Tiderunner Posted March 8, 2017 Report Share Posted March 8, 2017 my first attempt at making a laminated senko (red shad) started out ok. The first pour came out perfect. After that something changed. In the first photo you see the red absorbed the black, or so it seems. Second photo is beyond all explanation. The rings around the black side of the senko don't exist. Bait is completely flat on one side Third photo shows once again the red seems to have absorbed the black and the red is missing at the tails. Only the black part partially exists. you can also see some flashing around the edge of the bait as I loosened the clamps up a bit on the mold thinking that may be the problem, Just made it worse. Recipe is for both colors 4 oz med plastic maroon lurecraft color for the red. LPO for black 3tablesppons extra fine salt per color. teaspoon of softener and a couple drops of stabilizer. I heat my molds and injector first. Microwave my plastic. Mold is Do-It CNC 5" senko mold with a laminate plate. plate and mold are held steady in a small vise while injecting. Seems the more I pour the worse my baits get. Seems the problems began when I added enough salt to close in on the 10.2g that I measure in a senko. Weight of the completed baits was 9.7g Any insight? Advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted March 8, 2017 Report Share Posted March 8, 2017 It looks like the plastic got too hot. Maybe you need to cool the mold, or shoot them at a lower temperature, or both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveMc1 Posted March 8, 2017 Report Share Posted March 8, 2017 Laminates that don't come out near perfect are almost always temp related. Make sure your temps are within 10 degrees of each other and aim for 300 - 315 degree mark and they should some out good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishn4fishn Posted March 8, 2017 Report Share Posted March 8, 2017 I think you injected the second color to fast and the second color lifted and shot around the half already in the mold. That would explain the lack rings and the black being flat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryanmc Posted March 8, 2017 Report Share Posted March 8, 2017 If you're using a laminate plate temp isn't as critical as when using a twinjector. The usual cause of what you're showing in the pics is the first half lifting when the second half is shot. When you cut the sprue off the first half, cut the nose of the bait at 45 degrees (angling back from the bottom (round side) towards the top (flat side). This creates a "ramp" for the second half of the plastic to flow up and on top of the first half (while sort of pushing down on the leading edge of the first half). Also, your second shot should be slow and steady to help prevent lifting (even with the cut I described). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiderunner Posted March 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 Thanks everyone I will try these suggestions later today and post the results. I will say. The laminate plate method is S-L-O-W. I think the double injector may be a future investment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryanmc Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 Once you get in a rhythm the laminate plate is pretty fast. Keeping 2 colors close in temp when using a twinjector can be a pain, but there are times when it has to be used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FATFLATTIE Posted March 14, 2017 Report Share Posted March 14, 2017 And the lami plate saves you a lot of wasted plastic in the sprue. You could just hand pour the first side which in my opinion is a little faster. Also, you won't get as much problems with lifting if you don't pull the first side out of the mold and then put them back in (like making a bunch of the black half first and then going back and doing the red) the plastic sticks to the mold and won't lift as badly. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryanmc Posted March 14, 2017 Report Share Posted March 14, 2017 7 hours ago, FATFLATTIE said: Also, you won't get as much problems with lifting if you don't pull the first side out of the mold and then put them back in (like making a bunch of the black half first and then going back and doing the red) the plastic sticks to the mold and won't lift as badly. I never even considered he might be doing that, good point. I always shoot the first half, lift and cut the sprue, slap the other half of the mold on and shoot the second color. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiderunner Posted March 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2017 Ok...So I tried all of the suggestions here. Checked temps, cut sprues at 45*, I had never molded one side then removed and added back and repoured the other half. My success rate was about 50%. Not much better than before. The cutting to 45* helped increase success. But- I decided to try pouring halves removing them and replacing to pour the other half. Strangely, that actually worked pretty good. Would I make a habit of doing that? No. But it worked- better than I thought it would. For a laminate I've only tried to make a red shad. The nice thing about that color combo is you can take all your boo boos, and remelt them, and you still get black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...