2marshall8

How many baits are you putting into a padded envelope this big? my struggle is I sell more bulk quantity and customers will buy more than one pack (60ish baits) so this size envelope won't work, things will be too squishy in there and quality may be sacrificed. I'm still figuring out the right size. .13/c each is awesome. I'm looking at around 8.5 x 14.

could this have to due with the type of plastisol being used? I was shooting chartreuse tails for some drop shot baits on some super high floating (low resin) plastisol and have seen all the tails fall off just sitting in the bag. just another thought to consider.

Yah. this is what I was finding as well after further research. bulk is best. thanks for the guidance. cheers

yah. this was a concern of mine, but yah $30/gallon plus $18 for shipping. so yah bulk will be key. what plastic do you buy to keep these costs down and buy in bulk?

very good points. I guess this is part of my discovery here and making me think closer about my goals in bait making. I've stopped buying main stream plastic baits and vowed to not buy another but rather buy a comparable mold, so long term maybe 10 years down the road I may save using using my own plastic. regarding the costs. I'm just calculating the actual costs to make the product and ship it and still seeing I won't make anything on this. I'm in it for the hobby but hoping to at least break even by buying the supplies and selling them. my calculations may be off, let me know what you think. 2.8" Swimbait Bag - .16 Each Glitter - 0.36 3x 1/4 tsp Plastic $48/gallon shipped. 16 cups per gallon. $3/cup. 1 cup makes 30 baits. .10/bait. 15 baits is $1.50 Envelope - .66 Each Shipping - 4.00 Ebay Fee - 1.20 My Cost = 7.88 This many baits might sell for $7.99 if I'm lucky

Latest update. I've attempted to ship large envelope and added the baits in such a way that they lay flat. This cost me $1.40. I somehow have a feeling it will be rejected but I needed to know if this would be a solution. If not I'll be stuck with the small package option around $4.00 like you've said. How many baits are you adding to your packages and how much are you charging for them? the margins are super tight on this stuff so I'm starting to think I can only do bulk sales. How are you making any profit on this?

I found that around 310-320 is the ideal temp for when I've been shooting these dual laminates to avoid bleeding. thanks for all the advice on here.

I think there is a lot of assumption here regarding charging more for selling baits and this might work if you have an established customer base who buys from you regularly. If you are like me and starting out with tons of competition, I'm forced to bring down my prices to make a sale. I just sold a pack of baits on ebay for $4.99 today. I thought I had bought the correct packaging to put my item into the large envelope category. The dimensions were correct but there was a bulge in the middle of the envelope so it wasn't an even surface across. So they categorized it as a package and I was charged $4.65. If I had spread out the baits into a package which kept them even across and stayed within those large envelope dimensions: "The maximum size for large envelopes is 15" x 12" x 3/4" thick. The maximum weight for large envelopes is 13 ounces." I would have been charged $2.00, drastically helping my margins. I'm going to return these 6x10 padded envelopes to amazon and look for an padded envelope which is close to that 15x12x3/4" thick allowing me to spread out the baits more evenly and stay within their required dimensions to bring me into this large envelope category.

Something makes me think that I do need to lower the temp to thicken the viscosity, that way when the two plastics hit they can’t meld as much together. I’ll keep trying things . So since I been shooting at 325-335 should I get down into the 310’s ? When u are troubleshooting how wide do u usually jump in temperature tests ?

First off thanks everyone for just your awesome support and help in helping me find the root cause for this issue, this is amazing advice that y’all gave me. Take a look at the attached picture and you’ll see this recent shoot I did actually was very well distributed between the top and the bottom colors where the runners are located, it’s not until you get towards the last inch of the bait near the tail section that you see the colors blend. I shot these around 326°. Do you still feel that all you said applies or should I be shooting at a lower temp?

what was that "something" else? I'm still not getting perfect double laminates to the standard I want to see them.

So lowering the temps to 320 made a difference and I also slowed how fast I push down on the injectors. I also verified that the plungers were aligned. All these suggestions helped. thanks

k lots of good advice on this one. I will say I inject fast and hard, so I'll change the speed, this is another important variable I forgot to test. The other injector alignment suggestion is something I can check.

https://baitmold.com/plastic-bait-mold/soft-plastic-bait/aluminum-mold-v23-5-cavity-2-8-inch-70-mm-separate/ good idea. I'll try this later today. I own the bass tackle dual injector, and when I do shoot I have one hand stabilizing the blending block and one hand applying pressure to the dual injector. do you normally use 2 hands to push down on the injector handles? that might be another idea I'll try.

Anyone know why I had some of my dual injection blends right on and others bled over? I've tried 350, 330, 320 degrees and tried to match the 2 blends of plastic as close as possible within 5-10 degrees when shooting at those temps, but haven't found a super consistent dual laminate. I think the bass won't care since nature has all kinds of imperfections in how baitfish look but people will. thanks.

the paddle on the tail will be correct but the bait will still bend right where the tail meets the table.

regarding curing swimbaits which you can't lay out on a cookie sheet has anyone used mini clothes pins and hung them out? I can use the runner but it's a lotta wasted plastic which I need for additional baits. thanks

how does everyone handle placing baits which have tails or appendages on them which get bent when in these bags? Or do your customers generally not care? I know you can fix this by just placing them in boiling water again to straighten them out but do you get complaints regarding bent baits when using bags?

yah those margins are super tight if yur only selling one pack of baits. this makes it hard for small time bait making to make a sale and crack a profit. tough industry indeed

I said I would post my results. Here they are for anyone else wanting to know about floating plastics. I bought the 1 pint of micro floating bubbles from lurecraft. It's a very white powdery substance which I would treat just like white powder used for pearl colors. I used a respirator and facemask when handling it the first time due to all the safety concerns posted on here but after using it with all fans off I realized it can be handled like any powder substance. It doesn't just fly all over the room the second the can is opened. Regarding the results. I found I had to use 1 tablespoon and 2 1/2 teaspoons to 1 cup dead on white feather floating finesse worm plastic on a 6.5" trick worm mold, using a size 6 dropshot hook to allow the trick worm to float mid water column behind the carolina rig. I also attached it o a drop shot rig on a size 4 hook and saw similar results, with the bubbles allowing the worm to suspend mid water column w/o tension on the line. Pretty awesome, considering this allows ya to literally fish the worm in place on long casts w/o the worry of thee worm sinking to the bottom and getting caught up in weeds or muk, ruining the cast. I've posted a pic of a trick worm with the bubbles and w/o the bubbles so everyone can see the clarity difference. The bubbles definitely put off a white tone, so solid colors are required but when put in the water I've found the white tone is harder to see than out in open light, so I doubt the bass will care (I'll be testing).

baitmold.com

How much are you paying for your padded envelopes? If you’re mailing those first class USPS isn’t giving you those padded envelopes for free, correct ? I think most of my orders will be under 13 ounces due to the way I’m marketing my baits and so that $2.65 Cost per package is really attractive. I Just wanna make sure and understand how you’re keeping shipping costs that low And if there’s anything else hidden that’s raising your actual total shipping cost to more than $2.65 thanks

Yeah the price on a pack of baits is cheaper than flat rate shipping. It’s around $7.65 to $8.05 for the shipping, so if yur only selling a single pak of baits yur margins are super low .

Dual for sure. allows for future expansion into dual laminates

When using usps did you guys use envelopes or boxes and how would you pack them to protect the baits?