Tiderunner

I solved the problem by using a couple drops of plain orange, and plain green to each color. Nice coloring now. Lost the florescence, and the green needs to be tinkered with a bit. but all in all these didn't come out too bad.

I'm right up there with you guys. So let's see. In the past five days, I've gotten a couple gals of plastic with additives. Worm oil and scents, and was just looking at color charts for green and orange or yellow colors. Of course these were all from different manufacturers. I mean why would I order everything at once? I thought I saw a thread about how much does lure making cost. Seems like $15.00 a worm at times. It's worse than having a garden and growing $20.00 a pound tomatoes. Looking at some firetiger plugs, green looks closer to what I need, and plain orange, with maybe a drop of yellow in both colors. These are skinny drop shot worms I'm making so its easy for the colors to blend together. MF here comes another order. Of course I added color before heating, but just adding more and more as I stirred. Looks great in the cup. Not so much in the bait. I don't use these my son does, and he thinks they look great. I'm a perfectionist and like to drive myself crazy getting it right. Crazy is how this hobby makes us.

Started making some firetiger laminated senkos, and cut tail worms. Came out well enough, but it seems that no matter how much coloring I used the two colors seemed to come out almost transparent Colors were Florescent Orange, and Florescent Chartreuse. Salt was used as well. Still came out almost as though the colors bled. but after inspection I can see through the colors. Would adding a normal green and a normal orange to the florescent colors help bring out my two colors? And yes the florescent colors were added before heating. I was also thinking of adding chartreuse glitter and orange glitter. You think that might help?

I started out some time back using the salt from MF. I was plenty satisfied with it. But the price for it and from other sellers has risen to a point where I needed to find alternatives. Took kosher salt ran it through an electric coffee grinder, and turned it into a fine powder. Works fine in baits, for my use at least. But for those who grind their own, how do you keep it from caking? My bought brands of salt never caked. Is there something they add to keep it from caking?

I just bought my first gallon from Dead On. Same problem. I've been pouring for around 30 years and never had this.No matter how careful I am my baits are loaded with bubbles. I also find it takes my baits a lot longer to cure than other brands I've used. A friend went the same route and just bought his first gallon of Dead on as well. Same issue, More bubbles than fine champagne. Ended up going to MF. Back to MF plastisol for me too. I'm pretty sure an average hobby bait maker like myself, doesn't need a vacuum chamber, or the expense of one. I'll spend the extra $20 or so, and use the left over money from not buying a vacuum chamber for more fishing stuff.

LOL was just pouring a few minutes ago and thinking to myself that I should consider getting a vacuum chamber. I never had the bubble issue with any other plastic I used. And I've tried them all. In all my years of pouring I had never seen bubbles like this. I was using a larger container of coloring and it had separated quite a bit. It was one of those colors that haven't been used in so long you wonder what it looks like. I'm thinking too much of the liquid medium hadn't mixed and boiled out? So this time pouring, I used no coloring, I did use salt and glitter. And stirred a lot less. Though in my initial pour I stirred no differently than any other plastic. No bubbles. No tacky though that wasn't the problem. And I'm aware of the moisture issue. I had ground my own salt when I ran out of the suppliers salt. And it has clumped up some. I don't know if the salt we all buy has an additive in to keep it from clumping. I have god knows how many jars of glitter and coloring, and of course only use 5 of each at most. And although we yankees have humid summers, moisture in those has been nil. Second pouring of Dead On has been ok. but when I use this up, back to MF. That dollar wouldn't have lasted too long. You'd be spending it on molds, supplies, glitter...etc We that fish are good for the economy!

Or you could do what we've all done at some point. Add softener, then if too soft add hardener, and then add softener. Until you get it just right Be honest guys, we've all done it. Deep down inside we're all just mad scientists1

