time to quit for the day....

[knifemaker3]

been trying to work up the deer john color of sliders in the 2.5 swim fry for some customers.  Got to get it worked out and running real soon. 

scorched my plastic once today when the micro didn't shut off like it should. 

beginning to think I may have an issue with my micro.  the last ones I tried I did with a lami plate just to see if I could get the yellow to work right.  never seemed to ever really get to the right temp but it was smoking way to much for my liking?  this was essential plastic heated in short burst of 30 seconds.  reached 320 with a probe therm. and went ahead and shot.  didn't even fill the tails and it shot like cold plastic. yet it was smoking like crazy?  also using x2 colors for the first time.  first time on the essential plastic.

the few laminates I did earlier today shot well, plastic didn't smoke and reached 330 degrees with no problems and worked really well. much better than the plastic I've been using for the past few years (I'm not going to mention the name so don't even ask).  But when I started having the problems I quit.  now I'm scratching my head trying to figure out what went wrong.

Ideas?

Micro seems to be cooking ok now.  at least it turns on, runs, and turns off correctly.  I'm wondering if it didn't crap out on me?   

[BareKnuckleJigs]

K3, now's Your chance to get an electric burner and a saucepan!

[knifemaker3]

Just got to get the process down for the new plastic and the new workspace.  Been using the old plastic I've used for several years in single color baits with no problems.  Just trying to get back into shooting laminates with the new plastic.

I'm thinking that I may have a micro problem more than anything.  We will see next time I get to shoot some baits.

[knifemaker3]

OK, I've tried to upload a picture of the baits I poured today but I guess I don't know how.
It went much better today.  Now I just got to dial in the colors.

[knifemaker3]

If the link works, I'm trying to match the slider color in the 2" Swim Fry.  Here is the recipe for the swim fry that I used.

1/2 cup plastic
1/2 tablespoon x2 yello

1/2 cup plastic
1/2 tablespoon ccm flour. green chart
2 drops x2 baby bass

I'm thinking maybe a drop or 2 of white to each color? 

Thoughts?
Thanks

[knifemaker3]

Here is the link to the gallery pic.  don't know how to get it in this message. 

http://custombaits.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=2376

[bassinfool]

A good way to disperse more even heat in your micro is to cut out a piece of cardboard the size of the glass plate in your micro and cook on top of that.  For some reason it seems to disperse the heat more evenly and you won't scorch your plastic as easily. 

[knifemaker3]

Yeah bassin, but my problem was operator error.  My micro has to be turned on past the time needed and then dial the knob back to the correct time. Otherwise it doesn't shut off.

[Botanophilia]

Green needs to be just a tad darker I think. Maybe less than a drop of the baby bass x2.  And I'd probably go with some white if you want to make those colors opaque.  Also 1/2 tablespoon of x2 is A LOT for a 1/2 cup of plastic.  I would expect 8-10 drops to be sufficient.  Make sure your x2 is well mixed.  It can hard pack, you might need to stir it with a skewer.  Otherwise it's looking really good!

[RonDon]

Id get a new microwave with digital timer!  On the green leave out the baby bass and add your white to the fl green.  I would personally use yellow chartreuse instead of yellow for the other color.  When laminated to fl green.... chartreuse will look more like a yellow but be a brighter color than if you use yellow colorant.

[knifemaker3]

I did drop a stainless washer and 3 nuts in like always with any other colorants I've used but x2 was so thick they barely even sank in.  Looks like a trip to the grocery store for skewers is in my near future.
Thanks