redneckninji20 Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 Well I posted a little under a year ago that I was new here and ordered some items to start making my own plastics. Today I finally dove in and gave it a shot. I can't even remember what type of MF I bought, but the only mold I bought was the 6" BT stick. Also got a 6oz injector and a few colors and glitters. I started with something simple, watermelon seed. How can you screw that up. Lol! The color is ok a little dark but all in all decent bait. I'm not using a thermometer so temp is unknown and I think that may be my issue. I know I did start out with too little of plastic but really getting a lot of bubbles. I got 6 unsalted sticks before I went crazy and added salt. That was a mistake as like I said I got a little crazy with salt. Not paying attention I got a little too much in there. Long story short of my watermelon seed pulled 2 salted sticks and ended up burning the plastic. After letting the previous batch cool enough to pull out of my Pyrex and scrap I decided to go with a new color. After reading a few recipes on here i decided to create a version of junebug. For some reason I like red flake in most of my baits so I added red flake in as well. I did my first injection of my junebug and actually got all 4 in one shot. But the color was a little transparent but I will still use them. Added more color and tried again. The second injection didn't go as well. Bubbles on bubbles. The bottom bait turned out but the other three looked like I was making 6" tubes. All in all it was interesting, still learning and had a little fun. Happy with what I did end up producing and will hopefully catch a fish or two on em. Oh I did end up pulling a small scale out and doing what I could to weigh them. I weighed a slightly used senko and got .535oz. The two I had salted weighed in at .547oz and no salt .447oz. Not bad id say but time and fish will tell how good they are Once I figure out how to get some pics here I'll post em up 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Young Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 i haven't been at it long, but am addicted. Be prepared to spend some money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redneckninji20 Posted August 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 Haha ya I spent a couple hundred to just start. Once I get it dialed I'll add some more molds and really get into it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cub48 Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 get u a digital thermometer, the one with metal probe and goes up to 400 f plus I have a infer red it does not read correct when it gets above 250 f u can use the metal probe to stir your plastic. The plastic needs to get 350 F on your first heating after that remelt needs to only be hot enough to inject. trial and error is what it takes to see what works for u. Use your mess up's to learn how to use your injector. if u have bubbles put your injector deeper in the cup that helps not to have as many bubbles in your baits Cub48 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redneckninji20 Posted August 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 (edited) Thanks cub48. Ya I'll definitely be getting a thermometer my next run. I was pouring my plastic into the ingector instead of sucking it out. Also the other reason why I think it's not hot enough is its cooling super fast in my ingector. I'm not able to get a full push out of it. Every time there's atleast an inch of plastic cooled in the end. But like you said trial and error. It will all work out in the end Here is the junebug red next to a Yamamoto junebug This is one with an air pocket that runs almost all the way down the bait Fills up all the cavities but large air pockets as shown before This is the watermelon next to a senko. I'm sure you can tell but senko on the left mine on the right Edited August 16, 2016 by redneckninji20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking Dead Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 Pouring vs sucking is ok, just purge the air before shooting. A preference thing when shooting small amounts of plastic. You are going to have some left in the injector. Make sure you are topping off the cavities. That plastic will suck air while venting, cooling. Sprue extenders work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FATFLATTIE Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 (edited) Upon further inspection of the picture it's not hand pour...whoops! Edited August 16, 2016 by FATFLATTIE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonteSS Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 Ok so I dont know who started pouring the plastic into the injector. The nozzle should be put in the plastic and sucked up. This way your nozzle gets hot and wont clog. 6" stick mold is tough to learn on. Alot of plastic that shrinks as it cools. You should inject and hold firm pressure for 10 seconds. Remove nozzle and imediately top off from the injector. Quickly expell the rest of the plastic in the inj to your cup. Now you must keep the well full with hot plastic from your cup. You may need to top it off 3-4 times. Never let it go hollow. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking Dead Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 Agree to disagree Monte. All about preferences. Both process work. Never had a nozzle clog. On small jobs I pour into the injector. For Large quantities I use the "suck" method from the pot. All about preferences I think. Just have to ensure that the air is out at the nozzle which is not that hard. I hear about man bad baits coming from both methods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basseducer Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 Wonder what that "suck" method looks like . