SlowFISH

Question for you guys on re-heats.... are you cutting sprues/etc and tossing right back into the pot/cup or do you wait till you've gone through most of your batch and reheat a pile of sprues at one time? I know technically either will work... just wondering if on lighter/clear baits if reheating all at once (less reheats) is a better option to keep the plastic from yellowing/etc. J.

Toad - Totally get not wanting to compare and start a war (LOL!!!).... but can you tell us what aspects you like about MF particularly... (ex. no bubbles in micro? Doesn't yellow on clears easily? Pours at low temps? Cost? Whatever?) Being a hobby guy I just don't go through enough stuff to buy gallons and try a bunch of different brands... I'm on my third brand but always looking for something that will be a bit better as with each so far I've found positives and negatives (Some which may be my own issues to be completely honest). Thanks, J.

I recall this one.... check the link to get to a video... not sure if this is the one you remember or not.... http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/topic/11538-pouring-plastics-for-more-than-just-fishing/?hl=%2Bbreast+%2Bcancer J.

I have a used Lee and a Presto..... If you're doing alot of hand pours... the Lee pot may be an effective item for you. I have a hard time controlling the temp but there are a bunch of threads on how you can attempt to solve this... I just pour darker colors or one layer for a laminate from it and that works for me. The Presto can hold alot more plastic - and due to it's size makes hand injection (filling the injector) easier. It seems to hold temp a bit better as well - cleanup is much easier as the teflon lets the plastic peel out easily. They each have their merits.... alot depends on what you've going to do with it. I will admit though - if I had to buy another - I'd buy another presto. J.

I sense an interesting test coming up!!! LOL!!! J.

Any reason you couldn't use Plastisol for soft baits? Dip it a few times to get the thickness you want... if you need the durability maybe use a "Hard" blend? Just a thought and you might already have the supplies. J.

I'd agree... pouring through "non-metal" mold should better facilitate the practice of going through the tails or thin sections without a doubt - as most non-metal molds insulate.... but even in those - if part of the bait gets reasonably thin then thicker - I'd think you'd have dents or distorted baits regardless of mold material. With the OP's design/style bait and hand pouring - he's in real good shape for what he's doing. The bait shown has a pretty favorable section thru the body for tail pouring and I assume he's topping off a bit on the tail as it cools - thus why he's having good results. Plus adding one color first - (assuming it cools and shrinks a bit) - then filling with the second actually reduces the belly volume - further reducing any chance of dents. In my post I was reacting more to the philosophy of filling tail first on something hand injected.... think if you tried tail filling an old "Manns Jelly Worm" or a Zoom shakey type worm tail first. Granted these are extreme examples but I'd think you could very well inject into those thru the small tails and fill with pop/silicone/plastic - but likely dent the front/head of the worm as once the tail end cools - it shuts off plastic from the sprue and then there isn't any plastic to be sucked down into the thicker section. BTW... I like the OP's ingenutity.... I really like the ability to touch off on the tail with another color.... smart move that probably couldn't be done the other way!!! J.

Based on the molds I've made I believe the reason/preference to inject "larger end" is to eliminate dents in the baits as they cool. I've found making a fairly large sprue (sprue = the runner from the injector to bait) let's the bait "suck plastic" as it cools - avoiding dents. On a drop shot minnow I'm working on I have a 1/2" diameter sprue that then fills into the nose of the bait through an extremely short 1/8" runner. I found the short 1/8" runner cools faster than the belly of the bait and the 1/2" diameter sprue.... this has caused dents in the belly area. I went back and opened the runner up to 3/16" diameter and this has reduced the issue greatly. My hypothesis is... if you inject through a small area - it would cool first blocking off the ability of the thicker part of the bait to absorb/suck plastic into itself as it cools - and you'd then have dents. On a hand poured paddle like the OP is showing it's not that big of a deal as the tail is slightly overfilled and as it cools - all is well - plus in general the bait is pretty thick in all areas so it probably cools pretty evenly. In general I try to make the sprue bigger in diameter/volume than the bait. In doing this my baits cool first - then the sprue... and my dented baits have reduced greatly. The negative is I have a good amount of plastic to reheat after I remove the baits from the mold.... but I'd rather do that then have dented baits. It also provides a visual to what's happening in my mold. I fill the sucker and top off... after a few minutes I can see the thick sprue "suck in" and I know that plastic is being pulled into the bait. Hope this makes sense... and my baits are made in either Pop molds or machined Ren Plastic... so they take more time to cool than aluminum. j.

