Cadman - Swim Bait Mold

[EironBreaker]

Hey Ted,

I'm sure you have this mold, I have the 1/16 - 1/4 oz version that takes the 91768 Mustad EWG. I had to modify it to take the eagle claw 111BPs but that wasn't too hard. Had to grind out where the eye goes but that doesn't effect the pour any.

I had a hard time getting it to pour correctly. I finally had to open the gate on each size so the lower part of the gate slopes downward instead of having so much of a turn just before it enters the cavity. Did you have to do anything to yours to get complete pours? I tried a bottom pour pot first before grinding on the mold but that was even worse. Have to use my small hot pot. It is such a long way down to the cavity but I've got it solved I think. Poured 120 with only having to correct a handful which isn't any worse than other molds.

So, did you have to work over the mold to get it to work or did you have success right out of the box? If so, what did you do differently?

[AKFerzy7]

Not sure which mold you are talking about, but I just modified the bullet nose jig mold to fit a 5/0 Mustad 32786 BLN in the 1/8th cavity and a 6/0 in the 1/4. The mold has two lead keepers on the shank and I was having problems getting them to pour untill I was browsing on here and realized I had gotten lazy/sloppy with the way i pour by just holding the mold a few inches below my bottom pour spout. Saw where a member suggested to another that he try shoving the mold up against the spout as tight as he could and it made all the difference in the world. My only problem now is a little amount of lead on the exposed section of the hook eye, but a little squeeze and twist of the gate cutters takes care of that in no time. Can't thank the contributors to this site enough for helping me out when i get stuck even if on a post I have nothing to do with. I'll get some pics up and can help anyone who wants to try it.

[cadman]

Hey Ted,

I'm sure you have this mold, I have the 1/16 - 1/4 oz version that takes the 91768 Mustad EWG. I had to modify it to take the eagle claw 111BPs but that wasn't too hard. Had to grind out where the eye goes but that doesn't effect the pour any.

I had a hard time getting it to pour correctly. I finally had to open the gate on each size so the lower part of the gate slopes downward instead of having so much of a turn just before it enters the cavity. Did you have to do anything to yours to get complete pours? I tried a bottom pour pot first before grinding on the mold but that was even worse. Have to use my small hot pot. It is such a long way down to the cavity but I've got it solved I think. Poured 120 with only having to correct a handful which isn't any worse than other molds.

So, did you have to work over the mold to get it to work or did you have success right out of the box? If so, what did you do differently?

I honestly don't know which mold you are referring to? If it's the Gary Yamamoto jig (I don't have that one), if it's the swim jig I do have that one but that takes a specal E.C. hook and it doesn't come in 1/16 oz. Please clarify.

[EironBreaker]

I'm sorry, it is the weighted hook mold: SMB-4-MTD. http://do-itmolds.com/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=1_7_329

[cadman]

I'm sorry, it is the weighted hook mold: SMB-4-MTD. http://do-itmolds.co...ry&path=1_7_329

Ha, I got this one and its twin and its cousin. Thought for a second this was a trick question to try to make me admit that I don't have all the molds.

Anyway I have poured all three of these with no problems. These are the things I did and didn't do.

#1 No modifications to the molds were done

#2 All poured with a Lee IV bottom pour pot filled to the top with lead.

#3 I did not force inject the lead but let it flow from about 1/4"- 1/2" from the pot spout to the top of the sprue hole.

#4 Spray release used on both halves

#5 I didn't fill the whole sprue hole with lead when filling. I tried to fill just enough to get the pour complete. This is easier said than done. I did get some sprue holes to fill more than I wanted. It just makes it harder to get out of the mold.

#6 On the mold that you had in question, I did gap the mold with some tape. Not the easiest mold to pour with the big sprue left after pouring.

#7 Used hot hooks under a 100 watt lamp and then put them in the mold. This helped tremendously, because at first I didn't do this and these are big a**ed honking hooks. Then I realised that since the hooks are so big I should heat them.

I think a better solution for me instead of the tape would be to slightly increase the cavity where the hook shank sits before it exits the mold, this will release trapped air, however you will get some lead to escape out. This to me is a better solution, because I can trim that little bit of lead off no problem. It beats having to re-pour and re-pour bad pours. However the tape idea has been working so why file a bigger gap in the cavity

That's about all I can tell you on this. I can't say that this mold gives me fits like some others, but I do know from past experience that no two molds are alike.

