Frank

I have one of those too. Try and warm it up a lot. Just the mass of aluminium will cause large bubbles in the injector as it takes some time to fill and it starts to solidify fast. On your mold having parts of the bait that are above the filling point lets air get trapped. Nose pour would be better with either nose up or down with a real long sprue to help feed the bait while it cools.

Well my temp must be good cause I use acetone to clean my bench and tools and it does not touch the plastic. Maybe soften it a bit but not melt.

The Pyrex thing is not as bad as most make out and using those silicone cups get soft and don't have a good base. Worried about tipping them over more than breaking a Pyrex. To help out with a place to put your Pyrex I use a griddle to put all the hot plastic on this way you will always know where it goes. Help keep the heat up too.

What injector are you using to get 7oz of usable plastic?

What temp were you using? And what are you using to get a temp reading? On the gate part of the discussion, we can make them big enough to work on any mold but some baits I like the small gate so the nose of the bait get a nice shape. So I adjust what I do to make it work. Shooting cooler temps lets you demold much faster as the temp is much closer to the gel temp of the plastic. I never heat my plastic to 350 even in the beginning. I guess I never got that memo. Max temp first heating is about 340 at most. Most likely about 330.

That the reason I mentioned that the plastic looks thicker. At times I have shot when it is just above the jell state and it works(280ish).

Yes it is a temp thing. Lower the temp to 300-310 and you will be fine. If you are using a microwave you will get temperature spikes so making bigger batches will not spike it so much. The plastic will look much thicker and almost like it won't shoot but it's fine. Not sure why a sprue extender would help with denting as this is from the gate freezing before it cools. Hollow baits are from a sprue running dry.

I have alway said the three oz twinjector is a great way to start. It is easy to use and small enough to get the hang of it. This give you a great platform to build up your mold collection. And when you need something bigger just buy two six oz injectors and put it together. They don't sell the parts to make it in pieces but it does work as I have done this a lot. I have a few videos up on YouTube look me up ( franksrooty2) and see them being used. This will give you an idea of how you get things going.

Pm me your address and I will send you some. Have both sizes.

Thanks for the explanation. I will use it more if I have time and see how it goes. The reason I asked about tracking what you do is can they see you are using it for business and not paying for it? It gave me three years free for being a student. Thanks for the heads up. One note on this thread it has brought out some guys that probably would just read and not say a word. That is a great thing!!!

Had some time to work with fusion360. Having used Bob cad and Master cam over the past year or so I have to say yes all of the cad stuff is the same just in different places. I actually find that it was much easier to use the fusion because it is set up more like my mind works. May sound funny but I find when learning my mind wants it to be where I think it should. And with fusion it is and does what my mind is thinking. The cam portion is a different story. Yes they do the same thing but little subtletys make a big difference in what the final job looks like. Time will tell but the price even if you bought it is pretty good and you will always have the newest version. Have not ever used a cloud based cad programs do they track what you are doing? It is free but it is for sale too.

Thank you for the kind words. I know the way I do it for big jobs is hard to beat at least for me, but smaller jobs this looks pretty good. I don't like to looks of it with all the insulation but it could be cleaned up like Dave says. Does the 1k include everything in the picture?

I think this is a great post. There should be a lot of interest in this type of machine. A lot of thing don't get any attention because the maker does not have any info on there site. One thing I don't really get is the heated holder, what is this for? And why don't you leave it on the middle block? What was the cost of the whole unit?

Not real sure. I talked to him about getting his machines but never really got back to him. It's a lot of work making baits for a living and when you have over head like the macihines it makes it harder. You have to compete with the big guys and they sell them cheap but you have to buy a lot. Hard to get new customers to buy a production mold and buy the minimums you need to make money. A regular job must have looked real good.

Within ten degrees is the best. If they are mixing then lower the temp to about 300-310. This will give you good lines.

No he is not. He said he was going back to work at a school again last I talked to him. Which was awhile ago.

Its in the pearl section. Maybe I just shoot at a real low temp all the time and it just does that. My white pearl does that too.

I have tried silver powder from lure craft and Spikeit. The results were not a smooth even looking silver. They had streaks of color with light and dark shadows going from head to tail. Thinking about it now I was probably using what to much of the powder.

This may sound funny but the best silver I have seen is from MF and it is a liquid. I have pearls too but they always seem to be a bit mottly if that makes sense. There's is made from a powder too as it does settle a good amount.

The Es is a sand cast mold and has a rough surface. The other one is cnc machined and has a very smooth surface.

Finding the right plastic sheet is a bit of a challenge. It's easy to get .020 sheets but they end up to thick. I tried to source out .010 sheets but found I would have to buy about 50 sheets 4x8'. It can be pretty pricey and shipping is high if you can't pick it up.

Looking on Basstackle site it must have been when Bob was there. Might check out Bobs site.

Basstackle has a few.

Yes it is. And when I said it is the money minnow, it is. He was the original designer of that bait. The plate he is talking about makes the hook slot. If you leave it out the cavitys cross over where the plate goes. If you want a solid bait then the 632 from Basstackle is the one. It does not laminate in the 8 cavity mold but makes a great bait. Same as the money minnow.

Bob had one called a bug eyed minnow that is 4". And if you get it, it is the money minnow!!!