trout_tapout Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 I have been dipping some tubes and when the platic drips off and dries, what do I do with it? I heard that you can melt it and use it again... Do you melt it into fresh (milky) plastic, or do you melt it on its own on the side? I tried adding the chunky plastic to the already melted palstic and it just made the dipping material chunky, even though I was still heating it. Also, I was having trouble with the plastic getting chunky (on its own) while I was dipping. It was about 10 degrees outside in the garage, so I am wondering if the outside temp had an effect on the hot plastic, making it chunky. Any info would be great! Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badfish03 Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 I know you can remelt old plastic and repour it. You might try chopping it up into very small pieces before you reheat it, I know that made a big difference when I was melting down and repouring a bunch of old baits I had. You can add fresh plastic if you like also but your results will vary. As for having chunky plastic I think its not being heated well enough or being mixed good once heated. How are you heating it? Microwave or stove Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senkosam Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 What Robert said, plus reheated plastic doesn't take as much time to turn to liquid so you have to be careful of heating time. Even if you microwave, the best way would be to look at the cup of reheating plastic as if it was in a Lee Production Pot. The chunks will slowly turn to liquid from the heated liquid plastic it's immersed in. The similarity is that you zap 15 seconds - stir and let sit for 5 seconds, zap again for 15 - pause and stir, until the plastic is uniform. Letting it sit while the chunks melt, is the best way to prevent overheating the liquid part. If you try to zap without giving the chunks time to liquify, the liquid plastic overheats -killing it's color and flakes. Slow is the best method for reheating! If the colors aren't as vibrant, add a few drops to refresh or more glitter to replace any damaged glitter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delw Posted March 7, 2005 Report Share Posted March 7, 2005 Exactly like senkosam says. one thing to rmember when using the mircowave is that everything cooks from the center out, so you must poke at it with a knife and get the liquid(hotplastic) stirred up into the cold plastic(chunks) if you dont you will have some burning problems Delw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senkosam Posted March 7, 2005 Report Share Posted March 7, 2005 Like Del said about core plastic and bottom plastic heating faster. Even though the cooler top is still a solid skin, the bottom is hot liquid and needs to be poked into the mix. Lee Pots are okay for mass production single color baits (one color per pot), but they're slow and not always easy to clean. Reheating in a Lee Pot is much more time consuming but safer for the plastic. I don't have the patience and hate to clean them, especially after baking reheated plastic on the sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
