Ed_White Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Hey all, I have a problem. No, it's not finding enough time to make more baits, we ALL have that problem. What I am having a hard time doing is making a cup of crystal clear, bubble free plastisol, which I can then shoot into a 2 cavity mold, and, if it doesn't turn amber (BIG if), then a cup allows me 5 shots = 10 baits. Currently, I am lucky to get 3-4 shots before it changes color, and that is if I can get a clear cup of bubble free plastic. I currently have a microwave and a hot plate, the microwave is fast, heats up the material quickly, and creates foamy cups of plastic that just **** me off. The hotplate does a better job if I go low and slow and stir very frequently, but as often as not it will just go amber even before it reaches 350 (using a digital heat gun), like it's getting too much heat. Heat stabilizer or no stabilizer, it doesn't make a difference, with either the micro or hotplate. I do not want to start a plastic war, I won't even say which brand I'm using, other than it's a reputable brand which sells lots of plastisol, it's the saltwater formula (hard), and it works great if I put any colorant or glitter into it, I can shoot baits all day so long as they are colored, one of the best patterns is black with red eyes, easy-peasy, but one of the patterns that works so well is a clear bait with a little color along the back (It's a sandeel bait). I'd guess that 2 out of 20 that I'm making will be acceptable, meaning, it pleases me.....no bubbles, clear plastic, and even though the fish don't seem to care, I do. If I'm going to spend my time doing something, I want it to come out the way I want it to. So, if anyone has a recipe for a cup of clear, bubble free, non-amber plastic, I'd love to hear it, or see it, post a pick in the image forum. I'll post a pic of one of my baits in there so you can get the idea. I have also done a lot of reading here using the search function, and have mostly just read a bunch of bitching about plastic. Can we please avoid that? But if you have a specific brand which has allowed you to get really clear plastic, I'd love to hear it. Thanks, Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Ed, Since I began using BJ soft plastic, and a little heat stabilizer (too much will yellow all by itself), I can get clear plastic, and reheat, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_White Posted October 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Excellent Mark, I will try some of theirs, but probably the hard formula, and see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 You are having more of a problem with it because it is the hard formula. Softer formulas take heat much better. I have one customer that I use hard for and it is real tricky to keep,it clear or white. From beginning to end the color changes a bit but not to much. For me the key is to keep,it hot and not reheat it. I know the microwave is easy but a presto pot with the temperature set low enough to shoot but not hot enough to yellow will work for awhile and by that I mean about an hour or so. With the Spikeit injectasol hard formula I heat in the microwave and transfer it to the presto pot. Now on the presto pot I turn it on without any thing in it so it will get up to temp and stabilize at the right temp. This keep it from pumping a lot of heat in your plastic at first and then stabilizing. If your injector is not heated then you will have to reheat the plugs after each shot. Keep the heat short and stir it well till you get to know how much time it takes to get it back up to temp. You never mentioned how you know what temp you plastic is? I use a infrared temp gauge and if you use of of those make sure and stir it while you take the temp this way it will be accurate as possible. One note on the injectasol plastic I do put it in a vacumn chamber before I heat and it always come out bubble free. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painter1 Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 Anything you can do that helps retain heat vs reheat helps. I heat my aluminum injector tubes in my toaster oven. Just the tube. I also heat the plastic in short runs of the microwave. I get it close , then heat 5 or 10 seconds at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cub48 Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 Ed I was using a infra red thermometer but i bought a digtal candy thermometer and found out the infra red was good up to about 250 f after that it was not accurate. I was having my plastic discolor. The candy thermometer is the one that goes to about 450 f and has a metal probe. The bubbles i still have i think that is micro wave heating. Maybe this will help. Also maybe the plastic u have i got a batch that would turn as u shot each mold. It was just a bad batch of plastic. Cub48 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogbaits Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 (edited) Im using the essential clear hard from do it,I get cups of clear non bubble plastic in my microwaves,in fact the clearest plastic I have used yet and reheats are clear also! Edited October 14, 2015 by prochallenger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ipt Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 (edited) I'm a BJ user, i've found to get the least amount of bubbles dont stir it until its cooked and has sat for a bit for the bubbles to rise to the surface and burst. The stuff is pretty good at staying clear but I'm sure stabilizer would help even more I tried the essential stuff, super clear and fairly stiff for being medium. I had a ton of bubbles with that. On a side note, I wasnt really trying to get or not get bubbles, was just what I noticed. Edited October 14, 2015 by ipt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smallie Posted September 26, 2016 Report Share Posted September 26, 2016 Ed, Since I began using BJ soft plastic, and a little heat stabilizer (too much will yellow all by itself), I can get clear plastic, and reheat, too. It is funny how too much stabilizer yellows the plastic. When my white gets a yellow tint, I use it to make a yellow perch swimbait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
