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I'm glad it worked out. I don't think you can make a mistake that most of us haven't already made. Everything I know about bait making I learned here on TU from generous members willing to share their knowledge.

Mark, I wasn't sure if you check back on threads that you've commented in before, so I made this thread just to say, Thank you !! The advice you offered me in my injection mold problem thread was spot on! Trying to keep the story short ... I tried opening the gate up a bit and added a vent channel with a hole drilled at its end, at the nose of the bait. It didn't help at all. In fact it made it worse. The vent wouldn't let me build up any pressure in the mold, and I think it actually caused the gate to cool closed more quickly. So I got the Dremel out again and really went to town on opening up that gate. I didn't quite take it to the entire width of the runner (but I will) but it's almost there. I left the hole I drilled at the end of the nose vent channel plugged with plastic, and shot the mold again. Almost perfect !!! When I opened up the mold, the now funnel shaped gate was actually hollow. Opening it up that much allowed the bait to pull in more hot plastic. Which is what the problem most likely was from the very beginning. Your advice to me tells me you knew exactly what the problem was. And you told me how to fix it. I can't thank you enough for steering me in the right direction. I really wanted this bait to be right. And you made that possible. Once again. Thank you. Your help is truly appreciated.

HH-66 is the same as Mend-it just not repackaged.

If it is zinc contamination it will ruin your pot even if it isn't a bottom pour. The zinc will corrode the liner and when that happens the pot is no longer usable. I had that happen a long time ago and the lead looked just like that and it seemed to have a heavier viscosity than normal. If you don't believe it will harm your pot then contact LEE and they will tell you.

I don't know what you would paint it with that would not transfer to the bait, but, if you could, yes, it would work.

18 baits and only 1 that had any hint of a dent. And that it because it was the bait closest to the sprue of the mold, and I didn't have enough plastic in the injector. Once again a huge thank you to Mark for his help. And a huge thank you to all the members that have given me help and offered suggestions on any of my threads. Your thoughts and input are appreciated more than you can know. This place is the Rodbuilding.org of bait making. I love this place !!!

Might don't know never fished it . Thanks for the cudo's. Didn't mean to pirate the Noobtube post though .

No bubbles indicating moisture. Just yellowing.

Did any of the tips help at all. When plastic sits it can also collect moisture.for that long a time. Condensation in the container forms and the heating process slowed down helps sometimes, not always.

No sales for me either. Working full time and then all the time it takes for other things in life only leaves time to make for myself and give a few baits to friends and family.

how it could ruin my pot,mine got no sinkhole . is that normal to already got that brown color that look like rust ?

I used to sell but sold out a few years ago and retired from my day job. Just make what I and a few friends need and am enjoying retirement.

That’s a cool design, TF. I bet the crappie would like it awfully well, also.

Actually I never did a video and my friend has the molds shooting the baits for his area. I hear rock bass and smallies like it .

To buy that much plastic you must be selling ! I admire those who do sell lures in that they must have the discipline to consistently reproduce the same exact colors and lure softness for every order. Not me which is why I don't sell lures - only glitter. I can't only use a few lures that I know catch fish when fish are found and active. Variety is the spice of fishing as I've said many times before where color variety is secondary to the combination of design, action and size - at least for me, soft plastic being the most versatile material of all. When I look at many of the soft plastic lures sold on Ebay, I shake my head knowing that they don't have what it takes to catch the most fish most of the time and with different presentations - another part of fishing variety. I'm fortunate having local waters I can test lure designs/presentations and record the best of them on my pc via photos for future reproduction.

That looks like Zinc contamination to me. If you don't get that out of your pot it will render it unusable as it will cause holes in the liner. I found that out the hard way, you need to be careful when buying lead. I get most of my lead from Rotometals but I bought some very good lead with 3% antimony from Davis bait company.

I ordered 2 - 55 gallon barrels. Plus I do not make baits just to make baits. Only make um when they are needed. I bet most guys have made so many they will never use um .

Don't pour nearly as much as I used to. You must sell lures. I never did - personal use only. Now with a candle flame to fuse lure parts together, hand poured or store bought stored for decades, I come up with much better designs for catching all freshwater species. Last year I bought molds off Ebay cheap and use the parts from those pours not found on the usual mold sites. Guess I'll have to buy new plastic for clear lures or lure parts. BTW - M-F never responded to my voice recording asking the question about yellowing.

