Thembonez

Appreciate the offer, I got a little hardener left over I’m gonna try first to test the results. I was really shocked that the Calhouns hard formula I got a few years ago wasn’t what I was expecting, atleast not for swim baits. I don’t even know if Calhouns is sold anymore. What’s the go to plastisol people use now? Bait Plastics?? Ive been out of the game for a couple years.

I guess I’m worried about mixing different companies products. If it can be done than getting just a hardener would be the way to go

I have several gallons of Calhouns hard plastisol that isn’t as hard as I’d like. Is it possible to mix with other companies plastisol to achieve this? Such as Bait plastics saltwater formula?

Anyone that has used it, what’s your thoughts on flex coat for finishing your lures.

I’ve been playing with vinyl stretch chrome, same used on cars. It can produce some fantastic results, but it can also be finicky getting it to lay down and stick.

What temp are you pouring at? I will try lightening up on the clamp near the hinge. 335-345°

This is the exact mold I was having the problems with. Same issues too, denting and incomplete tails. I took to the custombaits forum and was told this. ”Try moving the clamp closest to the hinge more toward the center of the bait/mold so its not directly over the tail portion and don't bear down as hard on the clamp. Try using a small soft paintbrush dipped in worm oil to coat the tail cavities on both sides of the mold. If you have a small, fine flat file, try opening the vent runner up just a hair using the very edge of the file....you may have a slight tail after opening up the vent but that will come off with a tug. ended up all I need was to lighten up on the clamp, and now I get about 90% of my pours with complete tails. Same with denting. About 90%, but that comes with monitoring my temps better. Just cant bear down on the injector or else it blows out in the mold. Just normal light pressure and hold for 5-10 sec. if all this still fails I was also told to contact Kyle himself at do-it explain the problem. I’ve heard they go a long ways to make things right with their products. But to do that before any mold modifications.

I let my rippers “cure” for several days before placing them into 4x7” zip seal bags. Been shooting most with do it essential plastic and have had minimal bent tails.

Had same problem, Lighten up on the clamp you’ve got located by the tail section. This helped with my incomplete tails.

Ok, I test ran my pid today with my presto. Started good till about the 3 min mark. Then my power cable coming into the pid controll box started smoking! I quickly killed the power and unplugged. I felt the box to see if anything seemed warm and there was no problem there. Opened it up checked out wiring and nothing else was scorched or melted. I’ll mention that I’ve tested this unit with a light plugged into it several times without incident. Any ideas as to what was going on why I melted my power cable??

So Your simply replacing the ssr with this contactor if I’m understanding correctly. After that would all other components stay the same? The source I’m trying to base mine off of is here if I swapped out the ssr for a contactor would this setup work? Reason I like this guys setup is eliminates an extra plug in to power the controller itself. This is all new to me, so if I’m overthinking this that’s why I’m here, for the help.

I have to apologize I’m not sure on what a contactor is in this application. If you don’t mind be asking what your setup consist of for your pid. And possibly links to any components. Like I’ve mentioned before you can look this topic up and go a multitude of different directions trying to achieve the same end result.

The more and more I dig into this topic, the more and more variables their seems to be. I do plan on using a ssr, but that will be addressed down the road. Bryanmc, do you happen to have any images of your setup. Trying to draw a visual, but their is room for interpretation. More specifically the wiring to the pot.

One question I have is, how do you run the power through the control then to the pot? You got your power into the control, then do you just plug the normal presto control into the output of the pid? If that’s the case what do you set the presto t-stat at? Max setting?

I’ve done a search, but it’s like a needle in a hey stack. Has anyone done a turtorial on how to use a pid for temp control on a presto?? A link or summary is greatly appreciated.