RSullivan

Thanks Frank. I am not sure how the mold misalignment causes the laminating problem (I am not a hydrolic engineer). But the fact is that the misalignment is causing the issue. 1.) I have two molds. 2.) With the hinges on they are both mis-alogned somewhere between 1/32nd and 1/16th. 3.) I have taken the hinges off of one of the molds. 4.) I align (carefully) and clamp the hingless molds. It is aligned. 5.) I close the hinged mold and clamp, it is not aligned. 6.) I have a jacobs Pro machine & two digital thermometers with probes. One on each tank. 7.) The temprature varies by 4 degrees. 8.) I shoot the molds. 9.) The molds without the hinge shoots well (a good laminate). 10.) The 'hinged' mold (which will not align correctly due to the 'bad' placement of the hinge) does not shoot the laminate well. It exibits the original problem I reported. 11.) I then took te hinge off of the 'bad' mold. 12.) Aligned carefully, clamped and shot it. 13.) This mold now shoots well (a good laminate). With the hinges on the molds the 'bottom' of the molds where slightly (1/32nd - 1/16th) forward along the horizontal plane than the 'Tops' of the molds. This meant that the 'sprue hole' in the mold was not a circle, but rather two halves of a circle with one half being slightly offset (ahead of) from the other half. I am pretty sure the mis-alignment was causing cavitation (i.e. 'swirl') in the mold. This data of course is all imperical! Thanks.

Thanks Guys. It happens on both molds. I line the olds up with the injector with a carpenter square, so I am positive they are square to the nozzle. I have looked closely at the molds and now and realized it is in fact the molds, specifically the hinges Do-It uses on their molds. The hinges where put on in a very sloppy manner. When closes and clamped the mold halves where not lined up correctly. I removed the hinges and carefully lined the two halves up and clamped. Though not perfect I can now shoot a satisfactory laminate. Thanks for all the help.

Thanks hpssports. I do not have a camera (or cell phone) handy. If you shoot laminates with the mold and have no problems then I have no idea what is going on. To clarify (Without photo): 1.) Shoot the mold with white bottom black top. 2.) Lay the bait flat with the head pointing away from you. 3.) The pincer and legs on the right hand side are black. 4.) The pincer and legs on the left hand side are white. I would think it is my Jacobs Pro machine but in the same session I shoot plenty of other molds as laminates and they have no such problems: - 5" 16 cavity Wutz-Its. - 4" 4 cavity Wutz-Its. - 3.5" and 4.5" Do-It swim shads (both thin and normal tails). - Plenty of different manufacturers stick's - A 10 cavity 2.5" caw mold (Basstackle). Its the only other craw mold I have. None of these molds have problems as the Mud Bug does. Thanks Bassducer. I have recently asked Basstackle for a 10 cavity 5" stick. They said they have no time right now for any custom work. I suppose I will look at other manufacturers craws and if I find one I like I will give them a call.

I have a couple of single cavitiy 3.75" Mud Bugs. When I inject them with a dual injector (Jacobs 'Pro' Machine) 1.) The bottom of the body is in fact my bottom color (Yea!). 2.) The legs and pincers on one side (the 'top' from the orientation of the mold) are the top color (Boo!). 2.) The legs and pincers on the other side (the 'bottom' from the orientation of the mold) are the bottom color (Boo!). I understand the nuances of molds that do not do well with dual injection, and am assuming that the 3.75" single cavity mud-bug is one of these. Do others see this problem? I am asking becuase I want to get a craw mold (minimum 3.75", maximum 4") that has at least 6 cavities. 1.) I am thinking of getting the six cavity 3.75" mud bug mold. Perhaps it does not exhibit the same issues that the single cavity mold seems to have? Anyone have experience with this mold? 2.) I am unable to find any 6 cavity or better craw molds in my desired size from the usual suspects (BassTackle, Do-It,...). Anyone know of another manuafacturers mold that fits this bill? Thanks.

