where to buy aluminum molds?

[Vodkaman]

This touches on a thread from a couple of months ago. The general concensus then was, if you have nothing good to say, then say nothing.

But I think that the regular readers of this site are experienced and knowledgeable enough to be able to read between the lines when negative comments are made about supply or service companies.

Bravepiper, I totally agree, we should all have more respect for those amongst us brave enough to go full time, sacking the old 9-5 guaranteed income job, to persue an income doing something that they enjoy, even though it usually means a drop in living standards.

[One Sock]

I don't understand the problem.. If someone orders something like a custom mold, aren't these things made clear ahead of time before all the work gets put into something? If not then the blame is purely on the end of the person selling the product. Now granted you can make things clear and still have a jackass of a customer to deal with, but I know for me, if I wanted a custom mold and sent it to machinist "a", and he came back and said hey, I can come pretty close to that, but there is a chance it won't be exactly what you want and it will cost 145.00 for it. and if it isn't what you want it will cost shipping back to me and extra charge to change or modify it( up to XXX.00) and shipping back to you ....but once I have it all done to the way you want it, the molds would cost you XXX.XX. I would have all the information I need to make a decision. I find that in most customer service related incidents that failure to properly communicate is the root cause for any dis-satisfaction for the parties involved. example:

hey mold machinist, I sent you a sample bait can you make me a mold and how much?

mold machinist: sure it's 125.00 plus shipping

customer: Great send it out to me

Customer: hey this isn't what I wanted, it has 3 ribs instead of 4

Mold machinist: Ok send it back I'll fix it

Customer : Great

Mold Machinist: it;s done and it's gonna be 85.00 plus shipping

Customer : what? I already paid

Mold machinist: You paid for the first mold not this one

Customer: But you didn't make it right

Mold machinist: But that's the chance you take.

Customer: i want my money back then

Mold machinist: forget it no way pay me for my work

Customer: Not gonna happen your a rip off

Now don't get me wrong, I know this goes both ways, the above is just an example: Here is a revised version

hey mold machinist, I sent you a sample bait can you make me a mold and how much?

mold machinist: I can do it but it might not ba an exact match, are there any features you absolutely must have? My set up time and custom work is around 45.00 per hour and it would take approx. 3 hours. This will not include shipping or any revisions I might have to make if your not happy

Some custom jobs have to be revised 2 or 3 times to get them right. Let me know

customer: Ok sounds good, I would like it the same length and would prefer 4 ribs

Mold machinist: I can do the length and ribs, howver the head will be a bit bigger than the sample

Customer : sounds good let's do it, how much do you think it will run

Mold Machinist: I can do this in about 4 hours @ 45.00 an hour, but again that doesn't include any revisions if your not happy or shipping which would be 5.00

Customer : Ok sounds great

Mold machinist: Ok it's done it was 3.5 hours the total is 157.50 plus shipping of 5.00 for a total of 162.50

Customer: awesome cant' wait to get it.

Mold machinist: sending it out tomorrow

Customer: Got the mold and it's everything I was hoping for. Thanks again

Mold machinist: No problem glad you liked it. if you need anything else let me know

Customer: Oh I will do more business soon. thanks

The lack of communication is a two way street and without communication from both parties and a clear understanding what is expected. You are bound to fail eventually. In the customer service world it only takes one bitter customer to cause you lost revenue and future business.

One thing I have learned over the years is if it isn't in writing it isn't true, people have a way of forgetting what they were told or twisting the words out of context or not remembering everything that was said, so i would say that if you have a clearly defined agreement in writing and everyone agrees to it, you will have far less problems. just my take on things, I have been known to be wrong before.

Even if it was over the phone, what was said and what was expected needs to be put in the form of a letter or e-mail or something just to make sure that everyone agrees what they can expect from the transaction

You will never go wrong this way, Again Just my opinion take it for what it's worth

[MACHINIST]

Gotcha dude.

Means that now the loud people are bagging person x, running to person y, but when things don't go completely their way, they'll then bag person y. They'll run out of people willing to work for them before long

Strictly theoretical, of course.

[Predator Bass Baits]

I hope you were not refering to me as the soap opera,

I gave Shawn pleny of room to make these work, I sent samples, The guy could not read e-mails very well.

I asked for a single tail and a twin tail injection mold, he kept getting the 2 confused with sizes so I had to send him the bait, I finally got sick of the confusion that I canceled the twin tail.

He made his 6.5 trick worm, I bought one. I then wanted a 4" worm like Bob's slither, I sent him a bait, he I guess got my e-mails confused again and made me a 4" trick worm.

The grub molds he made me took to much air pressure to inject.

I did buy some molds from bass8baits of shawns speed craw and those work GREAT.

I was not going to say anything to anyone until shawn decided to not respond back. ( That broke the camels back )

[jmik26]

If you guys paid $265 for a 4 cavity and a 3 cavity shows up, would you guys be upset?

In my case the bait came out exactly as drawn in 3d cad by me. There were a few things that I didn't add like the legs and the nose of the bait that Shawn added and did a great job at, the bait was perfect. The problem was being short handed on the cavities. As you guys explain, time is money. Now its going to take me longer to make baits.

