carolinamike Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Hello in TU land. Hope everyone is doing well. Me and the wife just got back from our trip to Zorn Molds. The plastic injection machine is great! Although the 6 hour drive and the 6 lanes through Atlanta was a little nerve racking with a piece of equipment like that on the back of a trailer pulled behind my pickup truck. But she's home and in the shop. The electricity should be hooked up next week and hopefully I can get the air piped in this weekend. In the past 2 days we sure have learned a lot about the plastic industry. Industrial plastic injection equipment is nothing like I thought or read about. The plastic is not injected with air. Air is only used to hold the plates shut for the molds and to operate the valves. The plastic is injected by means of high pressure pumps which hold continuous pressure on the baits for a certain amount of time until cooling has taken place. The molds are made with water jackets running through them and the water is circulated through a chiller system which cools the molds rapidly creating a beautifully uniform bait. Man I'm telling you we got the grand tour. We got to see several molds being made some new baits that are coming out from bigger companies that are in development stages, not sure whose they were but I know of 3 big companies they do business with. If anyone ever decides to make this move, it's not that far out of reach. Plastic machine costs about as much or maybe less than a high end new Ranger boat. Ray and Regina and the rest of the gang at Zorn are just A#1 people to do business with. And the only way to describe Ray is he is a plastic guru. He knows every process and every aspect of plastic injection. But you've got to remember he and Regina set the standard for the industry. If anyone is interested in maybe expanding one day or just interested on how this machine works, feel free to ask. Attached are some pictures of the machine, Ray and myself at Zorn. I'm the taller fella. Thanks so much for the kind words we've received from some of you who knew we were doing this. And remember if you would like to expand, but don't want the expense of the machine we will be more than glad to shoot your baits for you. Your friend, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smallie Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Who are the 3 big companies that Zorn builds molds for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delw Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Mike your going to be really happy with that Machine. Did you meet Tony? I've talked to him a couple of times he is a hell of a nice guy. This year we are going to purchase one to shoot one product only that no one else shoots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinamike Posted January 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Yes Del we did get to meet Tony. Tony and Wendy do the computer work but we got to meet the whole gang. If you call, Tracy will be the one that answers the phone, she's as good as gold. These folks have really helped us through every step of this move. Ray told us before we left that we have the very best pneumatic two color plastic injection machine that Zorn has ever built. Ray told us he'd taken the best features from all the machines he's done and put them into this machine. In the course of our conversation, Ray told us that our machine was better than some of the bigger bait companies. As far as who the 3 are after seeing how all this works I can't really say any names because I wouldn't want anyone to say mine. But I can tell you this, probably almost every big bait company in the US, China and Japan and other countries have probably consulted with Ray at one time or another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint308 Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Very interesting. Kinda looks like the flux capacitor. Anyway, good luck to you guys. Saint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dampeoples Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 I wish you luck with the machine! I grew up somewhat close to you (Tryon), might could persuade the wife to make a pit stop next time we head that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinamike Posted January 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 We'd be glad for you to stop by and visit. I used to work for a school in Shelby, NC. The principal at the school now lives in Youngsville. That's the town where he's from. So I don't think you're too far from us. Drop by and we'll compare western NC BBQ to eastern NC BBQ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dampeoples Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Funny, my dad used to be the Principal at Tryon High Now he's the Mayor of that town, his first order of business was to get rid of all the riff-raff, so here I am in Youngsville Looks like you're probably less than an hour from Charlotte? That's about 2.5 hrs from here or so. We can compare lakes instead, I'm not a picky BBQ guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinamike Posted January 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 We are about 1 hr west of Charlotte. The Chinese place beside the BBQ stand is pretty good too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint308 Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 BBQ, I like BBQ. Can a cajun guy get an invite. Just kidding. Saint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike-A-Pike Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Mile. I know I shouldn't ask, but the gadget geek in me can help it. What kind of production rate do expect from a machine like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delw Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 I am waiting to hear what they say on the mold he got also. I know some of the mold set-ups in there machines are like 70-90 per minute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...