Frank

Some of those prices seem high. If you get Spikeit plastic it will be aroound 120 to your door for five gallons, if you want 2.5 galloms they dont jack up the price. You should weigh one of those baits I know it is 10" long but 6oz of plastic sound like to much. One problem with a bait that big is making a two piece mold. The standard thickness for a mold is 1" counting both pieces. The mold will need to be much thicker than the standard. Cooling will take awhile so you will need to wait or buy more molds alot of them. Frank

I have really good luck with Lure Crafts black grape glitter. It is a little darker but hold up real good. Frank

While I agree to a point I dont agree in a way. Yes it is nice to have custom molds, but marketing is hard. I have molds that are available to everyone, that is how to get your foot in the door but not with the same colors you make colors that are not available. Then slowly get them into the new stuff. In this time you will be working and turning some plastics and not just setting on the new stuff with no following. Trying to create a need with a small shortage will help too. Never have pegs full all the time it need to look like you are the chosen one and shortage means it is being used and in short supply. Really hard to do that on the internet. Frank

Would like to hear more about it. The idea of the mixer and not a stirring rig is one thing I like about the idea. Some views expressed here dont even deserve a responce. I dont live my life like this is as good as it gets. There is always room for new fresh ideas. Frank

Sounds to me you have or make a machine that does just what you are talking about. Why dont you let us in on the reason this info is so important. As long it is OK to plug your own product, if it is not then sorry I asked. Frank

I think the idea will work, BUT it will bleed to the other eggs. Here is why, I do alot of the egg worm combo thing and get a great bond, that being said I had the molds cut differant. You see when you shoot a 250 egg it is not 250 when cooled it is smaller. So when you load it in the mold again it is not a tight fit so it allows the plastic to get around at least a part of it. So in your case it will be around four of them. If you do try it I will give you one piece of advise keep the eggs warm and shoot them in the same day( more like at the same sitting). I do this and have great results. I keep the eggs in a pyrex on a warm on a griddle set at around 225. Keep then warm till you get them in the mold. Shoot and hold just for a second this should get you a great bond. You will need the shooting plastic hot but not to hot so it bonds well but is not so thin it surounds the other eggs. Good luck with this. Frank

I agree with both of you. Opening a mold is how I base my pricing. But one thing is the sprue five cavitys one large sprue or ten cavitys sharing one sprue head to head Don't think I have seen a stick mold designed like that. Laminate waste would be half. This is another thing to think of. Frank

Lure craft has one.My vote is to make them as you will need a few. Butter knife thing is good idea. Frank

Having what looks like easy to use tools give people the idea that this is easy to do. Having tools they cant get gives a differant perception. Had one customer do just that now he is a competiter. For that fact he even saw my videos. Custom pots are one thing that I will take care of. No offense taken SHK just my way of thinking. I am good at looking after my own money and with so many options for this machine adding custom pots sound like an option too. Frank

Me too. Thank you Bear

You ever wonder if Bear wants you as a cheerleader? I did not degrade his system I just pointed out my concerns with his product. This is a public forum and it was brought to the attension of all who read this. So why not ask and get an answer here? Many people here just wont ask. I got a phone call asking me about it the morning it was out. He saw somethings that concerned him and asked me what I thought. Is there something wrong with that? When I see something that I think can help me I buy it. I have the first Twinjector sold and the prototype Jacobs machine. Like I said before if it had pots made for plastic I would have bought it. These machines are not the cure all for laminating they are tools that help out the process. Some will still not get it. Believe me it is way more to it than just suck and shoot. Especially with presto pots as they vary from pot to pot ALOT. Frank

I asked the same thing when the Bears guy went after me when I posted the Twinjector video. I had the first one so I doubt anyone had one yet. I also introduced the locking pin that was easy to see that it was simple and easy to use and still people insisted the tips dont fall off if no pin is there. The maker of that product made it a point to make all of his that way from then on. He did not fight the fact that yes it cost more to do it that way and did not change the price for this addition. Bear openly answered the questions and concerns I had and I respect the answers he gave. I am one of the guys that Goes through ALOT of plastic and can see a need for this product. I might even buy one you never know. Being in business and know a first inpression is one you never get back,I have a hard time showing customers my shop with kitchen appliances as a means of making a product including a griddle and I use that all the time. And I will be the first one to admit I have the Jacobs press out for them to see just for the LOOK aspect of it. Now if the two pots were made for plastic and were custom in nature I would buy one in a heart beat. But that is just me. Frank

