DaveMc1

Wait till you see what's coming down the pipeline in the future here

If you're using their Hot Pink and Chart 108 you will be ok with regard to bleeding as they are both pigments. you will need to mix the colours very strong and as opaque as you can as those baits are very small, the stronger the colours the more defined they will be in the final bait.

Calhoun I believe offered a very similar material at one point. I talked to someone that mentioned the process to use it was WAY different than we are used to. It was such a pain to use that they no longer offer it. The elaztech material requires specialized equipment to process, kind of why Zman makes the strike king 3X products

this boils down to temperatures.

The pics I saw of the colour show that it is the .015 Sparkle Violet from Spike It.

It looks completely different in the plastic. It kind of acts like a Hilite powder, it look white and milky until it hits the plastic.

Spike It - Sparkle Violet only comes in .015 and its the only one I have found that is stable enough to handle the heat (LureCraft has one but the 1/2lb I bought couldn't handle the heat)

Been using them in some capacity or another for 5 years now, I have had ZERO issues with them.

Everything you describe is temperature related. What is the actual plastic temps? NOT what the units temp controllers are telling you. I have found these injectors with the tiny nozzles do tend to shoot better with your plastic on the warmer side, i.e. 330 or so. Naturally there will be a little variation in the baits but every time I have experienced what you are describing it was always solved by adjusting the temps. It is absolutely important to understand and know what the ACTUAL plastic temps are. I am always shooting with the controllers between 145-165 Celcius (I have the old temp controllers)

The thermocouples on the SS units measure the heat of the base plate, not the plastic itself. Get a good accurate reading of the plastic itself. I have a couple of the full-size units and I have each pot set at different temps in order to get even heat between them both for consistent laminates.

Hey Kim, if you are referring to this adaptor http://www.lurecraft.com/Double-Injectioner-Adapter/productinfo/2X218/ then no it won't work properly with all your molds. In the description you have mold 5XLU-989 ( http://www.lurecraft.com/4-1_2-KT-Swim-Bait-Alum-2-Cav-2-Pc-Injection/productinfo/5XLU-989/ ) listed which is a 2 cavity side injection mold. It is not an offset mold so the left and right sides are cut into the mold plates leaving you with a bait that has the left side one colour and the right side another colour, NOT a back/belly laminate as it states. Looking at the molds listed on the adaptor page, 5XLU-141 is the only mold listed that will laminate properly with that adaptor. In order for the swimbaits to laminate back/belly the way you are cutting them they need their own injection ports (or an H-bar runner which you'll only see on production molds). The only somewhat economical way to properly laminate a multi cavity swimbait like the keitech is to do what Bob @ BTS has done and make an offset mold. BaitJunky's and BassTackle have made most if not all their injection swimbait molds available with single port injection to allow them to be laminated with the standard dual injectors on the market.

His was Aluminum glitter.

Where did you get the flake?

HMMMMMM, I've blown through 10-12lbs of .015 Grape and almost 18lbs of .035 Grape from the same place, plenty of smoke colours without a single bleeding issue. These aren't the best images available out there but the best I could really do. the first 2 are a dark smoke with .015 and .035 Grape and the 3rd is a light smoke with .015 Grape. Like I said, I use a lot of this particular glitter and have yet to have an issue with it bleeding. (.015 Gold is another that I have found will bleed, most notably in smoke colours giving it a green tint and Spike-It's Golds have been very stable in that regard)

Best to stay away from the craft crap, only a couple will work according to a few people. Stick to the glitter sold by the plastic suppliers, it works!!! Purples do tend to bleed but if you get Grape (or dark grape) you won't have any bleeding problems.

Any of the suppliers over here are selling proper poly glitter. Check with BaitJunkys, Spike-It, LureCraft etc. They all work well.

Well, the carrier is an oil based product, so as it warms it thins out. most colourants are pigments, which suspend in the carrier. As the carrier thins out the pigment settles.

All colourant settles and Spike-It's colourant doesn't take any more shaking than the rest. When you over heat any purple they tend to fade to a lighter more reddish tint.

It's just the nature of the beast. Purples will fade when you over heat them. Other colours do this too, colours like green pumpkin, black, watermelon, darker colours are far more stable. USE YOUR THERMOMETER when cooking these colours. Your eyeballs can't tell temperatures.

you're over heating the plastic. Only time I have seen Junebug do that. Get a thermometer ASAP and keep an eye on your temps

on a single cavity side inject mold, pour the outside colour in the runner, then immediately inject the core colour into the mold, it will push the core colour through the outside colour

Considering they are painted with Spike It's VPI paint and they re glued the bait they cut apart with mend it I am going to say they are plastisol.

Will only really work with single cavity and certain 2 cavity side injection molds.

I have found that if you are having problems with laminates it has more to do with not having equal pressure or temps are off. Here's something to think about, large manufacturers are able to laminate very large production molds with 25 - 200 cavities. They are laid out and function the exact same as a side injection mold, just with a lot more cavities and way longer runner.

I would have to ask which version of the shooting star do you have, there are more than a couple, I have had 2 of them, the original one Bear was selling (with the rotating manifold) and now the newest version from UltraMolds. Do you have the base plate with locking brackets? The only time I get bubbles in any baits is when the plastic is too cool in the pots and when the o-ring on the nozzle is about to fall apart.