First Shot at Laminates

[bhubbard387]

These are my first tries at laminates.  I had a couple throw aways and this is what I ended with.  As you can see in the beaver bug, craw, and brush hog I had trouble getting it to fill all the way through.  Any tips on fixing that?  Also, what do you guys do if your second color doesn't shoot all the way like a few in my pictures, just remelt them as a blended color?

[bassinfool]

A lot of times you can fix that by rubbing some worm oil on that portion of the mold; helps the plastic flow a little better.  I always, always shoot my darker color second and at a higher temp than I normally would which helps the plastic make not only a better bond but flow through the mold a little easier as well.  You may want to hold pressure for a few seconds after you push that second color as well.  I'm not sure about how the ES molds are vented, but often times when you don't get a perfect laminate you'll find it comes from the non vented side so on a mold like the beaver or the brush hog where the sides are identical I make sure to not use that side for the second color, only for the first.  I know that is a lot of information to process all at once but those are the first steps I would take at the moment and see where that gets you.  Other than that, they look great for your first attempt!  Much better than my first attempt, actually, make that attempts 

[bhubbard387]

A lot of times you can fix that by rubbing some worm oil on that portion of the mold; helps the plastic flow a little better.  I always, always shoot my darker color second and at a higher temp than I normally would which helps the plastic make not only a better bond but flow through the mold a little easier as well.  You may want to hold pressure for a few seconds after you push that second color as well.  I'm not sure about how the ES molds are vented, but often times when you don't get a perfect laminate you'll find it comes from the non vented side so on a mold like the beaver or the brush hog where the sides are identical I make sure to not use that side for the second color, only for the first.  I know that is a lot of information to process all at once but those are the first steps I would take at the moment and see where that gets you.  Other than that, they look great for your first attempt!  Much better than my first attempt, actually, make that attempts 

Thanks, I'll make sure to incorporate all of that next time!  And they weren't quite my first attempt, the very first couple shoots went straight back into the pyrex haha!   

[bassinfool]

All part of the process my friend.

[ctom]

If you are fishing the baits you make, just fish those with incomplete fills. The fish won't mind. You can chuck them into a remelt pile too. Bareknucklejigs here creates some real nifty colors from blended-color remelts.

By the way, those are great looking lams for just getting started at it.

[Arkansasbowhunter]

I had the same problem and I now just leave one cavity open as a vent.   I get a solid bait from that cavity but I just remelt it with my spru.  If it is an 8 cavity mold I pour 7 laminates and leave the 8th for a vent.  Has taken care of that problem for me.


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[Lamar]

  I have the beaver bug and do laminates with it. The mold is not made right down the middle of the bait and the one side of the tail is to skinny to shoot a laminate. So I make the two half's in the body color I want and then cut off the tail and put one of the half,s back in the mold and shoot the other half and the tail in the color I want. You end up with a solid color tail but it all fills out. Here's an example.

[bhubbard387]

  I have the beaver bug and do laminates with it. The mold is not made right down the middle of the bait and the one side of the tail is to skinny to shoot a laminate. So I make the two half's in the body color I want and then cut off the tail and put one of the half,s back in the mold and shoot the other half and the tail in the color I want. You end up with a solid color tail but it all fills out.

I'll give that a try, thank you!

[DF]

 Nice work B, I use the same process as Lamar when doing lams on baits with thin appendages.

[b.eipert]

I do not know about with injecting but when I hand pour laminates I can peel them apart with a little bit of effort.

[DF]

 For hand pours I like to warm my molds a bit and use fairly hot plastic, get that second color HOT and poured while the first still has a little heat in it and it will bond better.

[bhubbard387]

Thanks everyone, I'm really catching the addiction.  I need to start hiding my paychecks from myself!