t-billy

Lurecraft sells it also. You can mix&match brands without issue. I don't measure.I just give a little squirt about every 1/2 hour when cooking a large batch that's on the heat a long time.

Mike is absoloutely right about learning your equipment. You have to learn your materials too.It takes time. I add a little stabilizer about every half hour when I'm running a large batch in my presto. I dont measure I just give it a squirt here and there. I havent had my plastic change color due to heat while doing this. Learning your molds is part of it too. I made a batch of 130 some craws a while back out of 3 single cavity molds. It took about 4 hrs. The last baits looked just like the first. I tried to do the same with my ribbon tail worms and the results were not as good. I only have to run the plastic at around 300-310 to get good results with my craw molds. My worm molds require it to be around 330 to get full tails everytime. After having the plastic at 330 for a couple hours and I noticed the color changing. The problem wasn't the plastic,it was the color bleeding out of the glitter. Aparently the glitter I'm using will take 310 for long periods but the color will bleed out after awhile at 330. Lesson learned. Either make smaller batches of this bait or buy more molds. I just make smaller batches when making these worms now. I'm just a hobbyist so I have no production quota to meet.SHK is right about some colors being touchier than others as well. I had a batch of bubblegum turn a funky pink/peach color on me recently after being at around 330 for about a 1/2 hour. Hope this helps,Tim.

I like a pouring pot/hotplate for small batches and a presto pot for larger runs. They allow for much better temp control than a microwave. Lodge logic makes a sweet little cast iron pouring pot that heats slowly and evenly and makes scorching plastic much harder to do than the thinner aluminum pots. They also hold heat better while your pouring.

Don't overlook the open pour silicone molds. They're a durable cost effective alternative to aluminum. The ones I've purchased from Lurecraft are of exellent quality. I've also made quite a few of my own,both open pour and 2pc injection. Rtv is easy to work with and picks up the smallest details perfectly.

Have you used that scent before Mark? You might want to try something more concentrated. I use Kick'n Bass and my baits come out plenty smelly using just a few drops per cup. I've heard good things about Upper Hand scents as well but have no experience with them.

Good advice. Same goes for bassman2169. I wouldn't worry about hardner/softner to get started. The medium plastic from any of the suppliers should get you in the ballpark. After you settle on a brand and gain a little experience you can adjust from there. Doesn't hurt to add a little stabilizer especially on remelts. It's not absoloutely necessary though.Especially with small batches that won't be kept hot very long. Heat your plastisol slowly and be careful not to overheat.Patience pays off in the end result. I'm sure some people will disagree but,I think a hotplate/pouring pot or presto pot makes it much easier to control temps/heating rate than a microwave. Take your time and read all you can stand to read here and you'll do fine. The search engine is your friend!!! Welcome aboard and good luck,Tim.

Hey Mike. What's with the geographic profiling? Us yankees fry bacon in cast iron skillets too. Krepples too for that matter!!!

Maybe all white glues are the same. I don't know. That's definitely not the case with wood glues. I tried white glue when I first started. I always had to apply multiple coats to get a good seal. With the wood glue it's one and done. That's the case with me anyway. I can't speak for anyone else.

Hi mike. Thanks for the tip on the flourescent coloring. I only have about a gallon of the chemionics plastisol left. I added some mf hardner to it and it's fine. I'm gonna give a gallon of the pourasol a try. If I'm not happy with it I'll pm you for the Chemionics reps contact info. You and smallmouthaholic are both correct. I'm saving $56.25 per 5 gallon purchase. Wich works out to $11.25 PER GALLON savings. I'm just a hobby baitmaker. I make baits for myself and a handfull of buddies. 5 gal lasts me quite a while.

Pourasol is 120.70 to my door for 5 gal. CC is 176.96 for 5 gal. $11.25 per gallon difference. I think you missed the per gallon part of my previous post.

