Custom Baits - Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: CrabbyBass on 08/19/12 12:23 UTC
-
I have been making homemade molds using POP. I have been hearing great things about using water putty over POP, so I bought some of that and started my first mold this morning. When making the POP molds, I sealed the cavities with a mixture of water and Elmer's glue. I recently had bought some clear acrylic sealer for a project my daughter made. I was wondering if you guys think I can use that to seal the mold instead of the water and glue mixture. I just wanted to check before I went ahead and did it and ruined my first water putty mold. Thanks in advance!
Chuck
-
On POP molds, I put 3 coats of mod podge on them and that makes the baits look pretty good.
-
Spray on acrylic work great. Just have to give it several coats and not to much at one shot. If you spray on to much, you get puddling in mold and defect in cavity.
Molds might turn a little yellow but that will not affect baits. I like the spray on better than elmers myself.
Jim
-
Alos, you can thin down Devcon 2 with some alcohol for a GREAT coating. Just be careful as it is easy to cover the tiny details in your mold.
Jim
-
Thanks guys! This particular mold has some fine legs on them. When making the mold using POP and sealing with Elmer's, it seems the Elmer's fills in the legs. When I inject, I am not getting all of the legs to come out. The fish don't care as they still go crazy for it, but it kind of drives me nuts. My wife just bought some modge podge foor a puzzle she did. I thought about using that as well, but I will run into the same issue I did with the Elmer's. I am hoping the spray on acrylic sealer will not block the legs from filling in. I will give the spray sealer a try and see what happens. Thanks again!
-
Is the glue blocking it or is it a need for a vent in that area? For smaller areas and appendages, I prefer the elmers vs spray on. Less chance of pooling.
I have done some baits with very tiny appendages and they fill without issue unless not vented... Here is a great example of a pop mold bait. Vents at the end of each feeler.
(http://www.ghostbaits.com/new%201659.jpg)
You can even see the tiny hairs on the sides of the claws.
Jim
-
How do you make an injection mold out of POP?
-
Very carefully!!!! :D
You just make a 2 sided mold, clamp and inject.
These baits posted in the gallery here made from pop molds as well. I hand pour these though.
(http://www.caneycreekmolds.net/gallery/medium_24-080812080258.jpeg)
Jim
-
That's awesome! I'm going to have to try this today
-
Awesome lures there Jim! On mine some of the legs come out and some of them don't. I do not have vents for the little legs. I am going to try out the spray sealer and see how they turn out. If I have to, I will add vents for the legs. The mold I made is a six cavity, but I made it where I have to inject each cavity separately. Do you make pop molds where you just make one single injection port? I would be curious how to do this. Thanks!
Chuck
-
I have made multiple cavities with one port. Mixed results. Clamping molds like that with a single port requires just the right touch. To much and crack, to little and the plastic will push the mold halves apart. Takes a lot less pressure to do the single cavity so I have just stuck with those. I'll guess I have over 30 single and multi-cavity pop molds I use on a monthly basis. All for testing and pro staff stuff, no production. I use aluminum for that.
I do have several baits that I run production in hand pour pop molds though. 1 sided. I have had some for over 5 years now. Make and seal them right and they will last.
Jim
-
Let me be clear (LOL!!! If I have heard that once, I have heard it a million times) on a point.
I DON'T advocate making 2 piece injection molds for usage. Lots of reasons why. Main one is SAFETY!!! Plaster of Paris is not designed to handle the pressure of an injector. Second one is.. SAFETY!!!!!!!! The tolerance on these molds and other molds not made from a cnc are terrible. You can easily get a squirt of HOT plastisol coming back at you via the sprue or from the sides of mold. Third one is, SAFETY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do have these type molds but have been working with plastisol for years. Still makes me nervous using them so I limit what I do. I mostly am using pop for experimenting on bait designs. I rarely will inject them and if doing so, wear a hood with face mask, full apron, long sleeves, etc. See Randy's finger if you need more incentive to avoid a bad burn!!!
Single sided molds are different and hand pouring puts no pressure on the mold. If you make 2 piece, strive to make them hand pours so there is no pressure involved in the equation!
Jim
-
Well, it did not work. I sprayed a few coats of the acrylic sealer and let it dry. I injected for the first time tonight and the mold stuck together. While trying to get it apart, the top part of the mold broke in half. The lures came out perfect, but were stuck in the mold. I was not able to get them to come out of the mold unless I tore them out. I am in the middle of making another mold and will go back to what I know works well. Live and learn.
-
When using the acrylic spray, you must spray thin layers over at least a weeks time. Drying time between at least 24 hours or more if it is humid. Basically, the acrylic eas not set and it bonded to itself.
The process is tedious however the results are superior to glue coting and will last forever if you allow to dry between coats. I will spray mine over a 2 week time frame when making.
Jim
-
I guess that was my issue. The can said you can apply new coats after a minute. The mold was soaking it in so I kept adding more and more coats. The sealer did not feel tacky at all, so I decided to give it a try and inject. I guess I should've waited instead of being so impatient. Oh well. Totally my fault.
-
I guess the high heat causes the issues with the spray-on acrylic. I use the MinWax variety from Wally World. Works good if you can wait it out.
Jim