I think you will have a tough time asking the plastic to balance out lead depending on the size of the bait. I personally do not use microballons - so can't offer an opinion if they would help enough, but all the stuff I pour I want to "float/stand up" off the bottom so I've played a bit with this type stuff. I would suggest maybe looking at a method to get an air-pocket in the bait somehow. Kinda like a hollow body frog or some of the Netbait Pecas that trap air in them. I've also purchased some baits that have small cavities in the bottom running vertical - which trap air and help it "float". (Imagine if you drilled a 1/8" pocket/hole into bottom of the bait and stopping short of coming out the top) Even with these details they can't float a 5/0 heavy weight hook on a long worm. J. My guess is it would be easier to add a little weight forward of the hook eye than to get enough bouyance from the bait unless it's a light head and a big bait.

You can do vacuum forming pretty easily if you keep it small scale and use thin materials. I made a small vac-box out of MDF - drilled 1/8" holes in a grid every 1" and attached a piece of PVC so I could use my 5gal Shop Vac to pull vacuum. Granted it doesn't pull as hard as a true vac/form machine.... but with real thin materials (I use .03" Sheet PET) You can get alot of detail and decent draw of the part. The most difficult part of the process is heating the plastic uniformly and transferring it to the vac-box hot. I have a small oven that I made a steel "picture frame" to fit in... I put a sheet of plastic in and heat it in the oven until it's hanging with a nice uniform "upside down dome". Then quickly remove the frame and place it down tight over the part/box which I already have my vac running on. It's not really production worthy type of a setup.... but if you need parts here/there it works. If you need a small run of parts - you can contact a model maker - prototype house common in the product design industry. They can CNC machine a mold (if you provide the data) and knock parts out pretty quick. It's not cheap - but might be worth a call if you need a 100 or so parts. J.

I pour outside in my driveway on a small "portable" table.... I just put something over the pot to shield it from anything dropping in it.... basically that's all your garage roof does, it's just a it larger!!! J.

Absolutly awesome.... I've been playing with cnc'ing molds for plastics.... and it's not easy.... great job. J.

Tracing works.... but you'll need to alter the trace to account for the "width" added for the pencil/pen point. What I've done is similar - but digital.... I lay them nice and flat on a scanner and scan them digitally. Once I have a hi-res scan - I can scale the image as necessary (rarely need to) and trace it in a program like Adobe Illustrator. The beauty of Adobe illustrator is you can export .DXF files... which are usable by most CAD/CAM platforms. If you go this route... my suggestion is to not "trace" the actual hook.... but draw a line as close to dead center as you can and then increase the lines width (stroke) until it's the same as the hook to verify you're dead center / right on. This line can then be used as a tool path to simply cut a slot/path for the hook to sit in. I hope this makes sense.... and while Illustrator isn't cheap you don't need the latest version to do this.... you can probably buy Illustrator 8/9/10 which are a good 6-7 years old off ebay for a couple bucks and be off and running. If you go this route - LMK... I can try to do a quick step by step and post a pic or two up if you like. Also.... I found out that most online catalogs in downloadable PDF format provide actual line work of the hooks. For example... I downloaded the PDF version of the gamakatsu catalog - opened page XX in illustrator (you can open PDF files in illustrator) and BOOM.... what ever hooks are on that page - I now have actual line work for. This doesn't work for everything - as they need to be "vector" linework and not images like JPEG's. I found a few of the hooks weren't perfectly to scale - but with an adjustment or two and verifying with a caliper and a hook I was off and running and didn't even need to scan anything. J.

Thanks Mike.... appreciate the feedback on this thread from you and all the guys. J.

Quick question guys... Presumably based on the feedback I've received and testing a few of my baits in acetone - I need to cook my plastic a little hotter to 350 for it to "kick" and not turn milky over time. So, my question is.... do I need to KEEP it at 350 the whole time, or can I cook the plastic till the temps are up to 350 - stay there for a few minutes - then back off to 330-340 to avoid scorching and still have a "kicked" plastisol? I know on some of my baits that turned, I was cooking to the 330 range as it was providing a good pour/injection for me and I didn't scorch.... so just curious if I can kick this stuff over and then backoff so I get the best of both worlds. J.

Tested a few baits tonight... the ones in question (turned milky) would "crumble/fall apart" when squeezed / twisted. I left them in straight acetone for 15 minutes... this may have been too long, but even still there was a difference between the feel of a "milky" bait and one I assume to be fully kicked. J.

Thanks for the tip... I'll check a few of the bait that turned on my this weekend and see if that's the case. J.

No salt.. I like floating baits!!!! I've had a few PM's... and where I'm thinking based on feedback is it's likely Plastisol / cook related... in that I might have "undercooked" on the first couple baits I made. The colors that are changing are ones I poured by hand from my microwave into the mold. I use a digital thermo... but usually try to pour the accents in the 330-340 max range to avoid scorching and meting the glitter over time.... My thought here is maybe I didn't cook the first couple pours enough but over repeated hits in nuker to keep temps up finally kicked it over enough... that could explain the reason some are good and others aren't. Next pour I'll try to hit 350-360 and see if anything changes. Humidity was my other thought.... but the boxes I use to store have a gasket... granted they probably still breath a bit - not sure if humidity can get in/out that easily. Thanks for the input everyone. J.

