One of the challenges that I face with making small baits for crappies and sunfish is the size of the baits themselve. I have a mold for a 1" minnow bait that shoots an incredible single color plastic. The size of this bait is somewhat smaller than the small fry 1.75 with the greatest departure found in the tail section. At this time of year where I live staying in touch with the crappies and sunfish demands that a broad selection of colors and sizes in plastic baits be met and this small minnow is a transition bait that I am really happy to have when I need to step down a size but still want the profile of the small fry.
I got to studying the small fry and the 1" minnow, as it is called, especially arounf the area of the tail/body juntures. This small minnow doesn't have much room there to play with while the small fry and I are no strangers in the two color department. Sill, this idea of having two color options in the 1" bait gnawed at me until last night when I shot a couple molds of chartreuse scrap to trim for tail pieces. Then I did the re-load thing trying to get the trimmed tail sections back in the mold. Normally I simply leave the baits in the mold to snip them but this bait comes out of the cavities no matter how careful the mold is opened so its no more of a headache just de-molding trimming and re-laying the tails. But trust me, it is a headache getting the tail sections back in the mold. The plastic used for the tail pieces got a liberal dose of softener.
When the mold had been filled with the tails a small bowl of the top color hot heated and dosed with some stabilizer to keep it from singing since I wanted to get this up to about 365-370 degrees. I shot it at 365 and when the plunger stopped I held a steady pressure on it for ten seconds hoping to force the weld.
When the mold was opened and the tree removed I was more than happy with the outcome. After trimming from the sprue and allowed to rest for an hour I gave the pull test to the weld and it held up much better than I had hoped and the weklds are all clean and smooth.
For those who do the trim and shoot over for two colors and are having problems with poor welds or who get frustrated, this should be used as a lessen. First, don't give up. Second, using a softer plastic for the piece you want welded in helps to get that weld solid...the softer plastic melts at a much lower temp and when the finish plastic is ready to heat you just need to add some staiblizer to allow a higher injection temperature to get that all critical weld. The continued slight pressure after the plunger stops forces the higher temp plastic onto the cooler plastic and really helps seal the deal, so to speak.
Ya, I know, its not a Caney product but the picture is to show the outcome, not the product. All Caney plastics, colorants, and glitters are used here as are the chemicals used to adjust the plastic. In the long run I have found caney products the key to a great finished product and now use those exclusively except for four colorants not found at Caney.
One of the greatest thrills in shooting plastic is catching fish on what you've crafted with your own two hands. Another one of the thrills is to challenge yourself against a little project like this that has "can't be done" written all over it and actually coming out on top.
