Tube Making

[Comanche Bill]

I want to get into making Tubes and am not quite sure where to start. I see that there are injection molds and dipping rods. What is the best way to go? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Bill

[Jig Man]

Bojon is the dipping guru around here. I did that for a while and got lazy. I now inject. It is pretty pricey to get started because you really need 4 molds, 2 injectors, 2 sets of nozzles and a blending block if you go with a company like Bear's.

[gone2long]

X2 the injection molds are awesome and no cutting tails required. Nothing wrong with dipping though the trick with vertical dipping rods is that you need enough plastic (approximately 4 5 inches deep so you would need a deep narrow container for your plastic, now horizontal dipping only an inch or two and you can easily do two or more colors, i'm not sure if its still around but someone posted video on here on how to horizontal dip do a search hopefully its still around.

[DaBehr]

Are you already into injection molding? If so... the injection molds from Caney Creek or Bear's make great tube baits. I just have one tube mold from Caney Creek and I can make more than enough for myself. If you want a two color tube...mold the bait and tail in the lighter color...and dip the head one or two times into the darker color and they come out great.

I used to make them the old fashioned way (dipping) ...but I hated the cutting part.

[Comanche Bill]

Thank you all for the input. I think I am going to try dipping first to get my feet wet then maybe move on to the injection stuff, especially if you dont have to cut the tails, but I hear the injection process is pretty expensive to start out at.

I bought a few of the dipping rods from Lurecraft to get started. What would I need to use the injection process? What would the damage be $$$$$$ to get started there? The injection molds I saw were pretty expensive, but I assume they last for quite some time.

Any suggestions on the dipping process?

Thanks, Bill

[rixon529]

Bill -

PM sent.

Rick

[basshunter5]

Just my opinion but I've had the injection tubes from bears, dipping rods and the hand pur molds from del and in my opinion you can't get a bttr tube than the dels mold. Yes you have 2 cut the tails but you get a thicker body, there's no issues with salt (tails not filling) and you t have 2 dipp multiple times (rods) which can lead 2 lopsided inconsistant baits (in my case anyway). Even better I use bears injector on the dels handpour and it works great. Like I said just my opinion but I like heavy flippin tubes and dels is the best out there

[Comanche Bill]

Ok, so I get my dipping rods today, heat up my plastic and start dipping. The tubes all came out very flimsy and sticky. I dipped and let dry then dipped again, but it seemed the the body never got full. Then getting them off the rod was a chore in itself.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Should I have gone the injetion route? Im pretty sure its operator error.

[MonteSS]

Injecting mols anyone can do. Dipping tubes us an art.

I am not an artist so I inject.

Try slightly cooler plastic. Get a thermometer if you dont have one.

....Bill

[gone2long]

Yes run your plastic cooler as there is no need to fill any tight appendages and the like and you can use garlic cooking spray as a release agent on the rods. If your getting consistently sticky plastic you may need to shake the life out of your plastic to get the hardener off he bottom of the container most plastisols will settle and need to be agitated.

[SHK]

to get the thickness you need to be running a hard plastic, or else they are going to be flimsy regardless of plastic temp. dip the entire length twice, and then a half dip for the head.

[Jig Man]

When I dipped I used cooking oil to coat the rod so the baits would come loose easily.