levi.n1 Posted July 20, 2016 Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 I have recently been having problems with some of my molds producing a consistent laminate ie. craws. worms, brush hogs- But my top port injection swim baits ( basstackle 4&5" splittbellys and 631) are prodcuing as good as they ever had, Naturally my temperatures are consistent with this system, usually run around the 300 mark but have tried everything from 260-360 to try and find a solution but to no avail. I have tried to raise and lower the temperatue of one pot compared to the other-no change. I did not experince the aforementioned inconsistencies when I was using a blending block nor do I currently experience them with top injection molds. Any assistance in this matter would be greatly appreciated, I sell in multiple retail settings and I cannot market the current product that we are making. Thank you and have a great day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majic man Posted July 20, 2016 Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 Those shooting star controllers are not accurate, I suggest verifying your temps with a candy thermometer if you have not done so, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ute Posted July 20, 2016 Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 The mini Shooting Star from Ultra Molds have very accurate heat control units. Which injector are you using? I ask because I have experienced problems with the 3 to 1 injector but get great results from the 1 to 1 and the 2 to 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveMc1 Posted July 20, 2016 Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 The mini Shooting Star from Ultra Molds have very accurate heat control units. Which injector are you using? I ask because I have experienced problems with the 3 to 1 injector but get great results from the 1 to 1 and the 2 to 1. The thermocouples on the SS units measure the heat of the base plate, not the plastic itself. Get a good accurate reading of the plastic itself. I have a couple of the full-size units and I have each pot set at different temps in order to get even heat between them both for consistent laminates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
levi.n1 Posted July 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 I am at odds end. have tried absolutely everything. Every multi cavity mold I pour at every temp I pour with absolutely no change. I have shot Summer Craw, Okeechobee Craw and Alabama Craw yielding the same results. BTS 702 craw- 2 bottom cavities solid Greenpumpkin with the top 2 being a near solid of what should be the belly color. If I shoot a mold where the cavities are in line ie. a bears trick worm- cavitiy farthest from sprue will be a GP, first one solid Blue and a inconsistent laminate in the middle. Top port injection molds shoot great laminates, Multi cavity is where the issues are experienced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleardrift Posted July 20, 2016 Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 Give Rupert a call they will help you out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveMc1 Posted July 20, 2016 Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 I am at odds end. have tried absolutely everything. Every multi cavity mold I pour at every temp I pour with absolutely no change. I have shot Summer Craw, Okeechobee Craw and Alabama Craw yielding the same results. BTS 702 craw- 2 bottom cavities solid Greenpumpkin with the top 2 being a near solid of what should be the belly color. If I shoot a mold where the cavities are in line ie. a bears trick worm- cavitiy farthest from sprue will be a GP, first one solid Blue and a inconsistent laminate in the middle. Top port injection molds shoot great laminates, Multi cavity is where the issues are experienced. Everything you describe is temperature related. What is the actual plastic temps? NOT what the units temp controllers are telling you. I have found these injectors with the tiny nozzles do tend to shoot better with your plastic on the warmer side, i.e. 330 or so. Naturally there will be a little variation in the baits but every time I have experienced what you are describing it was always solved by adjusting the temps. It is absolutely important to understand and know what the ACTUAL plastic temps are. I am always shooting with the controllers between 145-165 Celcius (I have the old temp controllers) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majic man Posted July 20, 2016 Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 Just for the record, most pids have a error correction setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painter1 Posted July 27, 2016 Report Share Posted July 27, 2016 I found that viscosity can be an overlooked issue. May want to check that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveMc1 Posted July 27, 2016 Report Share Posted July 27, 2016 I found that viscosity can be an overlooked issue. May want to check that. this boils down to temperatures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallmouthaholic Posted July 27, 2016 Report Share Posted July 27, 2016 (edited) Laminates can be tricky.I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I have shot 1,000's of laminates using the shooting star system. I have used the 1:1 and the 2:21 to 1 dual injectors from Ultra-molds. The following tips may help I heat up my system 1st(no plastisol in the pots) rotate the blending block to the open position,then use compressed air to blow out the prior two colors from the system lines. Use a container in front of the open blending block to stop the hot plastisol from blasting you in the chest. through a copper tube to remove all old plastisol 1- Plastic types,viscosity should be the same 2-Plastisol temperatures must be within 5-10 degrees of each other- preferably the same 3- Check your pot plastisol temps. frequently as the volume in the pots decrease-internal temps, may rise 4- Dual injector must have good "O" rings,be taken apart,cleaned and operating smoothly before using.Lube w/ Pam 5- Make sure your input lines from the pots have melted and are drawing from the pots equally. 6- I do test strips on white card stock w/ the injectors following 1-5 to make sure the colors are accurate and there is no air in the entire system.I purge all unused plastisol back into the pots after injecting,using firm pressure against the horizontal injection ports,then rotating the injector to the right to turn off your blending block. Clean the ports on the system(q-tips work well) and injector bottom soft rag) before purging so you do not contaminated the colors. 7- As your pot volume of plastisol lowers,I find in necessary to turn off both of the pot stirrers to avoid drawing air- especially when using graduated injections.Turn your stirrers back on after drawing the hot plastiol I am still using a modified old system and this may not be necessary in the newer shooting star system. Both pots are titled to the draw opening. 8- Make sure you accurately measure the correct amount of plastiol per your graduated injector use for each pot. MOST IMPORTANT- All of my custom molds are from Cris Archer and are top port injection. Some are multiple(10-12) vertical ports across the top( per mold) and others are single port,10-12 multiple cavities in an internal T configuration.I also have many single cavity molds which have a top-port ,90 degree injection path into the mold. Your injector must be turned properly(usually perpendicular to the cavities) to 2 color inject. Some single cavity molds require parallel injecting. There are multi-cavity molds that will not two color inject due to the design layout. Some molds require even,slow injector pressure while others require faster injector pressure. Hand injection produces excellent results if one learns all of the variables. Consult your mold manufacturer when experiencing problems Edited July 27, 2016 by smallmouthaholic 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
