rcbv

Many different airbrushes, I like Iwata brand. SB Coat paint from Lure Works. This is a solvent based paint designed for soft plastic baits. This is important, get a good paint respirator rated for organic vapors from solvents. If you can't afford a paint booth rated for flammable materials, paint outdoors or in a well ventilated area. This type of paint is very bad for your lungs and is flammable. Don't half ass the safety precautions. Some people use water based paints and then dip in clear plastisol, I've never tried it.

I sometimes look at expired patents for ideas. It's worth learning the basics of reading a patent in order to not go crazy trying to figure out what is being protected. The patent that you referenced is a Design patent which provides protection for the visual appearance of an object. As RedRum mentioned it's the claims that matter. In this case there is a single claim that describes the bait appearance. "The ornamental design for an artificial minnow with horizontal tail, as shown and described." The other important detail is that this patent is long expired.

Did that become the Ultra Molds Big Blue injection system?

I've seen gate artifacts on big baits under the mouth, on the belly and at the tail. The reservoir will help, so will holding injection pressure but unless the mold is metal the bait is going to take a while to cool. If you can, try partially filling the mold and waiting a bit for the plastic to cool and shrink then finish filling it. It just needs to cool enough to form a thick enough skin to remove from the mold without tearing. Then drop it into a bucket of water for it to cool uniformly and not dent.

hotrunnermachines.com makes a system similar to the Jacobs machine. What do you mean by "works a little faster"?

No experience with burned plastisol but I would soak it in acetone and then try using a tooth brush or nylon scrub pad to see if the burned material is softening. If it is, then continue soaking and scrubbing. If it's really stubborn then you might have to use more aggressive mechanical abrasives like steel wool or wire brush.

Removing supports is sometimes a problem.

The dolls are painted with a pigmented silicone thinned down enough to spray. After it's sprayed the thinner evaporates and the silicone cures bonding to the silicone body. No different than what's being discussed but maybe less expensive, just a thought.

Google "painting silicone dolls", there is a bunch of information about what people use and how. Apparently there's a whole cottage industry around silicone baby dolls.

Whatever you sublimate on needs to take the heat.

I've really been tempted to get the Haimer 3D Sensor Digital, they claim .0002" accuracy and .00005 repeatability. The tool setter is fairly pricey but the claim is that you can setup 5x faster do you find that to be the case?

Did you ask the vendor to send samples shot in the mold? Before we ship a custom mold we shoot a sample and send it to the customer for approval. I understand your's isn't a custom mold but they should have sent you a sample shot from your mold after you told them you were having problems.

I was surprised to learn that Pyrex glassware sold in the USA is no longer made from Borosilicate glass but made from tempered glass.

There is some good input in this thread: http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/29917-denting-problem/?hl=dents#entry237896

Thanks cadman, now I get it. If you can't find anyone to do it for less than $2 a pin let me know and I can do it for less.

I still don't know what you're talking about. Is this just turning a pin down on a lathe?

Maybe you can polish one of the cavities and see if it is just a surface finish issue.

Prior art can invalidate a patent, but you have to pay careful attention to the claims, they are the heart of the patent and the only thing that matters. The Strike King Rage Chunk raised ridge is not the only thing claimed in the patent. And to further screw things up there is the "doctrine of equivalents". This is where a judge in a patent case can decide that even though your product did not literally infringe a patent but your product may still be equivalent to the patented product and therefore in violation. It's educational to browse through patents, you'll see plenty of idiotic ideas that were granted a patent. What I like to do is look at patents that have expired for ideas, in the USA that means patents issued 20 years ago. Still plenty of great ideas from that time.

The body of the 706 craw looks looks like it has a circular cross section, can anyone verify? It may not violate at least one of the claims if it is. Patent claim 1 a) a body having two ends, the body having a width and a height, the body width being greater than the body height; Deconstructing patents is fun but way too risky to act on without consulting an attorney.

Vodkaman, thanks for the advice, that job was problematic to be sure. We barely covered the tool costs but did learn quite a bit about machining ribs . I think your 1/16" minimum cutter diameter is a good rule for the reasons you mentioned and will probably work for ninety percent of the lure molds we fab. In our non-mold work we've gone as small as .005" diameter for the cutters and .0015" diameter for drilling.

Thanks everyone for your input on end mills. Bob is correct, we were using long reach ball end mills from Harvey Tool. This was a creature mold with about 40 ribs that were .039" thick x .035" spacing. The long reach was required due to the body contours and .250" rib depth.

Bob, glad to hear that our machining times are similar, I really couldn't see how to get the times substantially faster. The secondary ops definitely add to the total time. Sounds like we've done similar lead jig molds. Don't get me started on broken tooling. We busted a bunch of 1/32in. ball end mills trying to dial in a deep ribbed bait mold. Those were $40 each, nothing like having one break when the mold is 90% done and irreparably damage the mold. Anybody thinking of getting into this needs to factor in tooling cost as well as machine cost. You'll need tool holders, a real machining vise, a reliable compressor and a bunch of other stuff that can really add to the cost. I don't use Fusion360 or have a Tormach but for anyone interested look at Youtube channel called NYC Cnc. That guy has Fusion360 tutorials and runs a bunch of Tormach equipment.

Wow, it took me a while to read the whole thread. Bob, great feedback thanks for sharing. I'd be interested in knowing what your machining times are for a typical two piece hand injected mold. Ours are running about 3 to 6 hours or more if the bait has lots of thin ribs. With regard to the necessity of CAM software, there is no way we could machine any organic shapes with out CAM software. Here is a picture of a CAD model for a lead jig that is typical of the types of shapes that we have machined molds for. I don't think this could be hand coded very efficiently.

Maybe quickly dipping them in acetone or other solvent to loosen the paint?

The identify theft is bad enough but did the attorney think the copying was serious?