I have a Jacobs Pro which I purchased used from another member of this site (Painter1). It is a small machine suitable for the hobbyist. http://stores.jacobsbaits.com/injection-machines/ This is the only 'smaller' injection machine I am aware of.

Boy, do I hate putting eyes on swim baits and jerk baits. I hate it so much I refuse to do it! But it does look really cool! The worse part about it (for me) is heating small amounts of clear plastisol to dip he bait in to seal the eyes. So: 1.) Is there such a thing as stick on eyes that will stay on without applying a coating of clear? 2.) Has anyone tried clear Plasti-Dip? (https://plastidip.com/). If this works at least I would not need to continually heat up plastisol. BTW, I am off fishing the next 5 days or so (no internet) so do not think I am rude if I do not participate in any conversations that may occur on this thread for awhile.

Hey Guys. Thanks for all of the ideas. I received my mold, shot some clusters, made my sacks and am now soaking them in Mikes Glo Scent Salmon Egg Oil.

Thanks for all of the suggestion guys. I took 12 4" C-clamps (Jorgenson) to a local welding / machine shop. They are going to charge me $40.00 to: 1.) Cut the adjusting screws down to 3". 2.) Weld a 9/16 nut on to the end. This will work for me an I found it to be surprisingly cheap!

I am a smallmouth fisherman. I have a place in Canada on a river that runs into lake Huron. Every fall I watch the salmon come up the river and spawn. Occasionally I see a SteeHead following them (I am told the SteelHead are eating the Salmon spawn). So, this year I have decided to catch a Steelhead! (I never have fished for them before). Before I go any further I am aware that I have a better chance of catching a Steelhead using real span bags, But what fun is that? I am looking at this mold: http://www.basstackle.com/Salmon_egg_cluster_mold_1_4_dia_eggs_p/407-kj-50.htm My question is what do I scent the spawn bags I will make with the Egg clusters from this mold? Is there such a thing as 'Salmon Egg' scent? Thanks

Clarification: Though I mentioned the perceived issue of the clamp feet scratching the molds, it is not the issue I am trying to resolve. First of all thanks for all of the responses, Spring Clamps: I have tried these before. I have some larger molds (12 cavity) so I need to run my injection machine with about 20lbs of pressure in order for all of the cavities and appendages in the cavities to actually fill. The spring clamps (4 of them) do not have enough clamping pressure. When I did this it resulted in a whole lot of 'flashing; occurring so I had to spend a lot of time trimming baits. Standard C-clamps: These are all to long ('wide'), see below (If this existed it would solve my issue).. Wood working F-clamps (Jorgenson, Pony, Bessey): These are also to long ('wide'), see below (If this existed it would solve my issue).. The reason I like to use the pieces of wood (cauls) is that I have many molds with small / thin appendages in them. As we know some times the appendages will not fill when shooting, so one must vary the pressure of the clamps in order to get the appendages to fill correctly. When I use the pieces of wood I never have this issue. I simply put the pieces of wood in position, put the clamps on, tighten them up and shoot. This works very well for me. Now the real issue is the width of the pieces of wood, mold and clamp (specifically the length that the adjusting screw that ends up sticking out). The entire width is ~1" to wide to fit under my injection machine when I am trying to shoot dual color (i.e. 'laminates') baits. When I am shooting singe color baits I have no issues as I can simply cock the assembly at about 30 degrees. See: http://www.visualdictionaryonline.com/house/do-it-yourself/carpentry-gripping-tightening-tools/c-clamp.php for a listing of C-clamp parts. If this existed it would solve my issue: A 3" C-clamp where the adjusting screw is only 1 1/2" long. Meaning that if the adjusting screw was completely closed the 'Swivel Head' on the adjusting screw would be at least 1" from the 'Fixed Jaw'. I.e. it does not close all the way. I have been unable to find such a C-clamp. I believe such an animal does not exist. Thanks for all of the suggestions.

That's a good idea, but I am using a Jacobs injection machine. A vice will not fit under the nozzle with a mold in it (I have some tall 12 cavity molds). Thanks