DaveMc1

Phthalates have very little to do with it. The issue will be the plasticizers and stabilizers smoking off when the plastic is hot. Those fumes are not what you want to inhale at all. If you pay attention to the exhaust system (unless you're outside you should 10000% have an adequate exhaust system in place) the fumes leave an oily residue. That residue is being left in your lungs when you breathe this stuff in......Regardless if the plastic is "Phthalate Free" (that's a topic for another day) or not.

Personal use doesn't absolve you from being sued for patent infringement.

Nope. Won't work. Automotive paint (specifically the clears) are designed to harden and create a protective layer over your base coat. Whereas the paints supplied by Lure Works (SB Coat, Co-Lure Coat and VPI) are formulated specifically to bond to PVC and remain flexible.

https://www.ispikeit.com/product/757/plum-dye-179 https://www.ispikeit.com/product/410/emerald-green-4203-hex-cut-0015 There you go.

Here is a picture of their Camo in a different bait. Definitely a laminate. Like I had said, putting your hands on them will give you a much better idea of the colour and will make matching it far easier.

Your biggest problem (and the problem most are going to have working with that old cookbook) is the recipes are so old the pigments used in them are no longer available or have changed. That Berkley Camo colour was cooked up by Del @ DelMart 21 years ago using the pigments that haven't been available for a long time. Would probably be best to grab a pack and see if you can match a sample you have in hand using pigments that are readily available.

Then take your marbles and go play somewhere else if all you're going to do is complain about them. I'm not 100% up to date with this stuff. Fat Guys would be a solid place to get it though. I believe Jeff stopped because of that and they jacked his pricing up on him. I do know that anything Calhoun is the previous formula they've had for years. when they tweaked it everyone complained, including the production customers.

They're buying it directly from Calhoun so I would assume it is theirs. The "OG Blend" part is is referring to a tweak they (Calhoun) made to the compound that resulted in an undesirable outcome, so they reverted back to the original formula.

Just add softener (plasticizer), Then you can carry one plastic formula and make it suit multiple applications. Realistically that is all you're going to get from a manufacturer, a formula that has more plasticizer in it than a firmer compound.

It is too thick. Even at 360* it doesn't seem thin enough to be cooked 100%, It will work in a microwave but it's very tricky to get the heating down properly and doesn't pour well. The tiny nozzles in the SS injector makes this not work that great in the SS either. It is meant for production equipment.

Some of our baits (Angler's Choice) are available on Tackle Warehouse. Our tubes are produced on the big machine. Sorry, not going to post pictures. It looks and operates VERY similar to the machines in the video CNC Molds posted (Southern Plastics)

Robo's machine is entirely different, they use MANY single cavity molds on a carousel that rotates to the 3 nozzles and the 4th salt dispenser, their baits are definitely made in house out in CA. Caught just enough in a video clip a few years ago. Southern's is a CNC deal Zorn built them and they copied (5 times). Funny tidbit of info, that entire MASSIVE operation was moved to Costa Rica in the last couple years. They lost something like 80% of their customers, including Zoom and BPS (their 2 largest clients).

I rebuilt a stripped down old machine myself, with a lot of help. If you're in the market for one you're either going to look at BaitJunkys (1000% what I would buy if I was in the market for a new machine, It is just built better with a lot better control) or Zorn. costs I've seen are anywhere between $55k - $80k depending on who you get it from and the options you go with.

A friend of mine was buying quite a bit of plastic from Polysol (The manufacturing side of BP) and had the issue of it dulling bad and they didn't seem to want to fix it it seemed, this was several years ago. I am having them make me a specific mix for running through the machines (doesn't work that well in a microwave and won't work in the SS setups) and don't seem to have this dulling issue (for the last 2 years).

Something UltraMolds stopped making YEARS ago. It sucked!!! No. That was being worked on around the same time I believe. I tried to buy the "Big Blue" (It's a vertical pie machine at the end of the day) many many years ago (8-10 years) and couldn't wrap my head around having to pull the molds out and move to another bench every cycle. Chris acted like I had 3 heads when I wanted to bolt the molds in. Fortunately I didn't buy one way back then, I have talked to quite a few that own them and they all had the same kind of issues getting it running the way it should. I am running a full size vertical injection machine now and am VERY happy I held out.