DaveMc1

The vast majority of the t shirt companies buy their plastisol pre coloured.

I'll second the rootbeer but i'd look at .015 + .035 K.Green and .062 Black.

If it was straight down in the centre of the nose then yes you would be right. Off to the side like that is a vent issue.

That particular bait I would want to see a vent every 1/4" starting at the gate. I get a similar looking void in a very similar spot on one of my baits when the vents get clogged or plugged up. it's 100% a venting issue.

Centrifugal molding for soft plastics really isn't great for the production shop either. There are FAR more productive methods of production in use. Molds wouldn't be all that expensive compared to aluminum production molds. Hell, for the size of that bait one could far out produce that particular centrifugal mold with a couple aluminum molds hand injecting. I know I could inject twice as many cavities in the time it took to load the mold, spin it, pour in the plastic, let it cool and pull the screws to open the mold. It could probably be done with less remelt and you have the option of laminates unlike with that mold.

Their water based and solvent based paints are the only plastisol compatible paints available to hobbyists.

Custom molded is the only way to ensure the tails stay straight but it is incredibly expensive to get it started, mold costs are very high and minimum orders are very high. Last time I ordered mine I had to buy 10,000.

from the looks of it I'd look at Spike It's Brown Oxide or Cinnamon, med orange and small gold on one side and Gold pearl with med black flake.

Ultra Molds small shooting star has twin 2qt pots, their large version has twin 2.5 gallon pots.

you need to keep adding plastic to the injection port as it cools. you will see it suck down after filling and if you leave it it will cause a hollow spot in the nose of the bait.

Probably because it is a solvent LOL

Sorry, here is the link. http://ultramolds.com/product-category/injection-systems/shooting-star-system/

Never really did like the presto pots. I always found them to be quite hard on the plastic. If you are looking at shooting a lot of 1 and 2 colour baits take a look at one of these. Yes they are expensive but they are built for plastic using insulated pots. You can draw plastic directly from each pot for single colour baits or you can draw from the 2 colour manifold for 2 colour laminates. The absolute best part is there is NO blending block to fumble with, shoot laminates just like you would shoot a solid colour. They have the Mini with a pair of 2 quart pots for smaller operations or the regular one with a pair of 2.5 gallon pots.

Any one of the places selling plastic supplies. BaitJunkys has a salt that is damn near identical to the stuff I buy

it's easy to confuse that with this but it's caused from filling the cavity too fast.

I'm not seeing any dents in your bait. there are voids in the rings though. Dents and the voids you see are unrelated. I have always found that injecting slower will help them fill out better. You want the cavities to fill slow.

According to who? Salt as a filler could be applicable when it comes to VERY heavily salted baits but the vast majority of baits on the market with salt in them the difference in cost is really negligible. My take on this is the vast majority of people making baits that tell you "Salt is for french fries" and that salt doesn't make a difference etc. don't want to deal with it. It can be problematic figuring out how much to add to do what you want, what type of salt to add and some of the moisture issues that can pop up with salt (must keep it in a cool dry storage as it will absorb moisture). You will need to really play around with the amount of salt to add to the plastic you use in order to achieve the results you are after. Yes you can make transparent baits just fine that have a noticeable amount of salt in them, Yes you can make baits that will be neutrally buoyant, claws will stand up etc with a noticeable amount of salt in them, Yes you can make stick baits loaded with salt that are still relatively translucent and show flake within the bait and finally Yes you can make a fairly durable bait with salt in it, even a stick bait LOADED with salt can be fairly durable if you choose to use a very fine grain salt. Don't let the nay sayers sway you against using it, try it out and really mess with it. One little tip, use the finest grind you can buy, DO NOT grind it yourself, I found after years of messing with it that grinding it causes it to really cloud up and clump, using a VERY fine grind eliminates 99% of those issues.

There really isn't one. It's a plasticizer. What do you desperately need it for?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This right here!!!!!!

wrong glue LOL, 1/4" eyes are 4.99/100 and get the fix a lure glue. the eyes are made out of soft plastic. Mend it (probably the same as the fix a lure glue) will work just as good.

Spike It - Grape, you won't have any issues with it bleeding at all.

High Rock doesn't exist any more.

Not yet. The vast majority of guys on here are making baits on the hobby level, an injection machine can run as high as $40,000 and up. Molds for them between $3,000 - $10,000 each. It really is a completely different way of doing things. Based on what you listed i would say you'd more molds if you want to produce more product.

It all depends on how long I have been running the plastic in the pots. Most times I can empty the pots fairly quick so I save the left overs for the next run and mix it with fresh plastic.

Just to give you an idea here, when I shoot swimbaits (3 sizes) I will typically shoot 102 cavities. Drop shot baits - 84 cavities for one and 80 cavities for the other, 5" stick baits - 64 cavities, fluke style minnow bait - 60 cavities. I find that its more than just more molds/cavities though. All I do is try to manage heat. There is usually a point where more mold/cavities actually will slow you down. I try to have as many molds as it takes to allow me to keep shooting in a cycle, e.g. if I have 12 molds I will clamp them in 3 groups of 4. Shoot a group and move it to cool, grab another, shoot it and move it to cool, grab the last and shoot it, move it to cool. Grab the first, pull the baits, re-clamp and shoot again etc.