Painter1

Whoops, wrong forum. Can it be moved?

I asked for and promptly received a sample of Polysol. It appears exactly like any other plastisol. It has a slightly different heating profile (than the MF I been using) in the microwave, meaning I needed to adjust the several short intervals of heating until it was ready for tinting and hand pouring. I learned not to mess with it until well past gel stage to prevent air bubbles. The material is very clear and took only about 2/3 of the recipe colorant to achieve the expected colors. I made a red and a watermelon color and was satisfied with both. I ordered "soft" and it feels true. Mostly I use Super Soft from MF and it, obviously, is not that soft, but is softer than the Medium Sinking material I occasionally use. I'm guessing this will be an excellent material for very clear baits. I reheated each color in the microwave without any ill effects. I will be ordering a batch when I use up what I have. polysolpolymers.com

Just curious, what is benefit of plastic over 3/16 lead-head?

Do you guys calculate baits per gallon of plasitol with sprue recycle, without or modified ways? I would welcome information concerning how many BTS 702 / 706 / 708 Craws a gallon of plasitol ultimately yields versus potential yield. Obviously, direct recycling for a laminate bait is not an option & Recycling is limited on light colors as the plastic only has a certain amount of reheat capability. Thank you.

I sent an inquiry last evening and already have a response, pricing, and offer of sample material. I am looking forward to testing it with a dark and a very light color.

I found that viscosity can be an overlooked issue. May want to check that.

Do you buy direct from Polysol? Their website is a bit sparse.

I was going to follow advice gained here so I looked up sheetlabels.com reviews before ordering. Glad I did. Yikes. Looks pretty hit or miss. researching other options and, as always, thanks for the help gentlemen.

Got it. Thanks

Can someone here make me a half dozen short-arm spinnerbaits with a single #4 silver Colorado blade, no skirt? Here is a link but this guy is out of stock. http://stores.ebay.com/Bassdozer-Store/SPINNERBAITS-/_i.html?_dmd=2&_nkw=Spinnerbaits&_fsub=6 Please send PM. Will trade or pay, as you please.

Straw is just to keep the hole open and feed the line through. I realized I could run an exposed point straight shank hook along and imbedded in the top of the bait as well as the #4 treble below. They look great in the water but (today at least) the bass want a small finesse DS worm at 30-40 feet, an unweighted white fluke around shady docks or a super-soft 4" GP & orange craw on bluff rock slides. Several weeks ago it was swim jigs or underpins with ringed paddletail Swimbaits. Once that thermocline gets set here the game changes. I'm going to need to use these Swimbaits with heavier weights or wait until fall and wake them. They swim real sexy so the guys on the dock all want some now.

Well. It remains to be seen if the fish actually like them. They have shown remarkable bad taste in the past, with baits that were "certain to work" I bought the molds from a gentleman on here, so don't know who makes them. Open pour, 5" line through bait. I found that a tungsten bullet weight, 3/8 or 1/2 oz, will slide right into the belly above the hook.

With the advice and guidance Cami provided, months ago, I have been fooling around with this. I made these this evening with 3/8" flexi-cord from Barlows. I have not had great success glueing the material to the side of the mold, so I end up pouring in some plastic, inserting the sheet and gently pouring around it. The material reacts and can move Depending on the heat. So pouring as cold as possible helps stabilize. I ordered a variety of Mylar tubing, in silver, gold, copper, pink, halo, etc, but don't care for how they look. Too flashy for the clear water we have where I fish. The bass are 40' deep in summer so I'm hoping this is the right amount of flash to attract some healthy ones this week.

I mostly use MF Super Soft, which requires shaking or mixing. But I don't use the material very quickly and am not able to properly shake a 5 gallon container. A standard mixing paddle from the paint store (barely) won't fit into the opening of the container. I cut the ring on the bottom of the mixing paddle, in 2 places, with a hacksaw and bent it in to reduce the diameter slightly. That worked to get the paddle in and out of the container. After mixing well with a drill and a lot of vertical action, the spout goes in and the material is transferred to quart containers that are easy to shake by hand.

I also like MF Super Soft and find that the bass tend to hold on to for the Craws and worms that I make. I recently made some PT swim baits in medium but had better success with the soft ones. I don't use salt but coat the baits in a scented worm oil shortly after they cool. The baits soak up the scented oil overnight

Sure. A Finesse Jig. Try mixing thin silicone with deer hair for a new look.

I highly recommend watching Franks videos

I made my first baits with this mold last night with the Mustad 32746 hooks recommended on Barlows site. I got a lot of flashing at the hook eye, filling the eye on most baits. A 5/0 hook fits but the 4/0 does not, with the hook eye being too small. Is the Gami 604 hook or Ownet 5318 a better fit ? Due to the tips posted on here I only ruined I of 36 when closing the wire loop. I bought the recommended blade sizes - wondering what Size you guys are using? I plan to distribute the ones I made to some buddies for feedback and try a few myself the next few days.

Sold thousands and caught nothing

I have to use sprue extenders on most of my top inject molds

This my understanding of the chemistry, for what it's worth. I think it has more to do with compound & molecule separation than smaller particles like free radicals. Plastisol is made up of 3 components: Polyvinyl Chloride (same PVC pipe is made from) , Plasticizer, and Heat Stabilizer. There are a lot of different kinds of plasticizer and it's there to modify the PVC so it doesn't turn out as hard as pipe. During the cooking process the PVC compound splits, producing and separating the vinyl and the chloride. Without Heat Stabilizer the active chloride will (too) quickly re-bond with the vinyl causing the vinyl to discolor. So the heat stabilizer works by attaching to the chloride (technically the chloride salt) - a one time bonding process. To much stabilizer will produce oily, stinky & inconsistent plastic. There is only so much chloride it can attach to so excess floating around in the mix will make the product unstable. Reheating after the heat stabilizer is "used up" causes the rapid re-bonding of the vinyl & chloride, same as before, but the heat stabilizer is not available to slow things down. You may be able to add more but see the note about too much. Ultimately, and obviously, the vinyl and chloride must reattach, but in a different final structure.

I had one made for a 3/4 oz, 1 oz & 1.25 oz but I never use it.

There are guys here that have forgotten more than I know. It's a great place to ask a question or search for a subject to read up on.

All you veteran bait makers know this stuff but here goes for the others. After making light colored baits I typically have some left over in the cup plus the sprues. Sometimes, even with heat stabilizer, the plastic will take on an amber color after reheating in microwave. Of course this also happens if the plastic is overheated. Grinding the recycled material before reheating helps with even melting versus having different size peices in the cup. I have an inexpensive meat grinder from Harbor Freight. Whites, clears and smoke colors can all take on an amber, yellow or yellow-green tint and if there is blue glitter in the bait, green becomes more noticeable. Since violet is opposite yellow on the color wheel, a few drops of purple colorant will "neutralize" the yellow. Of course there is a trade-off. The result will be a brownish tint since violet + yellow = a shade of brown. Red + green = a different shade of brown. I hope this helps someone.

I ordered through Amazon. I had an idea - what do you think? Threaded rod with a sequence of nut- cable tie, nut-cable tie. Maybe 4 to 6 of these with the cable tie tag ends about 4.5 inches long. May have to glue the ties to keep them from slipping while spinning.