wnybassman

I have had excellent results using Smooth-On's Oomoo 25 RTV. I can make 4 molds out of the trial size. I have made 7 molds now and they all pour very nice baits. I never used POP. I made one mold out of DWP, and then jumped right into RTV. Oomoo 25

That mask does an excellent job. Not even a hint of plastic smell comes through.

I am starting to see the need for having a fluid bed, and cadman seems to be the one who I should talk to. Any chance I could get a set of plans? nogood@wnybass.com

I just ran out to the barn and checked mine because I was curious. I held it up to the light and saw a fair amount of light through the pour holes as well. Most of the light was emanating through the hook hole on the other side of the head cavity, and there was even some crack light coming in around the hook hole and the pour hole. Not much, but definitely enough gap for light to come through.

I've run about a hundred jigs through this mold with both size 2 and 6 hooks. No issues. No release agents or candle sooting either. Just started pouring straight out of the package. I find it pours easier than other molds of mine. I have two minor complaints though. 1. The ball ends up being a little loose on the hook. Can't go anywhere on the bend, but it's a little loose. Powder coating tends to firm it up though. 2. You need the precision of a brain surgeon to get both the hooks and the hook guard in properly. lol I've got better, but you can't be all hopped up on coffee when doing it

Are there any roof vents, gable end vents or vented soffitt materials you can access and/or utilize?

Same stuff, but I use the Oomoo 25 with the 75 minute cure time, rather than the 6 hour cure time.

Let me start out by saying I am a newbie at this also. Just started pouring this past fall. The first RTV mold I made I used tweezers and a new utility knife blade to remove any extra RTV that needed to be removed. Wasn't too bad, but kinda choppy, and the blade really didn't cut as good as I thought it would. The mold still turned out very much usable though! I read on here somewhere that tiny fly tying scissors were used. I didn't have any of those, but I used my wife's smallest hair cutting scissors (shhhh!) and the tweezers to carefully trim off the excess. I personally started out with RTV mainly for one reason, I wanted to made as much of a 3D bait as I could without making a 2 piece mold. I made a mold for stick baits that are about 7/8ths round and Beavers that have nice rounded sides. The first mold I made was for erie darters, and the fins on the sides of the bait were fatter down in the mold, making it difficult to extract the finished bait. RTV is nice and flexible for all these applications. I've been using the Smooth-On Oomoo RTV, and for one $25 order I can make 4 molds. $6 to $7 for a custom RTV mold is good in my book.

For mold boxes I have been using strips of aluminum angle I bent up on the brake for a different project. The angle is about 3/4" by 1 1/4". Just add up the four dimensions and cut to length. Cut the short side of the angle at the alternating dimension lengths, and bent the longer side in a bench vise. I have been using the double sided tape for holding the baits, and just go out beyond the mold box edges so that sticks as well. Finish off with duct tape and the box is done. I've only made RTV molds (except for my very first mold with DWP) but imagine this would work with pop also.

New cup? Old cup? Paper bar code sticker still on cup? Microwave issue? I've got several Anchors in rotation and definitely want to avoid such a situation.

I didn't cook with it, but put in a few bags of little baits I made. Seemed to cloud up the plastic a little. Probably won't use any more of it. I didn't see the water ingredient until after I had already used it.

My McCormiks 100% Anise Extract has water in the ingredients. Should I be concerned about this?

Thanks for asking the question, I have been meaning to for the last couple days. I have saved about 4 quarts of extra "magic gravy" and hope I saved it for some good reason. lol

I practiced for a bit today with the anchor cup. I poured 110 little panfish baits in two different colors and by the time I finished I was really getting the hang of it. I added softener for the first time, so I think that helped make the plastic a little looser? I also got in a groove of "dragging a drop" as I called it. For these little baits I had to drop 3 or 4 drops of plastic in the head area, then with the last drop still connected to the glass I pulled very slowly towards the tail of the bait. As I pulled I could see the plastic getting pulled from the cup as needed to fill the cavity. It was actually quite cool! Then I moved to a large bass sized bait with a skinny tail afterward, and that was a breeze! lol

Mainly just homemade RTV molds that I have made this past week. 3" and 4" stick baits that I have a fairly narrow slot to make them as round as possible, and a couple dropshot baits that have fairly narrow tails. The side flippers on the sides of beavers are somewhat challenging also. Thanks for the info Del. When you say "pouring cup" would something like a thin metal measuring cup be the same?

Any tips or tricks for hand pouring very small appendages or especially skinny baits? I've already determined if I am the least bit shaky, to give it up for the day. lol

OK, so I made my first RTV mold last night and it turned out pretty good. My only issue is some flashing that occurred around where the bait was glued down. I did the best I could after the mold set up with tweezers and a new razor blade to clean up that flashing, but it is still kinda "choppy" looking. I know it will pour fine baits as is, but just want it to look prettier. Any thing I am over looking? Perhaps I just need a better glue down system (I just used brush on super glue) to avoid it to begin with.

Being new at the plastic pouring hobby, I am just getting this all figured out. My barn is 12' by 20' with a decent size window at one end that I have a window fan sucking the air out. The other end is the entry door that I keep cracked to keep air current going out the window. I literally pour within inches of the window fan to keep fumes to a minimum. I am a carpenter/drywall guy by trade and my respiratory system is not what it used to be. I can no longer tolerate many dusts/fumes/fibers like I used to. Mainly because I didn't take the precautions I do now. A few years ago I started getting sinus and throat infections all the time, until I realized the problem. Now wearing masks at work I cut those infections way down. With all that said, I will be getting a decent respirator soon to pour plastics. The smoke that comes out of the Pyex cup definitely irritates the system. Right now I only do an hour at a time or so to cut down on exposure.

I got interested in pouring some of my own baits a couple weeks ago and have done a ton of researching online about it. Much of which was spending countless hours here at TU reading. Lots of good stuff here. I placed an order several days ago to LC for a bunch of essentials to get me going. Mainly just plastic, colorings, additives and a half dozen RTV molds. Yesterday morning I got the itch to get started even though I have not received any gear yet. I am a carpenter so I have DWP laying around. I knew I was going fishing today and I was quite low on Erie Darters so I thought this would be a good start. I made up the box, sacrificed 4 darters, and poured in the DWP. While this was curing I drove down to the local thrift store and bought a microwave for $14 (as well as a toaster oven for $4 to cure power coated jigs) Later in the day after setting shop in my barn, I prepped the mold for pouring. I dug out some old plastics in the approximate color I was looking for, and melted them down. The pouring went quite well. I ended up making 16 baits, and every one of them came out in what I would consider usable condition. I can see already a "hard" mold like this may not be the best type seeing I have to pull the fatter section of bait through the skinny surface cavity resulting in slightly mangled baits. A flexible RTV type would be much better IMO. Anyway, on the water today I was bound and determined to use the baits I made. The smallmouth have been hitting these good lately (which is why I wanted more) even in the 40-41 degree water. By the time I left I had caught 4 smallies with one about 4 1/2 pounds. Not too shabby. Going from "I think I might make a mold today" to catching some decent fish in less than 24 hours. First time mold making and first time plastic pouring. I'm hooked. Thanks!! (I think) lol