Help Pouring Tails

[the_hide]

Im at the final frustrating phase, I can now successfully make a plaster (hydrastone) mold, coat it with devcon without losing detail, por the worms so that the body pours perfectly withour flaw. However I can't seem to get my tails to pour past the first 1/4 Inch. I've tried pouring from the tail first and it still just gets stuck because the tails are particularly thin, anything else I should do that might help ? I'd rather not pour tails separately and attach later.

[Coley]

I have poured some curly tail grubs in the past into

plaster molds. What I did was to tilt the mold so

the backend or tail was higher than the front and

poured the tail first and let the plastic flow toward the body.

Are you sure the plastic is hot enough to flow?

Sounds like it is becoming a solid before it flows out.

Coley

[the_hide]

The plastics is hot enough and pours easily, I'm not preheating the mold, should I preheat to allow the plastic longer to flow through ?

[Senkosam]

By accident I've found a way to mold a very thin tail regardless of its width. I say by accident because, I found some leftover plastic in the bottom of my pyrex container, which separated into a thin, shiny sheet.

It occured to me when pouring Lurecraft sickle-tail worms, that the mold was too deep for the tail section, and pouring a thinness that would give a certain action was difficult to control without overfilling. Overfilling the body is not a big deal with scissors or a blade nearby, but overfilling the tail makes the action crappy.

So, now that I had the thinness, I pondered what to do about the shape? If you've got the tail model that you want, put it on a piece of carboard and trace the shape. When making the mold, put the body into the plaster and then make an impression into the plaster with the cardboard tail-shape, but make it very shallow! Remove the cardboard as soon as the super-shallow depression holds. You want the shape to stand out once you've overfilled the tail section.

Pour the worm's body and tail, making sure to overflow the sides of the tail. Once cool, pull the worm and mass of thin tail plastic out and cut around the lines of the tail with a blade. Note: The depth of the depression dictates the thickness of the structure, whether it be curly tail, legs, flappers, bungis etc. The pour, depending on the heat-thinness, will not accumulate to an adverse thickness, like with deeper depression molds. Why didn't I think of it sooner?

(Of course,this idea may not work for 2 part molds unless you overpour the tail first, slap together the two sides, and then pour the body. After the shape cools, follow the above cutting instructions. Definitely not for mass produced handpours.)

Sam

[basskat]

Practice, practice practice! That's what it took for me. I found that if I start with the body, pour up the body, pour the tail, then back down the body I can control my flow much better. If your plastic is the right temp you have plenty of time to pour the tail or legs without the body cooling down. Keep at it, you'll get the hang of it........kat

[basskat]

Practice, practice practice! That's what it took for me. I found that if I start with the body, pour up the body, pour the tail, then back down the body I can control my flow much better. If your plastic is the right temp you have plenty of time to pour the tail or legs without the body cooling down. Keep at it, you'll get the hang of it........kat

[the_hide]

Actually I forgot to mention its a 2 Part Mold, however perhaps I should look at recreating the mold so that the entire tail is in one half of the mold and I can pour the tale prior to or after pouring the body.

[dtrs5kprs]

Practice...and a hot pot When trying to handpour 2-part molds you need to step up to the plate and get that plastic good and HOT also. To get it into a 2-part of that type, w/o injecting it somehow, the plastic needs to be quite a bit warmer than the temp you would run on an open mold.

[Mercury]

This may not quite fit here. But I have been working with some small swim baits. The start of the tail section wouldnt quite fill even when the plastic was at a good pouring temp.

This was made even worse by going to calhouns plastic.

Until talking with chris about the plastic softener. This did make the plastic flow better and then fill the mold like it should.

@ 3/4 cup per gal. it now flows like a dream.

Between this and tiping the mold, and start your pour from the tail you should correct this problem.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Jeff

[basskat]

No idea how I posted that twice.

[dtrs5kprs]

Heat stabilizer seems to improve flow also, esp with lee pots.

[Haebar]

Does Calhoun's carry softener or do you get it somewhere else?

[Mercury]

I got mine from lure craft. They sell it by the gallon, (or smaller)and it will last longer @ 3/4 cup per gallon of plastic. Calhouns sells it by the 5 gal bucket or larger, and it will be 3.00 a lb. (thats what chris said) It would last for ever and half of another life time.

[the_hide]

Added heat stabilizer and it did appear to make a difference to flow. Allowed you to heat up the plastic to a thinner consistency , thanks for all your help, Im pouring the lot now. Rattle insertion to a two part mold is my next hurdle.