Edited March 7, 2012 by cadman

[EironBreaker]

Thanks for the info. There is absolutely no place on the web that guys are so willing to share meaningful information like this site. Other sites 1) either it is the biggest secret in the world or 2) they act like you are stupid for asking. No attitude on this site. Thanks guys!

Back to the mold. I tried to use my bottom pour but it was 2/3 full and I don't think it was really pouring as fast as it should have. I hadn't used it for a long time and had loaned it to a buddy. I gave up on it and plugged my hot pot in. And then opened the gate, that fixed the problem. I then cleaned out the bottom pour and it was full of garbage but I had already moved on.

I was getting a "bubble" in the center of the cavity if that makes sense. Open spot. It was pouring to the bottom fine which makes me think the lead wasn't flowing properly into the cavity. That's why I opened the angle of the gate so the lead could go downward instead of into the middle and then down. If the sprue hole wasn't so long in this mold, it wouldn't likely be a problem. I think the lead has to go too far and can cool off too fast before filling properly. I have a drill press and the right type of bits to make clean adjustments. I couldn't do it freehand with a dremel, that's for sure.

My friend who does spin casting uses a heating pad to warm his hooks. He said he got a cheap-O at Wal Mart and pulled the cloth cover off. I'll go grab one to warm my hooks with. I'm pleased with what I have as far as how the mold pours now. I should warm the hooks though for all my pours. Thanks again.

[cadman]

Thanks for the info. There is absolutely no place on the web that guys are so willing to share meaningful information like this site. Other sites 1) either it is the biggest secret in the world or 2) they act like you are stupid for asking. No attitude on this site. Thanks guys!

If the sprue hole wasn't so long in this mold, it wouldn't likely be a problem. I think the lead has to go too far and can cool off too fast before filling properly.

Since you started this thread, I don't have a problem going off on a tangent here. I too have been on other sites, and I've read stuff guys post. This one kind of me off. This guy posts that he wants to buy Poison Tail jigs with the round bend hook (#32886) instead of the std (#91768) hook. The guy he buys them from said that they are exclusive and will only sell him three unpainted jigs. I don't know the whole story behind this but this makes no sense. So I pm'd him and told him that there is no such thing as an exclusive with a Do-It mold. He can buy the mold and make them himself, and if he was interested I would give him some pointers on what to do. He replied that he would let me know. The point of it is if I were a jig maker(which I am) I wouldn't cut myself short and turn the guy off to possibly making more money. I just didn't understand that. Maybe he was told that so the guy he buys from could sell them as super custom. It's funny because before I put my catalog together, I called up Do-It Molds and asked them if there was any problem of me using the same verbage and mold names that they used, on my catalog. They said they had no problem with that.

On another note, I have gotten PM's from some guys on other sites who blatantly told me that I shouldn't share information openly, because they pay the site administrator to sell their jigs on the site. I told them look a guy posts a thread looking for help on pouring jigs, he asks questions and gets no answers. It's an open forum and people can reply so I did. I'm not posting info saying "Hey look buy from me" I'm just replying to what was asked. I later told the guy to sign up on TU and post his questions there and he will get a lot of help from the guys here, no questions asked, no drama and no B.S. You're right some guys think that there is some 100 year old secret here to doing this. I'll help where I can. I wish this site was around when I started doing this, I would've not had to go through so much trial and error.

Now back to your mold. I too cannot figure out why they made such a long sprue hole to pour these hooks. I think like you, if it was normal like all the other molds, the lead wouldn't have all that time to cool before it got to the bottom and started to fill. The only thing that might be a reason is since the cavities and the profile are so long and skinny, maybe the extra weight of the lead pushes it down faster and quicker? I don't really know.

Anyway have fun with your mold and I'll get back to work.

Edited March 8, 2012 by cadman

[EironBreaker]

Maybe they didn't want the hook to protrude from the top of the mold so pouring would be easier and not have something in the way. Hard to say.

Do you have a website Cadman? If so I'd be interested to see your work.

LOL, yup back to work. Darn job gets in the way of all our lure making fun! Guess you have to be able to pay ALL the bills right? Not just the "fishing" bills!