I recently bought a quart of CC plastic to try. It is a great product but,like most high quality products it's not cheap. Before buying a larger quantity I'm gonna give Lureworks pourasol a try. I cook on a hotplate or presto pot so I don't expect to have the bubble problems some of the microwave guys have had with it. Pourasol is about $10 a gallon cheaper than CC delivered for me. I don't mind mixing a little as long as I'm happy with the way it pours/shoots and I like the end result. The service you recive at CC is first rate but, the same goes for Bear,Lurecraft,and MF in my experience. When I first started pouring I made a lot of baits that never got used. There's definitely a learning curve. It's easy to add WAAYYY to much glitter for example. Try to add a little more flouresent pink after the plastics already hot and you'll end up with peach colored baits etc.etc. I think what it comes down to especially for the beginer is Do I wan't to buy a higher priced product that's very easy to work with,or something more economical that takes a little more work but will still produce quality baits for me? I like several others here would advise anyone to buy a small amount of several different products. Try them for yourself and see what works for you. I really liked chemionics when I got a good batch,but there seemed to be some qc problems with it. Either at the factory or the distributor. The factory is only 40 min from my house and I believe they sell quantities as small as 5 gal, but due to recieving a couple batches that were lacking hardner and wouldn't cure right until I added some I'm looking elsewhere for a new plastic.

The pop will get brittle if you get the temp too high. I've read on here that the threshold is around 225. I bake my pop molds at 175 with the door slightly cracked to let moisture out for several hours. 3-4hrs with no ill effects. Then I flood the cavity and coat the entire face of the mold with the Elmers wood glue mix and let soak for 15-20 minutes. Drain well and bake at 150 for a couple hours to cure the glue. Perfect finish with one coat every time with no durability issues. The other type of glue I tried was Titebond. It didn't work well at all. The finish had a rough texture.

Try getting your plastic a little hotter first. I can inject most of my molds at310-320 but the plastic has to be at least 340 to get full tails in my ribbontail worm molds. If that doesn't solve it try injecting slower if you can. If that doesnt do it you may need to vent your mold.

Make sure you use Elmers wood glue Mark. I used a different brand once and the results weren't anywhere near as good.

Aeromarine. Purple catalyst. Easy to use. Gives great results everytime.

I flood the mold,let soak for 15-20 minutes,drain well,then bake at 150 for a couple hours. I get a nice ceramic like finish with one coat every time. Roughly 60%water-40% glue mix.

I Looked at several cement mixes. They all seemed too coarse/gritty. I'll be sticking with the pop/rtv.

I got lucky. I was about to purchase from that vendor not long after I joined here when I ran across a thread detailing a similar stiuation. Might have been Smallmouthaholics but I don't remember. Anyway,I'm sure glad I saw it and went a different rout.

Try running your plastic a little cooler and see if it helps. If your currently shooting it at say 350 try dropping down to 320-330.

I bought a paint stirrer with plastic paddles and used my dremmel to trim the paddles so they would fit into the 2.5gal jugs. I couldn't find one that would fit without modification. Now I just scrape the jug bottoms with a stir stick then mix with a drill if they've sat awhile. The whole process takes 5 minutes tops.

I agree. Especially when it comes to injection molds. I have a growing collection of those too but, I also enjoy making my own molds/designs as well. For that pop and rtv both work very well. You can produce high quality baits with either. Neither one is as durable as aluminum but,both will last a long time and produce thousands of baits with proper care. I generally make prototype molds with pop. If I decide I like the bait enough I'll make rtv molds of it. Rtv molds are very durable and if I drop one it's no big deal, They're hard to damage and pretty much maintence free. I was just thinking maybe it would be possible to get results similar to pop with added durability and a longer working time with cement mix. I'll be going to lowes someday this week. I'll post results after I give it a try.

Hi Prop Junkie. Welcome to the forum. Use the search engine and you'll find LOTS of info on salting baits.I use non iodized table salt. It works fine,but you need to grind it into powder to get it to suspend. The finer your salt is ground the better it will suspend. Any type of salt will make your bait colors more opaque. I bought a little electric food processer type thing at wally world for around ten bucks that works great as a salt grinder. Make sure you stir well every couple baits to get consistant results.

Thanks for the input. I don't really have any serious issues with pop. It's cheap and works well. It's pretty durable once sealed with wood glue,but there's a long cold winter ahead here in Ohio. I think I'll pick something up next time I'm at lowes and do a little experimenting.