Author Topic: StickBait Problem  (Read 2907 times)

Offline pourhousebaits

  • Minnow
  • *
  • Posts: 22
StickBait Problem
« on: 09/17/13 11:11 UTC »
Can anybody help me out here? When I Hand Pour half of my Laminate StickBait in the Mold and then Pour the other half in, the 2 colors are Splitting on me after they set up. Is there a fix for this so that they don,t come apart on me? Suggestions!

Offline andrewlamberson

  • Lunker
  • *****
  • Posts: 2463
Re: StickBait Problem
« Reply #1 on: 09/17/13 11:22 UTC »
I do the same and I have found that I need to inject the 2nd color asap...and it needs to be on the hot side so it melts the interface between the two layers. Inject slowly though...or you will get flash. If you want a super crisp line...then you really need to find the exact temperature (to the degree!) that will bond...but not cause a little mix at the interface. Pretty tough to do consistently!

Some people will hand pour a bunch of bellies/bottoms and reinsert and inject the other color...but that doesn't work as well for me (I get the splitting issue). I think that it's harder to get a good bond on cured plastic.

I'm sure CTom will chime in too.....He's a master of hand pour bellies and then injecting.
" You can't buy happiness...But you can buy fishing gear...and that's kind of the same thing"

Offline jl3140

  • Lunker
  • *****
  • Posts: 654
Re: StickBait Problem
« Reply #2 on: 09/17/13 12:11 UTC »
I've found that you can't wait more than a few hours after you pour the first color to get the second color to bond. If you wait longer, they won't always bond together. I hand pour frog bellies and then a few minutes after that I will inject the second color into the mold but it has to be a hotter plastic to really get them to bond well.

Offline ctom

  • Lunker
  • *****
  • Posts: 11413
Re: StickBait Problem
« Reply #3 on: 09/17/13 12:23 UTC »
Try using a softer plastic in the belly section. The softer plastic welds better at lower temps. Maybe try adding some stabilizer to the top color, more than you think is necessary, and jack the shooting temp up to 355-360.

As Andy has alluded to, don't shot the bellies one day and then add the top color a week down the road. I shoot 3000 chartreuse and hot pink tails for a couple of paddletail baits I make and have had nothing but headaches with weld separations since. The only way I can use these now is to count out how many I plan to use and give them an hour long bath in alcohol to get rid of the oil that naturally exudes from the plastic. I now shoot [pour] the bellies and re-shoot in that order, every mold, and I have no issues with color separation.

If I am doing a simple two-color bait but in larger numbers, like 100 of that one color combo, I'll do all of the bellies and then immediately go right back and lay the top color on, but I add stabilizer and extra heat to that top color and add some softener to the bottom color.

Also as Andy has alluded to, if you are shooting the top color in and having it run under the belly section as well as atop of it, you are shooting too hard/fast.   Something to keep in mind though is that when a belly is hand poured into the cavity, surface tension makes it stay in place like its glued there. If you remove that piece, the surface tension gets broke and that will make it much easier to have a top color get under it when that injection gets made....just something to think about.

There are good ships
and wood ships
ships that sail the sea
but the best ships are friendships
and may they
always be ......An Irish Toast