These are really cool. Do you have a video of them in action? I would love to see how they move/swim/glide...

I had a design I sent Vitaly Osti . He cut it according to my specifications. I call it a pond hopper. The wings on the side can be partially detached to flap or completely taken off down the serration lines on the side . Most of the stuff I do has a 2 fold presentation .

One of the things they put in wheel weights . Thing is wheel weights will ruin your pot . Some of it is is corrosive and can eat pits in the crucible . Wheel weights have no. on them . Some of the manufactures have list of the material in a weight . Been a long time since I tried to look up any of that stuff.

Could he paint the cavities like on an essential series mold to seal it & smooth out any imperfections thus get shiny baits in the end?

How do you guys have any plastic that sets around & gets old? I order plastic about 3 times a year & never have none left because i wait until i open the last gallon to reorder.

I think you should empty your pot and start over. First, never put lead in your pot that hasn’t been fluxed and cleaned unless you trust the source like you trust your best friend. Flux it 2 or 3 times. Scrape off the impurities with a ladle, stainless steel large spoon works well. Pigmetal spoon from Walmart does not. Lots of info on flux in the best lead flux thread. I use gulf wax parrafin from your grocery store. Readily available. Do it outside. Lots of smoke. After you have cleaned your lead only then it goes in your pot. From there, still some learning curve. That’s a start, though.

babbitt is that the thing they add into the weel lead ? ingot have been sell to me as pure soft lead. it was my first pour ever ,it was not nice

The only time I ever ran onto what you describe was I got a mix of lead and Babbitt . But then it would be hard as a rock and to thick to pour from a bottom spout when you heat it .

hey no flux ,was a brand new lee at 9

I’m no metallurgist but there’s a in depth conversation the last couple pages on contamination, color, temperature, fluxing of course, and oxidation up in the best lead flux thread. It might give you some idea about what’s going on. Did you flux that lead well before you put it in your pot? And what are you using for flux?

If you go with the soft eyes use HH-66 for gluing them on. Same stuff as Mend-it but a lot cheaper. Last can I bought was $7.95 with free shipping on amazon. We use the flat stick on eyes on our swim baits then coat & fill the eye socket with HH-66. Holds the eyes in really well with no need to clear dip.

Same here with Calhoun. I've got a couple of gallons sitting on the shelf that's about 4 years old. Tried some of it a while back & it yellowed. Same with some old MF I've got stashed as well. I guess if I ever use it I need to invest in some heat stabilizer.

yup, looks like a dull master .

I have the same issue with some Calhoun's thats 3 years old . I am sure the heat stabilizer goes bad .

Amazing the amount of sh.. we collect over many decades. Finally I'm able to put it to productive use. Today I caught 48 fish from 9 am - 1:30 pm - all on hybrid lures that I can reproduce any time I want ! I'm going to start taking along two soft plastic boxes: experimental and dependables. I just wish more angler/ lure crafters would start getting into coming up with and sharing new shapes they found worked for most species. It's a dimension of fishing rarely included in the search for new lure designs that fish dictate are the best. No more store bought lures - many of which, in my case, never worked as-is.

Ya, nothing new, but always fun. Back in the late 70's we started making what we called "creature baits" by combining hot melted baits together. I believe that all of the advanced lure shapes and styles can trace their origins back to those days. A candle is nice, but often too much carbon. I prefer an alcohol flame or a lighter myself. I don't do it much anymore, but it gives you a great excuse to keep and recycle your old baits.

It looks like you are making your own silicone molds? If that is true, I know what is happening. Any surface imperfection in the original is transferred to the mold, and the mold will then transfer it to the final bait. Even if it was a factory silicone mold, if the original is not perfect, the bait will not be perfect. When I make on original, I "polish" the original before I make the mold. How I "polish" the original depends on what I made it from, but the surface must be slick, clean, "polished". Note, polished does not mean with wax because it can cause some silicone to not properly set cure. The reason the top is slick, shiny, is because air does not have imperfections to transfer. I hope this helps some. Silicone can make slick shiny molds as well as aluminum, but because aluminum is machined it is polished to start with. Silicone requires a perfect original to start with.