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Bt Shad Worm Mold Problems

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Holding pressure doesn't help. The rings are a feature of the bait. I tried shooting it laying on the side and the non fills you see in the pic went away but then there was a rounded indent on the other side. I also have a segmented swimbait mold from BT that is vented on all the high points but you have to shoot with a cool temp and hold pressure to avoid dents on it.  I will try your suggestion. I have four different type molds from BT. There are problems with all of them. I talked with sarah about one of the swimbait molds and sent it back to them. She said they tested it and there was nothing wrong with it. After I received it back I opened the gates which solved the problem. Also my understanding is that the vents should normally be around two thousandths deep. When we checked the vents on this mold they all were different depths up to 1.5 thousandths. I will try to get in touch with Kevin tomorrow. It is not my meaning to bash BT, I just have problems with their molds and I read a forum where other people do too.Thank you very much for responding to my post !!!

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It looks like the air bubbles are getting trapped by the ridges. Once the plastic gets past the bubble, it cannot rise, due to the velocity of the plastic moving down the bait.

 

Try a very slow injection. The mold and the plastic will need to be hot for this I guess.

 

Also, the bubbles are rising, but there is not enough angle to drive the bubbles to the rim feature which would allow the bubbles to be driven out.

 

Is it possible to try a horizontal injection with the rim feature uppermost, by clamping to the bench. Do not risk your safety.

 

This will allow the bubbles to rise to the rim feature and be pushed out of the tail. Again, a slow injection would be better.

 

Dave

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Probably not worth the effort, just keep the pressure on.

 

These ideas are not intended as final solutions, merely to verify that we have correctly identified the cause of the problem.

 

If the horizontal pour works well, then you could design a jig/frame to simplify the operation and keep it safe.

 

Dave

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Did you ask the vendor to send samples shot in the mold? Before we ship a custom mold we shoot a sample and send it to the customer for approval. I understand your's isn't a custom mold but they should have sent you a sample shot from your mold after you told them you were having problems.

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I have a couple of questions. First what temp are you saying you are using and what type of plastic is it that you are pouring. The reason I ask about the brand is that some are thinner when at a shootable temp. Are you using hard, medium or soft plastic? They use MF plastic and it really flows into small details better than most others. Spikeit makes some that flow well into details too and there clearasol is much thinner when at low temps. Turning it to inject and push air out won't work if the plastic flows over the details and traps air. If the air vents are not leaving a tag end I would say it's good. For the money we pay for our molds getting four digit tolerances is pretty much out of the question. That big dollar machining.

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No, I didn't ask for samples and they didn't send any. I am using chemionics medium plastic. Same problem with MF and Spike It. Not sure exactly what temp (can't keep a thermometer working) but it's just hot enough to shoot. I have tried many many different temps. I have also tried slow injecting. Not much I haven't tried.  I had the vents machined to two thousandths deep, they are not leaving a tag end. Also opened one side of gate and area leading to gates. Anyone have a suggestion for a good temp gauge or thermometer ?

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I don't really like the runner design and bait orientation...but its still a very usable mold. I have a buddy that has this mold and it was extremely difficult to get baits that didn't dent and it was not very laminating friendly....those little air pockets??? didn't have that issue at all. My concern is seeing such fine looking voids. Is you plastic foaming at all? almost seems like you are having small air bubbles in you plastic that are rising to the surface within the mold.

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Would spraying the mold with PAM help?  

I do that every so often with an ES beaver injection mold to which I added a row of drilled holes at the edge of the claw tips.  Sort of a poor mans attempt to get a ragetail-type action.  I did not vent the drilled holes

I don't know if it really helped with the bait's action, but I do know the holes won't fill if I don't spray it periodically.

I spray all my molds now, and it seems to help details fill completely, but I don't know why.

Edited by mark poulson
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No, I didn't ask for samples and they didn't send any. I am using chemionics medium plastic. Same problem with MF and Spike It. Not sure exactly what temp (can't keep a thermometer working) but it's just hot enough to shoot. I have tried many many different temps. I have also tried slow injecting. Not much I haven't tried.  I had the vents machined to two thousandths deep, they are not leaving a tag end. Also opened one side of gate and area leading to gates. Anyone have a suggestion for a good temp gauge or thermometer ?

Not sure what temp is a big problem. There are plenty of pictures on his site that show the bait shot and they look good, there is that bait with a curly tail too. The way I see the mold if the gate were bigger then there would be no gate at all and the runner looks plenty big. Get a temp gauge and make sure the injector orings are good. If you get an infrared temp gauge make sure and stir the plastic while taking the temp so the reading will be vary accurate. If you get a candy temp gauge you still have to stir it to make sure all of it is consistent. I would try shooting that mold at 320 for starters. The detail in that bait are not much more than a worm mold and there should be no reason it gets bubbles like that. Denting is a temp thing.

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I agree with frank ..get a good temp gauge. maybe a thermal type?

heat plastic at short burst at a time. stir frequently and try to shoot at lower temps.

Try to purge ur injector by holding it upright and get all air out of it.

I had this mold and it did shoot good .

 I never had a problem with bt molds b4.

The baits sorta look like my old crinkle cut worm  mold with the voids in the bait..I hated that mold,,lol

I was told by owner of that mold he has trouble with  the crinkle cut worm mold doing the same thing as mine. Then he proceeded to tell me he will get a good 1 and won't have a problem with it.

Maybe u got a bad mold?

Not sure

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My thermal temp gauge showing 270 degrees on  one pot and 273 on the other. I try to always cook out the small bubbles. I think my injector orings are good. No issues with other molds. I am now shooting it on its side with the top about two inches above the table which actually moved the problem to the bottom of the baits9 looks a lot better that way then I sprayed with Pam which improved it even more. Problem still not completely gone. I hope it's not just a bad mold because I have two of them with the same problem. Left a message today with Basstackle no reply. Thanks Everyone !

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Maybe someone has mentioned it, or maybe not. But when I initially heat my plastic to temp and I'm stirring it I create and trap a lot of tiny bubbles in my plastic. When this occurs my first shots are loaded with bubbles. After that my subsiquent reheats have less and less bubbles in it due to less stiring. Maybe try this to see if it helps with your "pitting" issues. Less air in, less out.

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I stir with metal knives. I Plan on buying some glass stirring rods. I let the initial bubbles cook out before shooting. Some of my problem was due to bad orings in the bottom of the injector letting air draw in. Sprue extender didn't seem to help. I am shooting this mold now laying down tilted up approx. thirty degrees which moves the bubbles to the bottom of the bait where they are not easily noticeable. I have also ordered another mold that will be oriented correctly. Thanks Guys.

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