One thing to consider If you get a perfect mold. At one point in time someone has done the grunt work of working out all the bugs on that bait. It could have been the machinist, programmer, or the guys on this forum. Then a guy comes along ten months later and has a perfect transaction and calls the guy that worked all the bugs out a drama queen? In Predators case maybe he was trying to work out all the bugs with Shawn so us guys on TU could have a prefect mold. Should the customer pay $500 to get a 1st mold perfect so the mold makers can turn around and sell 100 more molds at $150 now that all the bugs are worked out on the customers buck? I would think its a combined effort on the mold maker and the customer.

So I guess my next question is: Are we only to post positive experiences? In my case I post good and bad and let people make there own decisions. Hopefully my point can be taken without a war starting, thats not my intent, but like you guys said theres always two sides. I see points made by everybody but I just wanted people to see some of my points or maybe answer questions on things I don

[Predator Bass Baits]

Well put Jim,

I told shawn that this grub mold would be a good addition and I was going to post the pic of the bait here, but I did not because of the problems.

It is a great bait, it is a copy of the calins grub with one thing different.

Once bugs were worked out it is a great mold and we have caught allot of fish off that grub this spring.

Once he got the body size right then the problem with the mold was the tail, I told shawn the thickness I wanted, I think it was a tad thin, so I was more then willing to pay to have it fixed, I even offered $ to have it fixed.

Then it did not change so I thought maybe venting was the problem, I put a vent mark in it and it worked better so I sent them back again. and so on and so on.

[saint308]

Here is my take on this. I have bought molds from Del and Shawn and no one is perfect. Each person has a mold I like. For example, I just bought two stick molds and a 4 cavity frog mold from Del. Why, because he is the only one that makes it the way I want. The transactions have always been smooth. The molds are not always shipped immediately, but if I must have those molds then I have to live with that. Shawn has a 2 piece trickworm mold I like with a flat bottom. However, once I get the mold, I have to take it to a shop and modify the sprue area myself for pouring ease. Do I like doing that, no. But again he is the only game in town for that mold. Then comes along machinist. We are working together to create a trick worm that I do not have to modify myself. He has worked hard on it and I think we are making great progress. I know he thinks I am a pain in the a** because I am a stickler for details. However, I am trying to get a great mold for myself and he will have a great mold to sell to others. My point is, nothing is perfect. If we can ever find the perfect vendor then his price would be so high we couldn't afford it. Competition is key. I know we have all had a customer ask for a custom bait and we went back and forth until they finally disappeared. There was a thread on this last week. It is the same thing for mold makers except there trial run cost a little more than 2 ozs. of plastic. So to sum it all up. If you have a good experience share it. If you have a bad experience share it, but you don't need to bash anyone. I think by sharing bad experiences you are protecting the others and allowing them to be warned and make their own decision. Sorry for the ramble. Saint.

P.S. Except for when they forget to add a cavity. That is just plain screwed up right there.

[MACHINIST]

I don't think that you are a pain i the a** at all,in fact I am glad that you are a stickler for the details it make a better product for me to sell.I am going to pour the trick today and send some pics to you.I will also send a few samples of the stick to you.

[Senkosam]

Putting a request in writing and saving the response is the best way to do business. Kind of like making a formal contract between buyer and seller.

For example. From now on if I do business with a mold maker, I will find out the following in advance and include everything in an e-mail:

Cost of mold(s)

Who pays for return shipping if the mold is wrong (ie wrong design or # of cavities)?

When can I expect the molds? You tell me 2 weeks and I haven't received them in 2 mos., I'm posting it on TU! You have my money so where's my product?

Will there be prompt e-mail or phone notification about delays or impossibilites? Communication from the supplier saves a lot of frustration and suspence. Telling me your e-mail doesn't work doesn't explain why a phone call wasn't made.

If I'm explicit about the design and give you a prototype, I would expect that as a plastic lure producer, you would know the limitations of making that lure from a hard mold vs silicone. POP has limitations we have all experienced, but many don't realize it carries over to aluminum. If it can't be poured, it shouldn't be offered unless the buyer says he wants to take a chance. This should be in writing.

It should always be understood that if the buyer changes his mind, he pays for mods changes and shipping both ways. It's like asking for a new lure. If the seller screws up, he should do the same and with an apology for time lost! If I screw up a glitter order, I make good with more than asked for in other colors and apologize for the screw up. Just good business.

UPS or other tracking is the way to go and should be available on all orders. Telling me an order was sent and then giving me a bogus tracking number and when it doesn't work, telling me that the order was lost is b.s.! Tell me the truth up front. I'm not stupid!

It should be in writing that the supplier agrees to the above requests. Take nothing for granted and assume nothing. If it's not in writing, take your business elsewhere.

If this is being overly dramatic, so be it. It's good just business and proper. If a supplier fails in his obligations, its for TU members to weigh both sides and be thankful they were forewarned if the info is accurate. Publishing e-mail agreements after terms were not met, should not be out of bounds.