CoastieFlo Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Im thinking of pouring my own big grubs for Ling Cod and Halibut. They are about $2 a pop which gets spendy. What im looking at would be similar to a Kalins Big N Grub.....about 10" total length, ribbed body about 4-5" long and about 1" diameter at top. Can someone tell me ballpark what it would cost in materials to get started making these? I know others that would buy them so I could probably sell at least 100 to start with. Im thinking of just using a resin mold or POP since it looks like no one makes a mold that big and it would also keep my costs down. The plastic would have to be OK for saltwater and only colors we use are White and Glow. thanks for any help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurizio Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 - Plastic (Brand of your choice, probably"hard" or "saltwater") 1 or 5 gallons - Glow powder - White color - some POP or resin for the mold - some Elmers glue or epoxy - a "master" of the bait of your choice - something to heat the plastic (old microwave or electric plate or...) - something to heat the plastic in and to pour with - maybe some additional pouring equipment like hardener, salt, scent... - and you need time and patience... now you do the math Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNC Molds N Stuff Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 (edited) I've seen some big Kalin's grubs, but I never looked close at them before. $2 sounds pretty reasonable for a piece of plastic as big as I am thinking of. You know Kalin started out like a lot of us, just pouring in his barn over in the Imperial Valley. I think Uncle Josh owns his setups now that Kalin is out of the business. Edited June 24, 2012 by Bob La Londe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadfrog Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 I'm going to say startup plastic (hand made mold) scent ect. About 200 bucks before you get a useable bait. Check the folks at lurecraft for a big grub mold . Call and see if they eill make you one . Better to just save $ and cut to the chase in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonteSS Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 I would think you need a two piece mold. I know with smaller (4") grubs, i had a hard time getting the taik to fill with a hand pour. You might need to inject it? ...Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBK Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 (edited) It is going to be a long time before you will see a big savings with a bait like that. You will likely be able to produce them for about $1.50 each. For the mold, you need to decide what you want to do. You can make a one piece mold but it will be flat on one side and you will likely not be able to sell them. Or you can make a 2pc pour mold and probably be able to sell them, but they wont look nearly as good as the kalins. It is very tricky to get a grub mold to come out well without going injection. You will need 5 gal of plastic to make them that cheap, $150 You will need a microwave, can find one at a garage sale or buy new for about $30 You will need pyrex measuring cups to make the plastic in, $2-10 each You will need the supplies, dyes, glow powder, worm oil, salt if you want it, bags. $50-100. You need mold material, if you are going to sell them you will probably need to make it out of resin or RTV and do injection molding. You will probably need at least 1 can per cavity if you are doing 1 pc. So $60 ish. Injector if you want to make them look professional, you will need a large- $60-70 So you are looking at about $350 on the very cheap end, probably a lot more. Edited June 24, 2012 by BBK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastieFlo Posted June 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Well sounds like the plastic is the big factor, everything else I can either make cheap or use something I have. Well except the color and glow stuff.......but im figureing it would take 6oz of plastic to make one, well for a gallon that would only be about 20 of them and for five gallons it would make 100.....so just the plastic cost is going to be $1.50 each. And they are $2 each retail...... Hmmm the guy that makes em for the tackle shop must buy the plastic by the truckload lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 If you're going to sell them, you shouldn't use an existing commercial bait for a master. That would be patent or copyright infringement. Make your own master out of sculpey clay, or carve it from wood. The only reason we hobby pourers get away with it is because we don't sell, or advertise, or make enough to pose any kind of economic threat to the bait companies. Otherwise, they'd come after us, and I wouldn't blame them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonteSS Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Production will also be very slow waiting for that much plastic to cool. ...Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 Well sounds like the plastic is the big factor, everything else I can either make cheap or use something I have. Well except the color and glow stuff.......but im figureing it would take 6oz of plastic to make one, well for a gallon that would only be about 20 of them and for five gallons it would make 100.....so just the plastic cost is going to be $1.50 each. And they are $2 each retail...... Hmmm the guy that makes em for the tackle shop must buy the plastic by the truckload lol. Some of those prices seem high. If you get Spikeit plastic it will be aroound 120 to your door for five gallons, if you want 2.5 galloms they dont jack up the price. You should weigh one of those baits I know it is 10" long but 6oz of plastic sound like to much. One problem with a bait that big is making a two piece mold. The standard thickness for a mold is 1" counting both pieces. The mold will need to be much thicker than the standard. Cooling will take awhile so you will need to wait or buy more molds alot of them. Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNC Molds N Stuff Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 Frank, I have made a couple molds using 1" plate for 2" thick, and they work ok, but they do take a loooong time to cool and you almost have to have a slow continuous trickle of hot plastic going into the mold to prevent dimples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass-Boys Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 can the molds ( 2 pc. aluminum ) be made w/ fins on the out side to displace the heat better ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNC Molds N Stuff Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 can the molds ( 2 pc. aluminum ) be made w/ fins on the out side to displace the heat better ?? I have thought of that before, but obviously you would have to start with even thicker aluminum to cut cooling fins or you would need to use something like Arctic Silver thermal epoxy to glue heatsinks to them. It is my understanding that the big boys flush cold water through a cooling jacket to cool their big molds. Any of the above of course adds cost to the mold/s. Even if you are cutting your own it takes time. I have not done anything more with the thoughts as I "mostly" make baits for myself. The problem IMO with heat sink fins is clamping. You could leave gaps in the fins for clamping screws, but when I really get moving making baits I do not use clamping screws. I use bar clamps. They are a lot faster to put on and take off than clamping screws in the molds. I think the big bait makers use a hydraulic press to hold their big molds together when injecting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBK Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 6oz per bait sounds about right, I was thinking 4-6oz each. A 10" grub is FREAKING HUGE. Heck I only used to get 5 per cup with the old 5" grub I had, I expect a 10" to be way more plastic. Expect to pour one bait every 20-30 minutes if you only have one cavity. It will take at least that long for it to cool. a 5.6" creek chub shaped jerkbait I molded takes nearly 15 minutes to cool and it is not even close to the size of a 10" grub. You probably couldnt get them done for any less than 1.50 bare minimum. If you use glow powder, figure that into your cost. You will need about 1/4tsp per cup. Glow powder isnt cheap, 1oz is not much powder at all. Maybe 15 baits max, so that's another $0.25 each added on to your price. You wont make them cheaper than store bought, but you will have the satisfaction of catching a fish on your hand made lure. Plus you will never run out of your favorite color, and maybe you can create a custom color that those fish have never seen. You have to figure out how much all of that means to you, to see if it is worth doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rixon529 Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 (edited) Materials cost will vary greatly depending on who you buy from. Prices below are based on info from their websites today. (Not knowing your exact location, I just used Seattle, WA as destination location for UPS shipping estimate.) Here's a guesstimate of what you can expect: LureCraft item price 5gal Formula 500 Plastic 136.00 16oz White Coloring 14.75 4oz Phosphorescent (glow) 6.49 Shipping Indiana to Oregon 67.00 (estimate) Total 224.24 M-F 5gal Saltwater Plastic 133.00 16oz White Coloring 13.75 4oz Nite Glo Green 8.50 Shipping Texas to Oregon 60.00 (estimate) Total 215.25 Bear's Baits 5gal Calhoun Hard Plastic 130.00 16oz White Coloring 17.50 Glow - Not available Shipping LA to OR 64.07 (estimate) Total 211.57 Caney Creek 5gal Crystal Clear Hard 176.96 (free Shipping for plastisol) 5oz X2 White Color 8.99 Glow - Not available Shipping TX to OR 13.18 (estimate) Total 199.13 Spike It 5gal Pourasol Hard 95.00 16oz White Color 11.95 4oz Glow 7.50 Shipping GA to OR 65.75 (estimate) Total 170.20 If you make your own mold(s) from either plaster of paris, Durham's Water Putty, or Bondo, cost will be pennies on the dollar compared to a purchased mold. LureCraft does offer a couple BIG fish bait molds: http://www.lurecraft...baits/5x617:640 http://www.lurecraft...aits/5x855:1933 The above will be in addition to the items you will need for basic "cooking" of plastisol: microwave and pyrex hot plate and pan I absolutely agree with Frank, Bob, and Bill - cooling time for this amount of poured plastic is going to be very, very long. For this reason, unless you want to take several hours producing small numbers of baits, multiple molds would be necessary. Good luck. Rick Edited June 25, 2012 by rixon529 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass-Boys Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 529, great info.. also the LC molds will make a flat sided grub . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pirkfan Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 Im thinking of pouring my own big grubs for Ling Cod and Halibut. They are about $2 a pop which gets spendy. What im looking at would be similar to a Kalins Big N Grub.....about 10" total length, ribbed body about 4-5" long and about 1" diameter at top. Can someone tell me ballpark what it would cost in materials to get started making these? I know others that would buy them so I could probably sell at least 100 to start with. Im thinking of just using a resin mold or POP since it looks like no one makes a mold that big and it would also keep my costs down. The plastic would have to be OK for saltwater and only colors we use are White and Glow. thanks for any help Bears Baits makes a 6 inch K grub (I'm pretty sure the K stands for kalin look-alike) which is big enough to suit your purposes....Bear measures his grubs to the curve of the tail so it's really about 8 inches when straight, and the body is very near to an inch thick. However if you go that route you're going to need an injector as well so you're looking at an initial investment of around $135 before shipping just for the mold and injector. I have this mold and I've used this bait for both halibut and ling cod. They like it. A less expensive option would be the lurecraft twin tail grub mold http://www.lurecraft.com/catalog.cfm/molds/plastic-molds/twintail/5x482:974 I have a similar mold and it works well for both species. They're easy to pour, and the initial outlay is much less than a 2 part aluminum mold. Halibut and ling cod really don't care if one side is flat. The mold, 4 oz of glow in the dark powder and a gallon of their saltwater plastic will run you around $110 before shipping. As you probably know, the problem with grubs is their tails getting ripped off. Having the mold allows you to save the bodies and remelt them to make "new" baits. Since most of the plastic is in the body (and these things do take a lot of plastic), you can see some significant savings. You might actually consider purchasing medium plastic and a pint of hardener. This allows you to mold smaller baits like swimbaits and grubs for rockfish that are more flexible, and yet make plastics tough enough for the bigger baits. This hobby is addictive....you WILL want to make more kinds of baits. By the way, if you're anywhere near Corvallis shoot me a PM...maybe we can get together and I can show you these bait molds 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy1976 Posted June 30, 2012 Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 Got a solution for you 1.99 for ten not your exact color but red and green are excellent for lings and Hali's http://www.overstockbait.com/Kalins_Mogambo_p/6m10.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy1976 Posted June 30, 2012 Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 There's two sizes the five inch has three colors cant beat it for twenty cents each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