This past weekend, I had gone to help a young man pour some baits. He's a newbie. I've been pouring about 25 years. He was complaining his baits ( senko) were coming out sticky and tacky. First thing that came to mind was cooking temps. So we started pouring craws. Using my molds, and his Dead on for worms. Got the plastic up to temps. but I got the same results. Know as an above poster mentioned, once you remove X ounces of improperly mixed liquid, no matter how well you mix it, the formula is off. So he let them cure overnight, the next day he tells me they're better. But not tack free. This was the weekend. And sure enough on Friday I ordered my first gallon of Dead On Worm blend. Came today. Poured a dozen senkos in the Yamamoto cnc mold. No tacky thing going on but man! Bubble City, Any suggestions to fix this? I did nothing different with the plastic than I've ever done with other brands. Baits are super soft too. That can be fixed, But are the bubbles a normal thing with dead on? I had used a moss green dye and I'm wondering if that may have separated and the watery part caused a boil? First temps were at 360. Bare plastic senko weighed 8.5g added salt weight went to 10.0 a little stiffer. I can live with all that, but the bubbles! OK I rambled. but to the OP, check your temps. That should solve the falling apart.

I had that mold for some time. I don't know of any laminate plate for that mold or any of the essential series. Go to either the blue or orange big box building supply store, and get some aluminum flashing or aluminum sheets and grab your scissors and have at it. The only laminate plate I own is for the Do It senko CNC senko mold. Had to cut out the aluminum ones as needed. Cuts easily with scissors, and you can make multiple ones Works out as well as the laminate plate. Honestly, I wish there were more laminate plates available for more molds. Be warned...there is some trial and error involved.

I inject the opposite way. Though we both use the same principle. I use a vise for my molds, and always angle them slightly downward away from the injection port. Been doing that for years after trial and error. The hottest plastic then runs down to the furthest point first. I can see your point though. Your way puts the vents on top so the mold can for lack of better word. burps itself as the mold fills.

I'd say you've found part of the problem yourself. Inject your plastic faster. It seems like your baits are cooling too fast in the mold. Keep the pressure on while shooting.Preheat the mold as well. And open your vent lines a tiny bit. BTW...I like that mold,Most of the others I've seen like that are flat on one side. Don't like that. Your mold looks round and ribbed completely around. Is that true? If so I may end up getting that mold.

Seeing as nobody has the dual injector in stock, I may as well wait. The do it, and bass tackle seem to be my first choices. The meat injector thing reminds me of a funny story. My son was a funeral director. And I, smoke a lot of meats. Friends were over one night and I made a smoked meat buffet. Some were sausages I had injected with beer, some with wine. Friends wife asked what I used to inject the meat with. Showed her this huge stainless steel injector. She asked where I go it from, told her my son brought it home from work. The look on her face was priceless! OK guess you had to be there, FWIW, I don't sell my baits, they're for my own use and friends. So laminate plates work, but painfully slow. I make one wacky worm type I call nightcrawler, that has been deadly for me, but it takes hours to make 25. Would love to speed it up.

Time to order more plastisol. I have 3 choices Dead On, Bait Plastics,and MF Plastic. Which would you choose. I have tried all 3 and can't make up my mind. Dead on being the least expensive, Bait Plastics being a few dollars more. And MF being the most expensive, nearly double,but shipping is included. I use sinking soft or medium, as I mainly fish deep. To m, they all seem the same. What would your choices be and why?

No intention of buying an ebay special, just trying to keep my costs down. Do it sells theirs for about $50 less, but they're out of stock too. Is everyone making laminates because of the pandemic? I'm guessing supply chain issues.

I make a lot of floating baits using the floaty bubble stuff. I'm experimenting with making floating, or neutral buoyancy claws for my crayfish LOL...you do know what boat means don't you? Bust Out Another Thousand Spending money on the boat! That's funny! You have to do that over the life of the boat. A hole in the ocean into which you pour lots of money. The two happiest days in a boat owners life the day he buys it and the day he sells it...And I'm sure the list goes on. I have a 24' walkaround sitting in my driveway that the engine needs to come out of. I/O Chevy 5.7 Overbuilt to nearly 350HP. Oil pan rotted out. As long as the engine is out, replace the starter, the exhaust and shift bellows, the shift cable. I keep thinking my second happiest day is coming!

I'm the same. But I am way fussy, and I'm always tweaking. I may skip the soft sinking, and switch to a medium sinking, and just use the softener to adjust wiggle and texture after adding salt, glass beads,etc. On remelts of dark colors, no stabilizer, just a tiny bit on lighter colors, and none on clearish baits. I just make small batches so I don't have to worry about yellowing. That's quite the bottle assortment! I'm adding some more shelving to keep mine under control. I've got to figure out how to fix the disappearing color name on the pigment bottles.

