Frank

You prove my point to the tee. The smell remains even with a booth. I was painting with Ken Huddleston at I cast and he had never used the water based. He though it was a big game changer. He could have one area just for solvent paint and a much more friendly area for the detail work. Even dotting say trout patterns would be more user friendly. He said the people that worked for him were going to love it. Frank

I am glad you decided to try it. You are going to like it. Don is a real great guy and very helpfull. And yes any powder colorant you have can be a color. It does help to have some heat to dry in between coats and a hair drier is a great starter. dipping an 8" bait would be a challenge so solvent clear would be the ticket.

The mold is not oriented right for a laminate plate. I know Kevin has made a production mold for this bait that is oriented right but those are big bucks. Much easier to get the Twinjector and do laminates all you want. Most of his swim bait mold can be bought to laminate correctly.

If you just paint the backs of baits then solvent is the way to go. But if you add a lot of detail then the time spent with solvent paint out is a lot. And any type of spray booth is good but the smell still lingers till it is cured all the way. It may sound like its time consuming cause it is. And you want to talk about an exhaust fan is your exhaust fan explosion proof? If not that is a problem if you use solvent based paint.

Basstackle makes molds as they are ordered so I don think you will see much in stock. He is very busy so maybe a call before would be in order. He runs a great business and is really easy to work with. I am guessing some of your stuff is from his store?

Rattle can has nothing on the solvent paint. It smell after you use it till it cures all the way. To each his own though. I use it and will continue. Maybe you are not understanding me on the water based but with it you can clear with solvent and it will be ok. This way you can use water based for color and clear them all at the end and leave the room till they cure.

You can lean towards the solvent paint till you smell it. Unless you have away of getting the fumes out of your area water might be a better deal. Although you would still have to clear with the solvent. If you use the waterbased the use of a heat gun or hair drier will be an advantage. Light coats are way better and dry faster.

We are real lucky to be able to produce baits with such detail and professional looks. Gotta love the technology available to us.

No your air brush paint will not stick to the plastic. If you dip them after it will peel off like an orange. And if you stretch the bait it will fracture the paint. Spike it's water based paint went through a lot of testing before it was released. It does need to be dipped or clear coated with the solvent clear to seal it. If you dip it the dip coat will adhere well with the water based underneath. It acts like a bond coat. On solvent paints you don't have to clear as it will be very durable and last as long so the bait will. One tip on the solvent or water paints if you buy the clear and add powder pearls you can add a lot of colors to your collection without much cost. Frank

If you don't put the sprues back in the plastic you should be able to shoot at least three times before a reheat. I put mine on a griddle to keep the heat from lowering to fast. Then reheat the sprues and injector plugs in another cup and add it back to the original cup. Keeps from reheating all of it over and over. At first your demolds will be fast but as heat builds up it will take longer. Make sure your injector is in real smooth working order, this will make it easier to work with. Use a bit of worm oil on the oring. I know this might sound funny but don't use such a small amount of plastic that it requires frequent reheats, more is way easier to control temperature. One thing that I have on the bench is a bottle of raw plastic, if you get something to hot and it has not yellowed yet you could add the raw stuff to cool it down FAST. If not it will be no good. I don't know who's plastic you have but I use spike it's and never heat to 350 ,it just does not need it. 330 is about all I go. Other brands might need that. Good luck. Frank

It's not as fat and has a deeper belly. No hook slot on the back. I don't put any salt in mine so they swim easier. On some colors the rings don't fill all the way but most people don't care. The tail is the key anyways. Frank

I have had the four cavitys ones for years and just changed to two cavity ones. Sounds funny but two things were bugging me about the fours. One is you have to top off if the temp are a little hot or the top baits draw air in the tails. Not because the craw design but the sprue is so big it sucks down below the top cavitys. Second is there is more waste from laminates due to a very long sprue. Two cavity molds don't need topping off and less waste.

Mark if you want that color a better start would be kudzu from Spikeit. All the watermelons that are named as such are to green. This one from Spikeit will be much more lime looking and not so green.

You could find one at lowes. Here is one with an assortment of tip great for doing what you want. Enlarged Image Share Weller Electric Lead-Free Soldering Kit Item #: 104842 | Model #: TB100PK 5 reviews | Write a review $24.99

Well I am using the lowest price one (injectasol) other than the bubble issues that I have resolved it would heat as clear as MF super soft. Seems to me that the harder plastics are much harder to heat without yellowing a bit. I use to heat three gallons of MF regular in a rite heat Pot and when heated it was yellow but it was at least twelve inches deep. I did not have to mix the Mf as much as the Spikeit but with a 450 dollar difference in price per drum I can stir it up a bit. And that makes the bottom line much better. Bruce is a great guy and enjoy his knowledge. But I deal with Don mostly after meeting him at a few functions. It is possible to introduce Bubbles into plastic too so if it is stirred vigorously you will put them in your plastic. Been there done that. One thing to think about is a lot of people say heating in a microwave heats it fast but and injection machine will heat its plastic every cycle which is about every minute or two, that's fast too. More later but probably in a new thread.

