements of my plastic color formulas. If you purchased baits from me 20 years ago....you would get the same exact bait if you ordered them from me today.

I use the LEE Gun powder measuring scoops.

Yamamoto 305 Baby Bass 2 cups plastic appropriate amount of salt 23 drops original Lurecraft Green Pumpkin 1.3cc .015 Black glitter 2.5cc .015 Gold glitter 1.3cc .035 Black glitter

Sorry I have not used that brand. With the Lurecraft molding Silicone it really takes almost a week to 10 days before it has completely cured and leached out all of its release agents.....even after that it will take a few pours before it stops fizzing. I wouldn't sweat it...give a few more pours and see if your problem goes away which it should.

It looks like degassing of the silicone. Is the silicone you used meant for Hi-temp use? Have to be very careful with what type of silicone that you use for pouring 320 degree plastic into....some/most silicones give off large amounts of formaldehyde gas when heated...causing the bubbles to form on the contact surface as seen in your photo's. This problem you show can also happen with the first few uses of the newly made mold, especially if your using molding silicone....it contains a small amount of release agent that will burn off with use.