Not sure.... I only poured one color combo per session as usually fill the presto with one base color (say green pumpkin) and then pour any mold I have in that color combo... so if it was the freezer, I'd expect all the baits I made that day to do the same. This is happening on baits poured on different days and any freezer time was likely different as well. Frank... it's possible your right... it was my first try with a new plastic... so who knows... could be it. J.

Hey all, I just wanted to ask if anyone ever had a color change - or technically a translucent turn opaque - well after it was shot and poured. Like 2 months later? I made a bunch of two tone creature baits (hand injection - hand pour one color, close mold and shoot). Blue/Black, Green Pumpkin/Amber, Amber/Chartreuse, etc. Poured prefect. I chilled for 1 day after pouring in the freezer and then placed them in either plastic containers for storage (sistema boxes I purchased at container store) or were put directly in my plano boxes for use. No oils/scents added after pouring. I did add heat stabilizer and anise scent during pour.... all virgin material - no re-heats with a quality Plastisol. After a good month (close to two) I noticed when changing baits on a trip that on my Green Pumpkin/Ambers - the amber changed from what was a translucent amber to a milky amber, so much so you couldn't see the glitter in it unless it was on the surface... basically went opaque. It was hot, sunny and humid and I did leave the box on my boat seat. I looked at some others and noticed that my translucent blues also went opaque on my blue/blacks. Weird thing is - it didn't happen to all of the baits. I got home and noticed a few in storage (in the plastic boxes) kept in my basement (no sunlight, but damp/humid at times) did the same thing. Obviously it can be a pouring thing that maybe I didn't notice - pot got too hot at one point or I added too much stabilizer/scent at some point that is now coming back to bite me - but to have it happen on two different colors that weren't shot at the same time bothers me. Figured i'd ask if anyone has had a similar situation. I just pour for myself - so not a big deal, but the baits looked real hot - and now just don't have that same look/feel to them. (I purposely didn't mention the plastisol brand.... it's one used by some forum members and is of high quality and I did shake it prior to use... didn't want to start a war on plastics, but of course that could be a culprit..... although I'm thinking it's more my issue as not every bait went south.) Thanks.. J.

Kajan, Awesome metal fabbing.... really nice. Quick question on your stirring mechanism..... how many RPM's do you run and what torque does your motor need/provide to stir a pot? Looking at your prop/paddle - I'd assume you have a decent motor in there to turn a fairly filled pot of plastic which I'd imagine needs some strength. Been looking at different things and trying to figure out if it's worth the time and cash to make my own setup.... Presto is a no-brainer as it's 30 bucks and I have a bunch of brass fittings for other things I can use... but the stirring is the one I want think about and figure out. J.

Quick question for the Presto users.... Do you find you need to mess with the temp on the Presto pot as the amount of plastic you have left is reduced after each pour/injection? Say you start with 2 cups of plastic - it's heated to 300-325 - as you use it up and reach 1 cup or less in the pot need to dial the heat up or down to keep the plastic the correct temp? I had been using a cheap hot plate and cast iron pot and would have to continually reduce the thermostat as I used the plastic to keep it from scorching.... I'm now back to nuking in silicone measuring cups to keeps things under control easier as my molds ar DIY and take considerable time to demold compared to an aluminum mold... with the cheap hot plate I would end up scorching plastic. I've been tempeted to buy a presto but I usually do not cook more than 8-16oz at one time, so it may be overkill if it's not real easy to use and eliminate messing with adjusting temp or nuking in short bursts. Thanks, J.

Alot will also depend on how "fast" your going to fish it and on what weight hook/head. On the paddle tails I make what I've found is..... use a big weight jighead and retrieve quick - a little harder will work ok and last longer - but if I use light weight jigheads and/or slow retrieve a softer bait is needed. Since I try to keep stuff simple I just buy "medium" plastic and go from there..... lot less hassel. J.

DIck Nites - I bought the water based coating they produced but didn't like the finish... so while it was sitting there I tried it on a few pop molds with good results. J.

You an use alot of things to seal the POP.... aside from the methods above (that work very well BTW)... I've also used the waterbased DN.... I liked that it was very watery and I could soak the mold with it then just turn it over and "drain" the excess out... gave a real nice shine to the poured baits. Also... when using Elmers.... if you wind up with a glob - spot - or some issue after first draining the mold (before the Elmers really sets).... I've run my molds under water and just wash the Elmers off with help from a small brush.... gives you a chance to "redo" the coating which is great.... nothing worse than ruining a mold when coating it. Some of the other methods aren't as "erasable" so to speak. J.