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redneckninji20 Posted August 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 Thanks all for the info! I should let you know that it's a side mold. (I think) whichever one is the one cavity filling into all 4 cavities. If that makes a difference on any of the suggestions stated. Again thanks for the help and will being doing some more here soon! I will try pulling from the cup into the injector next. Just trying to keep it clean. And it's a little harder as my table I'm on is a little tall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonteSS Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 Good you have an injection mold then. Get used to measuring accurately and write down formulas. Such as how much salt, colorant, flake etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo Al Posted August 17, 2016 Report Share Posted August 17, 2016 Did you top off the mold with more hot plastic as it cooled? It looks more like drawing air down the sprue than air in the injector to me. Pouring plastic into the injector works just as well as drawing it from the cup for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redneckninji20 Posted August 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2016 (edited) I would have topped them off but it's cooling too fast in my ingector and I can't get more in. But I poured some more tonight and it worked out well. I didn't have enough plastic left of my pours yesterday but I did end up getting some good baits. So I went ahead and made a new color to get some more plastic and play with some colors. Was trying for a green pumpkin red but went a little different. Went with the suggestion of pulling the plastic into the injector and it worked out a whole lot better. Got full baits and very little bubbles if any at all. Edited August 17, 2016 by redneckninji20 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apdriver Posted August 17, 2016 Report Share Posted August 17, 2016 Certainly a learning curve to it but it looks like you are well on your way to an enjoyable lifetime hobby. Your sticks look good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassinfool Posted August 17, 2016 Report Share Posted August 17, 2016 When I first started making baits, stick baits were always the trickiest baits to get right simply because it's so much plastic per bait that you have to be really aware of your temps to ensure you're not getting dents, air pockets, etc. Your baits are looking great! Looks like you've got it figured out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redneckninji20 Posted August 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 Well things are going good now. I only do small batches as I don't plan on selling. So making a ton of the same color isn't needed. I'll save the leftovers for later if I end up needing to make more. At this point I don't have many colors and I don't feel like wasting plastic on random colors. But I just haven't had a chance to test them on the water. Hopefully Sunday, but Monday for sure will be the day to find out if they catch fish and how well they hold up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cub48 Posted August 22, 2016 Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 I know this is something else to buy but look for u a electric grill the flat one for pancakes about 12" x 16" u can lay your injector in it and set your measure cups in to keep them hot after taking them out of the microwave. U will need something to insulate the injector as it gets hot. But it will be a lot less waste in the injector sometimes i can cycle the injector and blow the plug out and keep injecting without taking it apart. My injector has a locking tip. A hot plate will work too just not as good. Cub48 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redneckninji20 Posted February 1, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 so instead of making a new post I'll revive my old one. I never really fished with any of the worms I did from earlier. Just have a hard time getting away from the real thing. And the confidence of a real senko made right just didn't help. so I further attempted to make a correct senko. Salt and all. Ordered some softener got some canning/pickling salt and made an attempt. I only did a few runs and ended up with 6/8. Not bad to me. There is a bit of settling in a couple of em which is hard for me to figure out. I'm stirring like crazy to keep it mixed well and injecting fast. But I'm actually really pleased with how they turned out. As stated before about the weights they came out .530-.553oz. Which is give or take .01oz heavier. Not bad! i did kind of eye ball the measurements because I took the old watermelon/green pumpkin/red flake looking worms from before and scrapped them for these. So it wasn't a full 1 cup of plastic. But did like everyone has said and did ~1cup plastic/~1/2cup salt/~1/4cup softener. I think I'll have a little more confidence to throw these since they are a lot more similar to the real thing. Time will tell. Sorry for the long post just like to give all the details! Thanks for looking 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redneckninji20 Posted February 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2017 Put my ultramolds hollow body swimbait to use. Injected a few and got a couple painted. Airbrush is being weird so only got a couple painted 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
