dragger Posted March 26, 2013 Report Share Posted March 26, 2013 This winter has been a really valuable lesson for me in learning how to fish tubes and I want to start getting better at making my own. I have done some vertical dipping myself, but had poor results building up thick enough heads on the tubes like I like and wasting a lot of plastic from poor usage by vertically dipping. I have done some searching on horizontal dipping and found some decent info, but was wondering if any of you guys had any more information, pictures of your rigs, or any of bojon's material as I repeatedly saw him mentioned, but he no longer posts. I'm not looking to do any sort of serious production, just enough to satisfy my use and friends. Thanks for any and all help guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaBehr Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 I dipped tubes for nearly 40 years (used to melt Mann's Jelly worms for plastic!) and now I ONLY inject them using the Caney Creek Tube molds. They make perfect tubes....and NO cutting the tails! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragger Posted March 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 I dipped tubes for nearly 40 years (used to melt Mann's Jelly worms for plastic!) and now I ONLY inject them using the Caney Creek Tube molds. They make perfect tubes....and NO cutting the tails! I appreciate the response, but would rather stick to hand dipping for now. Can't quite justify the cost of a 1-2 cavity mold, plus splitter, plus injector, etc. If you wouldn't mind sharing I would love to hear about your +40 years of hand dipping though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 dragger do a search here for bojon he is the authority on vertical dipping, he had videos up here somewhere not sure if it was in tutorials or in a thread but there's a wealth of info on the subject here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 Here I found this near the bottom of this thread is two video links if they are still good. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/topic/22062-dipping-tubes/?view=findpost&p=164521&hl=bojon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragger Posted March 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 Thanks for the tip, I have seen both of those videos, brief, but very helpful. I understand how to horizontally dip, but not how to select the right diameter rods or keep the plastic from sliding off or building up only thin layers while I prefer fatter, thicker walls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 rod diameter is subject to the size of your tube jig but I believe most use hard plastic and at cooler temperatures to obtain wall thickness. it is a multi dip process though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painter1 Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 All I get is some sound from those clips. Any advice on horizontal dipping would be welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbayte Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 I tried to find a video for dipping tubes, but could not...anyone know of one so I can watch the process? I am new to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragger Posted March 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 I know there is a lot of interest in this topic and would really encourage anyone with experience to share, lotta eager ears here. Injection molds are nifty, but I'll always be a hand pour guy and want to expand into dipping tubes. Don't be shy!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painter1 Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 For a small operation I am guessing one would need a rectangular block-like container to hold the hot plastic (maybe a mini-loaf pan on a hotplate) and an L shaped rod to dip into the container. Assuming they were small, several of the pans could be on a hotplate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted March 30, 2013 Report Share Posted March 30, 2013 For vertical dipping, try having a second batch of harder plastic to dip the bodies in only, after dipping several times in the softer plastic to form the tail and body section. Soft tails are the key to successful tubes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bflp Posted March 30, 2013 Report Share Posted March 30, 2013 Does anyone know what tool Bojon was using in that second video to split the tails? This topic piqued my interests. I don't know if anyone has seen this page, but I found it when Googling about dipping tubes: http://www.joefishin.com/TubeMaking.html He says the vertical dipping wastes plastic, and he is going to try horizontal dipping. I'm thinking maybe vertical dipping won't waste as much plastic if I use an injector to hold the plastic, since it is very narrow, and then just take the nozzle off and use that to dip the tubes vertically. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragger Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Thanks for the link. I found that with vertical dipping in a traditional Pyrex cup (probably not ideal) that I couldn't get many dips out of a large cup before running out of enough plastic to get full baits. The waste would of course be used for other baits, but my goal was to make more tubes, not other baits. Those pictures of the horizontal dipping structures look like a good design. I'll make a few and post results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smallie Posted April 6, 2013 Report Share Posted April 6, 2013 rod diameter is subject to the size of your tube jig but I believe most use hard plastic and at cooler temperatures to obtain wall thickness. it is a multi dip process though. I found the cooler temperature to be key to getting build up. If you are at 325, it seems like each dip re-melts the previous dip and you don't build up. Go under 300 and see how you do. As mentioned above, a mini meatloaf pan is a good container and what I use for horizontal dipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bflp Posted April 6, 2013 Report Share Posted April 6, 2013 I tried out vertical dipping with the injector, and it actually worked out really well. I was able to dip the tubes without using a lot of excess plastic. When the injector started to get low, I just pushed the injector syringe up and was able to keep going. The downfall is that you can only dip one rod at a time, but for someone who is more concerned about saving plastic versus production quantity, this seems like a decent way to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rixon529 Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 (edited) Edited April 19, 2013 by rixon529 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
