Cormorant Lures Posted February 20, 2012 Report Share Posted February 20, 2012 Recently I have really started to notice that my colors seem to change from the beginning of my batch to the end of my batch... This is all happening while using only virgin plastic... I used to see it only when doing 50% virgin to 50% remelts... I have read about heat stabilizer but I didn't necessarily think you had to add it to all batches of virgin plastic... I just never thought that virgin plastic would allow for such a change in color... Today I was running a bright red plastic and noticed the color had really changed to a darker hue towards that last 1/3 of the batch... I don't believe I was running my plastic to hot... I check temperature with an IR thermometer a couple times per batch... Consistency seemed to be good... TOTALLY CONFUSED!!! Kinda funny, I actually liked the end color better than the beginning... Kinda sucks though, because I have no way to replicate it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHK Posted February 20, 2012 Report Share Posted February 20, 2012 how long was the plastic cooking in the pot? some colours are touchier than others as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinamike Posted February 20, 2012 Report Share Posted February 20, 2012 Cormorant when your plastic gets up to temperature, turn your Presto pot down a little, about half way through turn it down a little more. This problem's also common with the Lee pots but the Lee pots are much much worse. With a little practice, you'll learn at what points you'll have to start adjusting your temperature down. Heat stabilizer will help you too, but learning your equipment will be one of your key hurdles to get over. At one time I used 6 Lee pots and everyone of them operated at different temperature settings. See if this helps some and let us know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-billy Posted February 20, 2012 Report Share Posted February 20, 2012 (edited) Mike is absoloutely right about learning your equipment. You have to learn your materials too.It takes time. I add a little stabilizer about every half hour when I'm running a large batch in my presto. I dont measure I just give it a squirt here and there. I havent had my plastic change color due to heat while doing this. Learning your molds is part of it too. I made a batch of 130 some craws a while back out of 3 single cavity molds. It took about 4 hrs. The last baits looked just like the first. I tried to do the same with my ribbon tail worms and the results were not as good. I only have to run the plastic at around 300-310 to get good results with my craw molds. My worm molds require it to be around 330 to get full tails everytime. After having the plastic at 330 for a couple hours and I noticed the color changing. The problem wasn't the plastic,it was the color bleeding out of the glitter. Aparently the glitter I'm using will take 310 for long periods but the color will bleed out after awhile at 330. Lesson learned. Either make smaller batches of this bait or buy more molds. I just make smaller batches when making these worms now. I'm just a hobbyist so I have no production quota to meet.SHK is right about some colors being touchier than others as well. I had a batch of bubblegum turn a funky pink/peach color on me recently after being at around 330 for about a 1/2 hour. Hope this helps,Tim. Edited February 20, 2012 by t-billy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ute Posted February 20, 2012 Report Share Posted February 20, 2012 I have the same problem, mostly with Pearl and Whites. I have just about decided to limit the size of my runs to 1 hour, or less. It means more molds, but on the bright side, it gives me break! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
