Injector Problem

[patrick reif]

First of all, I'm not slamming Bears company in any way with this thread.

I think he makes a top notch mold, has excellent customer service, and is a respectable business man with genuinely innovative ideas.

 

However, I recently bought one of his injectors and have had nothing but troubles with it.  

It won't pull the plastic up, and because of the lack of a locking pin, I've shot the nozzle in hot plastic several times.  

 

I've finally resolved myself to just removing the nozzle and hand pouring the plastisol into the injector, inserting the nozzle, and shooting my mold. 

This is more trouble than it's worth, but for larger multi-cavity molds, it's a means to an end.

 

Has anyone else had a similar issue and how did you resolve it?

 

Please, let's not turn this into a bashing fest.  Bear deserves better than that.

[mark poulson]

Have you contacted him for his advice?  

[Painter1]

I, too, struggled with getting my injectors to draw plastic, as I saw done in Frank's videos.  I think mine are from BT (They are the ones you can combine into "Twinjector").  I saw a Caney Creek video where Jason poured the plastic into the injector and just adopted that as my SOP.  (even though he warns not to do that)

 

Pouring the plastic into the cylinder can be dangerous, however.  It is almost impossible to see the rising volume inside the cylinder while actively pouring because of the steam/smoke.  Temperature is a consideration so I never wanted to dally.  Most times I was able to get the level right, insert and twist on the injector tip, and adjust level with the plunger.  One day I poured too much and I burned my thumb with the overflow when putting the nozzle on.  I was careless and was not wearing a glove on that hand (dexterity issues).  

 

The other problem I had with hand pouring into the injector was heat sink.  I had to "waste" one cylinders worth of plastic by letting it heat the aluminum from inside.  It did seem to hold the heat well after that.  

 

I vowed to stop pouring into the injector and ended up buying the Shooting Star system.   Someday soon, however, I will need to address the issue properly.

[carolinamike]

Patrick, Definatly contact Bear. He is aware of the problem with a few of the injectors, I talked to him last week and he had told me about a couple that he had replaced due to the specs being off a little, so just let him know whats going on and i'm sure he will get you a replacement out asap.

[Bass-Boys]

I have 2 keep the ones i have clean inside to get good plastic draw. when clean they work great.

[Jig Man]

I have Bear's injectors with two sizes of nozzles.  I have been using them for about 3 years and don't have any problem with them drawing.  I work in an unheated garage so before I use them I place them on a griddle to get them warm. 

 

Then I dip the plunger head into cooking oil to get the O ring lubed.  I pull the plunger a couple of times to lube the inside of the tube.  Then I put the nozzle on and draw up the plasitsol.

 

When I evacuate the injector I have learned to hold the nozzle with my off hand to keep it in the injector.  Those good to 500° gloves that I got from Bear are invaluable for this operation.

 

Let me know if I can offer any more assistance.

[mark poulson]

I use spray PAM to lube my plunger before I load it each time.

[carolinamike]

Mark, Pam also makes a great mold release when needed.

[mark poulson]

Mike,

I took your PAM advice and sprayed the allen wrench I used for dipping a tube.  It came out okay, and slid right off when I was done dipping.

Thanks.

[gcl58]

spray the cylinder with pam oil to help give it a seal?

 

untill you get yours fixed, go down to a major sporting good store and purchase the stainless steel turkey basser, break the needle and drill out the injection port, been using three of them for about six years, i can shoot two 8-inch of shore baites, 4.5 ounces per cavity, the only failure, plunger rod broke, replaced it with s.s all thread

 

good luck