Getting tired of cutting makeshift laminate plates out of aluminum flashing. While they work great they're too slow. Decided to forego any new molds for a while and get a dual injector instead. Recommendations? I looked at the Bass Tackle one. Out of my price range, and unavailable anyway. Don't feel like waiting for one to come from overseas so that option is out. Do-It? Price is reasonable. What is everyone using? Want to keep it under $200.

Update on learning curve. Cut the stainless rods a bit short so as not to interfere with the injection port. Made one a bit longer to see if that actually would happen. It doesn't. Actually makes a better bait. Will order more stainless rods, and cut them longer. also on my learning curve. Removing the stainless rods is a *%^$ if you forget to lube them. Note to self Remember to lube the rods.

Reading my last years Do-It catalog, they show a " Crystal Clear" hardener. Gonna drop them a line and see if theirs is truly crystal clear, or if that's just their brand name.

Try posting this in the Wire Baits forum. You'll probably get better ideas there. For lead ingots Ebay.

No worries. I also have bottle of pigment with no names. So from time to time I make small runs of baits to see what it is, and then sharpie the name on the bottle. Think greens, purples. All like colors but different. And I was wrong on one account. I have been using medium plastic. Because I fish deep water (50+), and to match the weights of the original, I also use a lot of salt or glass beads. so sometimes the baits will be too soft, so add hardener, then too stiff, so add softener. We all do it. However, I'm experimenting with core shot baits without actually buying new molds, I was going through my plastics, and found a bottle of Medium sinking, Firm Extra stretch, by MF. So I used that. I really like the stuff! A tad too firm, so If I switch over to that completely, and just add softener I may have what I want. For my non-coreshot baits I'd still use soft plastic. As I like the baits really floppy and soft. Especially because I do a lot of Neko rigs, and wacky specialty baits. The firm isn't what I'd want.

Got my stainless rods delivered the next day. Help when the supplier is only about 20 miles away. Skipped dinner and went right to work. Had 12" rods cut each to size. Mixed some plastic to play with. Coated the rods with pure silicone lube. Heated, poured my first ones, and was immediately disappointed. I poured some medium plastic from the bottom of the bottle and for some reason, they came out gooey. NO hard pack, no plastic left. Can't quite figure that out.rod didn't center right, color cols blew through the side of a senko. Called it a night after that Tried again today. Big improvement! Had some Medium stretchy plastic, added glitter and went at it. Come out pretty ok with the MF medium stretchy. Clear outside silver glitter, and a purplish core. Cuz you can center the rod, but it made a nice line through the senko. Rod didn't need any polishing. The pure silicone is wicked slippery. I use it to lube my injector. There is going to be a learning curve I can see that. BUT! The rods with shipping and tax was $14 vs $145 for a true core shot mold. One issue with my mold, it's a CNC mold, not a cheapo, and it has one port for shooting on top, while to baits shoot perpendicular to that. Had the baits been in line with the injection port, all would have been right with the world.

Found a supplier not too far from my home that sell stainless steel round rods. Cut to whatever length you need. I ordered 6- 12" long 1/8' diameter rods that I can cut to fit. Price was negligible.

Seeing I pretty much only use MF plastisol I'm pretty sure what I was using was MF hardener. The LC I have now is a pain in the keester to work with. I'm with you nearly impossible to work with. I ordered my last quart of hardener and stabilizer 3 years ago, so I use very little of the stuff. Been pouring around 30 years. I know the process, can't remember what brand I last ordered.I've tried other brands of plastic. Shipping brings the total price. up to around that of MF. So I stick with that. When I ordered lure craft I had ordered beads or hooks or something. so I added hardener to the order.

Some time back I bought a hardener that was clear, or close to clear. The label had worn off and all print was gone from the bottle. Anyone know who might sell this type of hardener? I've since bought a bottle of hardener, I believe its Lurecraft brand that is a paste PVC resin type. Hard to use. Doesn't mix well no matter what I do. Doesn't allow me to make clear baits. Can't use it for reheats so I can dial in exactly what I want when making recipes. In short I hate the stuff. I want my clear one back! Can anyone here help me out?