I dont have one of these either but took alot of critism when I posted a video of the Twinjector, from people who did not have one either. Two big concerns I see from the video is for cleaning it is a bit more of a challenge. I guess to clean out the injectors they need to be taken apart. No one really asked how to clean out the pluming at the valve. Do you have to pull down the injectors to expell the extra plastic? Is the unit made of thin wall tubing? If you drop it will they dent? How about the small tubes at the bottom tough enough to take a fall and not bend? Are they really needed because I have used my Twinjector alot and the tip is well rounded from use and it is much thicker the this one. And that is from someone who actually uses these things ALOT. The idea is great having heated injectors, I posted a way of using the Twinjector and dont clean them out either. I just clean out the block. After using two gallons of plastic I have two cups of remelts, one of each color. That is not much for that amount of plastic. One thing that will be learned from this is you need alot of molds to save time or you will be just waiting for mold to cool. I just used 18 molds one order and it was not enough. After 1 gallon they were so hot I had to cool then just to demold in a timely manner. Once they are that hot they flash even with the slightest pressure. Some molds are far better than others in this regard. So you see my observation is from someone that actually does it so I can have an opinion on this learning board. Frank

You did not mention using a griddle. When all of the part are hot it will keep for 3-4 shots before a reheat. Then the reheat is for like 30sec. You will need to stir a little but it should work for you. I have an old presto that I cut the sides down and use that once in awhile, it get a little hotter that the griddle. Mostly because it is thinner. Frank

That looks like a winner. Looks real easy to use. Great job Bear. You will do well with that one. Thanks to SHK for keeping us informed. Frank

That is a great idea, to buy the pearl powder. It goes a long way. One tip on buying pearls, if it says hilite it will milk out the color a bit. If it says pearl it should be the color you order and will keep the color more true. Frank

Just to twist it up a bit use some pearl powder. This will kick up the color without washing it out. LC has some red pearl that is actually red that works too. Frank

I believe the packaged stuff is from china. Do you want the top pour stuff or does that matter for you? And unless you buy the molds you might find others with the same product. Frank

I have one of the original ones and two of the newer ones. The newer ones have alot more to them as far as heat type shielding. At 999 you had to buy the heat controller and temp guage. Since the first one there has been heating added to the side to help out with the warm up process. The carriage on the side has been upgraded. To me dont really know why since mine works fine without a problem. This is what i know from having them. Great machine and very well made. Frank

I set it at 400. It does cool down a bit but it takes awhile. One thing I have found out is if the bottom of the pyrex or whatever you use is flat it takes the heat better. Frank

You can change the way you use the Twinjector so there is no plug. But then if you really believe you need a stirrer then this wont work. But it does for me. Frank

I have been toying with the idea of a two color press. I was supposed to have it done by now but got way to busy this winter. I actually have three of these now and will get a two color one done soon because I could really use it. Since I got the first one it has never broke down and the heating elemant works like a charm. The temp stays where I put it for hours on end. The two color one will not look like this one at all. I have a differant way of setting it up in my mind. One bad thing is if you want to change colors it does take awhile to cool. But you want to buy multiples so that may not be an issue. Frank

Baits that look like your wife. "But honey I was thinking of you when I made these baits". Forget it Get the tarp ready. Frank

Lets go back to the reason for not using the Twinjector. Lets say the mold total plastic is 1 oz which cost a quarter, so the waste costs 12 cents. You are going through two more steps to save that and the cost of the plastic to dip. Is your time not worth anything? My sugestion is buy a mold that has a smaller sprue, there are tons of those types of mold out there that dont have huge sprues. In the long run it will pay for itself. If you have to have that one ask if the sprue can be smaller when ordered. Then the lamination line wont be a problem. The sprues can be used for other projects too. Sometime you get a great looking color. Frank