First injection attempt / reheat issues?

[Bass Junkie]

Hi guys,

So my kit finally arrived (doit shipping was super fast but UPS delayed my shipping a few days!) and I was able to attempt my first ever injection. Here is the result:



I'm pretty satisfied with it but I noticed the color became more opaque after a few reheats.

I started out with 4oz crystal clear plastisol in soft, .040 essentials black glitter, 4 drops of x2 colorant in motor oil, 6 drops of scent in toad xplode.

I wanted to use up all the plastic so after injecting 4 worms, I'd let it cool, reheat the plastic, inject, reheat, repeat. I did this a few times and noticed in the last couple of batches were considerably more opaque and more dull/darker in color than the first batch. I'm thinking the repeated reheating affects the color somehow? Is there a way to avoid this?

P.S., can't wait to fish these. I think catching bass with bait I've made myself will pretty much make me lose my mind with excitement.

Thanks in advance for the help!


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[BareKnuckleJigs]

I will choose to not comment on the plastic itself, here.

Aside from that...

Did You add some Stabilizer to the reheats?

[BareKnuckleJigs]

And just for my.own curiosity, possibly agony, too, what bait is that?

[Bass Junkie]

I will choose to not comment on the plastic itself, here.

Aside from that...

Did You add some Stabilizer to the reheats?

No, I didn't add any stabilizer. I guess I'll have to put in an order for one. Lol, why no comment? Is it really that bad?

The mold I used is a 4.5 inch finesse worm. Was pretty easy to use even for a newbie.


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[Muskygary]

You need to put stabilizer in on each reheat. The heating takes the natural stabilizer out of the plastic , thus you have to add more. A good squirt is all it takes. As to the type of plastic; you will find that everyone has their own favorite. I think most of the guys here prefer Do-it's Essential. Welcome to the forum and that's a great worm for your first pour! That will catch fish!

[Marnus]

Hey Bass Junkie

No matter what type of plastisol, it will start burning after too many reheats, it turns it into this brownish mix and may finally burn into this stinky thing. I cannot comment on DO-It plastisol because I've never had the privilege to test any, I'm not from the US.

Heat Stabilizer definitely works to reduce batches burning from prolonged heating, but for now, after a few reheats, just add some virgin plastisol. The virgin plastisol contains some unused heat stabilizer. Think of heat stabilizer as sunscreen, you have to keep applying it regularly as you are working because it dissipates.

Another strategy that may help to reduce burning from constant reheating,  is to do some tests seeing how many cups of plastisol makes a number of lures you need for a certain batch/color. For example, you would like to make 12 lures of a specific color, your mold is a 4 cavity, thus you would need enough plastic for 3 injections, think it would be around 4oz. Heat up the 4oz, inject and then put the measuring cup in the microwave, and maybe cover the top of the cup to reduce the loss of heat from the plastisol. Wait for the mold to cool down and then remove the lures. The plastisol in the cup should still be molten, give it a quick reheat and shoot again. You then leave the measuring cup outside, you then cut up all the pieces of left over plastisol from your injector and the sprue into small pieces and reheat for the last time and shoot again. Thus you reduce the number of reheats per batch. This will also help you to perfect recipes because you will know how much of what ingredient goes into the size of a specific batch.

Some of the guys here on the forum own huge molds with many cavities, they can use up to 8oz in one injection, also injecting more than one mold, so they only heat the plastisol once

[Lines]

Good information Marnus.

[Lamar]

  Anytime I make a color I can see through or a lighter color like white's and yellows I use heat stabilizer. And I use a lot. Like 15 drops to 6 oz. Plus when I reheat I do it slowly and stir a lot. I think the stirring helps even the heat and prevents hot spots. You probably got a hot spot that turned a little brown on you and when you stirred it it mixed it through the rest of the plastic. Causing a change in color. Just part of the learning curve. I still get it from time to time. I just keep that plastic and add about 10 drops of black to make my black lures with.

[mrex]

If you do not have any heat stabilizer just add a little new plastisol to the reheat.


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[ctom]

I'd just get the stabilizer and start using it.

I do my cooking and re-heats/re-melts ala Lamar. If I have plastic in the cup yet and need to re-heat I add stabilizer to it BEFORE it sets up. If I have plastic I know that I will to re-melt and I stir in stabilizer before it sets up, that way its already in the plastic before the re-melt and can help buffer any hot spots that start up in the re-melt process. One should also keep in mind that a re-melt does not have to get back to 350 degrees to be used and that by keeping the heating and stirring sequences frequent most plastic will be usable at around 320-330 degrees and will hold is clean color way longer at those temps.

I don't get stabilizer by the 4 ounce bottle, I get pints and put the Yorker cap on right away. I don't count drops of stabilizer nor do I use a measuring spoon. Again like Lamar, I give the plastic, at whatever stage its in, a good healthy shot whenever a shot is needed and I stir the heck out of the plastic every time I add stabilizer. I do tons of plastic in chartreuse to use as tail color and when I finish with the color in a project I juice up the cup with stabilizer as mentioned. I have two or three cups of chartreuse on the bench at all times for re-melting and most of these will have been re-melted 4 to 8 times. I put partial cups together in one cup for melting. Three things allow for this without a lot of waste: 1.USE LOTS OF STABILIZER; 2. chop up the set plastic into smaller pieces and; 3. toning down the re-melting process....don't hurry it and stirring very often, melted yet or not. Reheating is the same except eliminate the chopping into smaller pieces.

I like the sunscreen analogy given as it does a great job of describing why and how stabilizer should be used. And adding some new, raw plastic to re-melts can help but then you HAVE to get the temp back up to the 350 or you'll find sticky baits or those that haze over or cloud up in storage.

[WALLEYE WACKER]

Bass Junkie Nice bait!!! Don't have anything more to add other than when you catch your first fish on something you made you'll see why all of use enjoy making are own.

[Bass Junkie]

Thanks everyone for the great advice! I'll try adding new plastisol for the reheats and see if that works. In the not too distant future I'll put in another order for the essentials plastisol, heat stabilizer and maybe another mold.

Thanks for the compliments as well. I totally nerded out when they came out not looking like a complete mess. Can't wait to try em out this weekend.


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[BareKnuckleJigs]

I was afraid that might be the 4.5" Finesse Worm.  I dig dat bait but don't own the mold. 

[Bass Junkie]

I was afraid that might be the 4.5" Finesse Worm.  I dig dat bait but don't own the mold. 

I can see how collecting molds can get addictive (and expensive). Just have one mold and already looking at three more that I'm dying to get (senko, wutz it forktail, ribbon tail worm). So if anyone has these molds and would like to part with them at a used price, please let me know. >_<

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[Grizz12]

Bass Junkie don't forget about the essentials molds good baits lower price for the molds