Warming of AL. molds

[RipLip]

I was thinking about buying a USED commercial food warmer to heat up my molds before pouring. I just wanted to see if anybody has had the same setup for the purpose or not. I've been looking on EBAY and Craigslist and every once in a while you'll see something come by. The one I was looking for is kind of like a french fry warmer. It has two heat lamp bulbs on the top with a arm attaching them to a flat aluminum surface. It seems to me, that you could easily fit 20 or so AL. molds and heat them all up instead of one at a time on a heat plate. I don't know just a thought.

[Delw]

in most case you dont need to warm up alum molds to pour.

if you want fancy colors its a good idea to make the blends work better ie looks like its part of the bait.

A griddle works perfect and they are pretty cheap, plus you can pour while the heat is on.

[RipLip]

If you don't heat the molds up I thought that was the reasoning behind the small cracks and lines on the baits.

[Delw]

Not everyone gets the cracks and lines. if the molds are left at room temp you should be fine. the heating up molds got a little blown out of proportion so to speak. some molds with fine extremities will be helped when the mold is warm, however usually the 1st pour will warm the mold enough(not always). alot also has to due with how hot the plastic is and what volume of plastic the mold holds. Ie more volume with allow the plastic to stay hotter longer and reduce cold cracks.

now guys that pour in the winter in there garage or live in cold climates have problems but not everyone and its usually more in the winter than in the summer when the problem exist.

[King Bait Co.]

You could make your own hwat lamp to heat them up. Just go to the pet store or Wal-Mart and ret some heat lamps. Try a heat stone bulb its a soild bulb made out of some sort of stone it doesn't give any light off. I have had one on my snake for two years and its on every day. They cost about $35 but then never seem to quit.

Edited July 16, 2008 by King Bait Co.

[Delw]

someone posted a heat lamp melting pot on here a long time ago( and I have been told by some of my customers they use them to keep plastic warm but not cook it that way), even showed some pics and explained how it worked, They said it never burned plastic to.

[rixon529]

It was longhorn.

Here's his thread and his pouring setup.

http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/soft-plastics/8943-pouring-table.html

My kind of stuff. Definitely old school.

[Delw]

that was the post.

[RipLip]

Yeah i saw that post and it kind of sparked the idea of a warming rack for all the Al. molds. Its not meant to get the molds burning hot just very warm to the touch so as to not shock 300-315degree plastic.