Hot Plate and Beaker?

[Alakai]

Hello all,

 

Curious what some options are when heating up plastic. I am looking at primarily dipping tube baits and just purchased the tube dipping "tool" from LC. It seems obvious that when dipping it is important to maintain a height that will allow you to dip to the depth you want and still not use too much plastic during your session. I am doing this only for myself so we are talking 20 or so at a time.

I was going to purchase a hot plate and was wondering about what I should heat my plastic in. Perhaps a Pyrex beaker? Camping cup? I believe I am looking for something with a minimal diameter that will fit my tubes but still not require like excessive left over of material that can't be used for deep tubes.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated,

[RedRum]

That’s a tough thing your after. You’re going to have to get creative but simplest thing you could do is get a Pyrex measuring cup deep enough to dip and heat the plastic in the microwave. If you use a hot plate go slow. Keeping the plastic at good temp for dipping is the most difficult part. If you only wanna dip 20 tubes at a time, you should be ok with Pyrex and microwave. Buy a mold to use up the excess Plastisol. There are tube molds

[Flippinstick Mike]

I bought some beakers for exactly that purpose. They are heat resistant similar to Pyrex but thinner and taller. It still takes a fair amount of plastic as each dip layers 4 rods. 2nd dip is 8x the plastic, etc.. Microwave worked well and when I was dipping two color baits I also used a griddle to maintain heat after I microwaved. Needs to be stirred to keep temps but works ok.

The injection molds work great  and use less plastic. Much less "waste". I've purchased molds form a few different manufacturers and they all shoot well so just investigate body diameter / thickness needs.

 

[Les Young]

A lot of times i inject my angling ai tube mold for 2 color tubes if i want the tail a different color then the body & then hand dip the body. Works pretty well if you're making a bunch because the angling ai mold i have shoots 5 at a time.  I'll make green pumpkin with  rootbeer pepper green tails a lot & it works very good for me. You can also hand dip & keep more plastic in the microwave  ready to go to add to the cup you're dipping out of to keep it topped of deep enough for dipping if you don't have or want to buy  a  mold. Frank i think it is keep his plastic warm on a griddle so you could also do that to keep enough backup plastic ready to be able to top off the dipping cup.