Cormorant Lures Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Hello again all!!! I am trying to convince my wife that injection is in our future... I would like to be able to expand beyond the one bait we are currently focused on... Before making any type of decision, my wife has concerns that I would like to address on here: #1. Starting with sticks, what are the general pro's and con's between hand-pouring and hand-injecting? #2. What do you use to heat up your (salty) plastic for sticks? <--- Let me explain, currently I have two of Bear's awesome presto pots with stirring mechanisms. The stirring mech. really helps to keep the salt suspended, but must be a pain in the butt to work around while injecting. So I imagine some people use different heating methods? #2B. Having to leave your injector outside the pot (if using a presto with stirring mech.), do you just place it on your working surface or on a hot plate of some type? From all my research I have already done, it seems that people are divided between hand-pouring or hand-injecting as being the fastest method for sticks. #3. Based on your opinion, which is faster for sticks, hand-pouring or hand-injecting. (To answer this question I'll let you know ahead of time that I plan on having at least 6 or so molds to work with.) If I am missing anything, or you need more information on my plans or process, please let me know!!! Thanks!!! Cormorant Lures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jig Man Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 I haven't done sticks for a while but I got a lot of voids when I was injecting. I was in a hurry to get some made for a 2 week fishing trip so I wound up pouring. I'm sure I was injecting too fast but haven't retried it. With that many molds once you get a rhythm you won't have to lay the injector down for quite a while and it will cool off enough to clean while you are demolding your 4 or so dozen baits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHK Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 injection is hands down faster, aim for 10 molds, that will allow 50 baits in a single run. inject at a low temp and slow speed, that works best for me (310 or so) yes you can use the presto pots, lots of people do. you can get quite a few molds shot before you have to turn the stirrer back on. get 2-3 extra tips for your injector that way you can just swap to a clean tip instead of waiting for everything to cool enough to break the injector down and clean. get a LARGE injector if you are doing sticks, you wont regret it last is this will open you to laminates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squigster Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 My opinion is that using the presto pot gets better results with senkos. The reason i feel that is that I think you get the best consistent plastic, flake and salt mix in the presto pot vs a microwave because the contant suspension of all of the ingredients proveds an even mixture. I inject a lot of baits but when it comes to dealing with a lot of salt it tends to sink fast so constant stirring is a pain in a pyrex cup plus keeping the plastic hot. I see no advantages to injecting senkos except if you want to laminate baits, meaning two colors. then you are either forced to dual inject which requires a special injector set (but you can use them individually also for other baits)or run two pots simultaneously and divide a pyrex cup and fill up both sides and hand pour from that but then you are dealing with sinking salt in the pyrex and its not easy to stir in a half moon shaped area(half of the pyrex cup) to keep the salt and flake suspended. I am sure others will have a different opinion and that is ok. People do things differently and some processes work better for other people. What I described works the best for me. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHK Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 my reason for injecting is i get just as good a consistency as i did pouring them with a presto, and i doubled my production with the same number of cavities. i found i could shoot and demold alot faster with injection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass-Boys Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 SHK, have you ever weighed them to see about a good consistency ? Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHK Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) SHK, have you ever weighed them to see about a good consistency ? Jeff every run, i weigh one from each mold and every bag. Edited February 14, 2012 by SHK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
