Dual Injectors/laminate plates

[Rex]

Looking to add this into the mix. Any pointers? Also temp supposed to still be around 320?

Also kinda curious on laminate plates for small panfish plastics. Has anyone done it and what does it look like? From what I have seen on YouTube people just take a thin diameter piece of metal to cover half the mold? Or am I missing this completely?

[ctom]

Dual injectors take some getting accustomed to but they make a nice product once a guy gets the little things worked out.

Lam plates are simply a way to inject one side of the mold for use by re-injecting a second color. Its just another way of splitting a bait color much like the twin injectors do. Lam plates work well on smaller baits. In lieu of an actual plate many people simple split and flatten a pop can or use heavy aluminum foil to get the job done and this works amazing well. Like the twin injector there is a small learning curve with a plate or a plate substitute too.

[Canga~]

one thing you can do, is take some aluminum foil and cut it to fit your mold, then when you inject you get 2 halves, you will have to fit them back in the mold to inject the 2nd color, which can be a pain, but it works pretty well. this is what i did until i bought a twinjector.

i bought the basstackle twinjector (6oz version) and am very pleased with it, very high quality, locking pins on the injectors, very high quality unit. it does have a bit of a learning curve to it, but its not too bad, took me about 2 times working with it to get it down. (though i still havent mastered the ripper!)

[Rex]

Dumb question but I would want to cover half of the injection port as well right?

[ctom]

Not unless you want to inject just 1/2 of the mold....one side that is and only if you are using foil to split the mold.

[Rex]

Not unless you want to inject just 1/2 of the mold....one side that is and only if you are using foil to split the mold.

Boy I feel stupid right now.

So what’s the point of the laminate plate? Is it to split the baits in half, pull half of them out and then shoot with a different color?

Say I wanted to make a bait two different colors I would use the plate, pull all the half baits out of one side. Close the mold back up and re shoot?

[ctom]

Lets try this.

A lamination plate is usually identical to one side of the mold in outside dimensions but will only have the other 1/2 of the injection port cut into it so the injector can seat properly. The rest of that plate is perfectly flat and closes against the other half of the mold.

A mold will have two sides. One side will be the bait's top [back] the other the bait's bottom [belly] or the mold will make two sides. Your mold will need to be configured to make the top/bottom to use a plate of any kind unless you want a bait that's one color on one side and a different color on the other side....which isn't likely. With a plate attached in lieu of one side of the mold, you'll get either all bottoms or all tops, depending on how the plate is formatted. Most plates block off the top so you get all bellies. You cut the bellies from the sprue or runner and re-insert those in the belly side of the mold, omit the plate, close and clamp and inject with the second color. Your baits will be one color on the belly and the second color for the backs or tops.

Using foil or any other thin material to act as a plate that gets pinched between the mold's halves, you'll still get the bellies but the thin material will also allow the backs or tops to fill at the same time as the bottoms.  If you want the bellies to be one color you save just those pieces and put them back in the mold. You can do the same with the resulting tops if you want to. Once the bellies[or tops if you prefer] are back in place in the approcpiate side of the mold simple close it and clamp it and inject the second color.

In many ways you're better off learning to use a thin metal of foil as the plate as you create two different sides to insert where the plate only will work to block the one side of the mold. With the foil halves you can re-insert every other belly cavity and every other [opposite] top cavity, inject the finish color and you get two different color patterns in one shot. I use thin tin punch metal available at Hobby Lobby to make any plates I want. I can cut this stuff with a scissors and do the final clean-up with a Dremel of a nail file. This stuff costs about $4.50 and lasts forever while a plate costs about $15.00 or more depending on its size and only allows one side to be created.

Hope this helps.