Smallmouth, when you used the Spikeit plastic you got bubbles? Or do you use different plastics for different operations? I have stuck with the Spikeit plastic but at times I need a clear dipping plastic. When they came out with the clearasol it was different and did not have bubbles. I have been working on a solution for the bubbles and pretty much have them gone. There are two,ways I have found to do it and neither is hard at all. More on that later next week. But with the savings on the plastic it is well worth it. And yes it is free of ALL bubbles.

I have used the Mf before and the guys that came over to help me said it was really bothering there eyes and noses. Not using it but just in the same room (garage). Even with the door open. Changed brands and they don't complain now.

This one has a choice. The hand pour is just that. Heat plastic and pour it in the top of the mold until full then wait till it cools a bit and add more when the top starts to draw down. Top inject takes an injector sold separately and you fill the mold by filling the injector and pressing the plastic in the mold. This one too need to be topped off as it draws down. If you have an idea for this bait and don't want to buy it I think I have it and could pour you a few. Pm me your address if you would like some.

Look up Zorn molds and you will find a machine that is pretty much the standard. It take molds with high cavity count. Spikeit has one too but you said high production.

I have that mold and yes it is an open pour. You can pour any amount of colors you can fit by layering then one by one. It's makes a great looking bait and swims well too.

Well said Mark.

At first I was pushing it to see what it take to get it to yellow. 360 ish and it yellowed pretty fast. I used a temp gauge and checked it against my ir gun. It was about the same. I left it in the plastic for awhile and it stayed pretty close to 310 315. The coating was thin yet tough and stayed that way for the whole time I used it. One thing I did not think I mentioned is on my griddle I put the the cup over the elements corner. This gives it the most heat from the element.

Any-day Smallmouth but I don't want to take your money just the satisfaction of winning. But my way with three gallons of plastic for each color. And then a color change and three more gallons. This is a typical day for me. Equal molds and the same plastic any color including white and I will have more consistent baits than any other hand system out there. I am not afraid of hard work and repetitive duties. This is the reason I help anyone who wants it. I don't think of them as competition or think I am losing business to them. There were plenty of people that did not like me telling so much but my response is if you want to work as hard as me and want to take the time it really takes to make baits then go for it. There is plenty of work to go around but most are not willing to devote the time and effort. I really hate negatives about this business and don't believe them to be all true. Swedes I don't clean out my injectors either but do have a block to empty. Takes all of three seconds to clean and be ready to use again.

Smallmouth, exactly what I thought you have not used the cc plastic. So your experience is with other products and not the one mentioned. A lot of you preach about how it needs to be done but none of you show how it's done. Some say the blending block clogs on them but I have shown many many time how it does not for me. Some say you have to heat injectors and molds to shoot but I have shown how I don't and it works. Do they work better hot yes but do not need to be. I don't down play anybody's products and say it is bad, but I do show how I do it. I don't preach my way is the only way. But if you say your way is the only way to get consistent baits and I show it is not, people get twisted up. The problem this time is a plastic thing and not a microwave thing. Light colors can be done in a microwave and I do it all the time. To put a blanket on light colors have to be done in a presto and stirring system is just wrong. Next time you heat plastic in your presto take some out and see how clear it really is. Or just pour a large bag of baits in clear and put them up to the light and see how it looks not single but the whole bag. Using pourasol will be slight but it is yellower. Any heat adds a tint of yellow to plastic. Another point is the cc plastic was made for heating in the microwave.

He also said he uses cc plastic and that needs to be heated to 350 and brought down to your working temp. Will the presto with a stirrer get it that hot? Mine would never even get that hot if you left it on without stirring. Maybe after a couple of hours it might. You are using the plastic you use and not the one he mentioned. I am sure the plastic you are using does not yellow as much as others because it's the one that yellows the least for me. But you never put it in a clear glass and see the turn from beginning to end. You are looking at it from the top of the black pot. If you heat plastic that hot and put it in a presto pot it cools to a workable temp faster. If the presto can get that hot it would definitely turn the plastic yellow waiting to cool. His way would be the way I would have done it. But some plastic yellows as it cools.