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Kwalter32

New to this so a couple questions

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1 hour ago, Kwalter32 said:

So I have my quart of liquid plastic, molds, injector and coloring along with the heating supplies. Can I just heat up the plastic and add color or is there something else to add to make it solid?

As you heat it up it will become clear and get pretty thick then it will thin out again.  I like to cook it a minute at a time and take it out and stir it.  When it gets pretty thin I add color and glitter and stir it up well before I shoot or pour.

You really should read the sticky "Don'ts for newbies".

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You need to get you a temp gauge first. Then heat slowly and check the temp often. When it get above 330 it will be about ready to use and add color and glitter. Until you really know what the plastic is like when at the right temp you need to check often. Not knowing what the temp is you will go through the quart you have fast and not know what happened to it.  

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Temp probe. Laser is nice but you're going to want a probe for laminates, so get it instead of the laser.

Like Frank said, you need to know what your temps are. How long do you keep heating it if you don't know how hot it is? How do you shoot good looking laminates if you don't have the temps close to each other? You don't. You will overheat and scorch your plastic w/o one.

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On 4/19/2019 at 7:41 PM, Elf said:

Temp probe. Laser is nice but you're going to want a probe for laminates, so get it instead of the laser.

Like Frank said, you need to know what your temps are. How long do you keep heating it if you don't know how hot it is? How do you shoot good looking laminates if you don't have the temps close to each other? You don't. You will overheat and scorch your plastic w/o one.

Could you please explain why you say you need a probe and not a laser. The key to a laminate is temps within 10deg of each other. Wonder why a probe would be better or required. Have them but never saw a need to use. 

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Above is all good info and let me add my 2ct worth with some colors such as chartreuse or  florescence you need to cook the plastic with the colorant added to cold plastic or some color tend to chaulk and not be as vivid as it should be. Me personally I use a  thermometer for gauging the temp it  guarantees my  consistency .With that said you can judge it by looks with time under your belt but , it is best practice to use a thermometer . You can get close by judging but you don’t want to find out the hard way you were 10 degrees under target temp and your baits start doing weird things and you waste your hard earned money and time on baits that end up in the trash . Also welcome to the fold ! There’s a lot of good info here and it will save you a lot of foible in the long run.

tight lines!

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On 4/21/2019 at 10:00 AM, Frank said:

Could you please explain why you say you need a probe and not a laser. The key to a laminate is temps within 10deg of each other. Wonder why a probe would be better or required. Have them but never saw a need to use. 

IMHO... Purely speaking as a hobbist who's used both.....  if you heat in microwave - the center of the cup (about 1" off the bottom) seems to get ALOT hotter than the top surface of the plastic.  With a probe/digital type thermometer you can measure that area.... granted once you stir the plastic as you should be doing - either (probe/laser) should read about the same - but I noticed I didn't overcook small batches in the micro once I moved to a probe style digital thermometer as I measure that hot spot the second I remove from the microwave to insure I wasn't getting it TOO HOT in the center as I was heating it.  By measuring the hot spot - you can better control how long you should nuke between stirs... which can really help insure your colors don't brown or you burn the plastic!

Again - if you stir then check temp - shoudn't be much of a difference... but I found that center spot getting alot hotter so using the probe was helpful at first to know when I'm getting close to overcooking.

 J.

 

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Well explained. But as you said if you mix(stir) while checking temp not much difference. Long time ago I used a probe to stir with and checked it with an infrared and it was the pretty much the same. But my point on the laminate temps, it doesn’t matter what you use as long as it is within 10 deg. 

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16 hours ago, bryanmc said:

I don't care what the temp is in the middle of the cup, I care about what the temp is once it's stirred.  If you see 350 in the middle pre stir with your probe,, are you going to call it ready? 

Bryan - Your 100% correct 350 in the middle only isn't cooked enough.... BUT - your clearly missing my point..... if you're heating in a micro you CAN'T stir while it's heating... so you can easily see 20-30 degrees hotter in the center than the top/side when you first remove it... so by understanding how hot the center is when you first remove the cup you can judge how long you can keep it in the micro without scorching the center.  Meaning once I start to see 340-350 on the center - I cook it less and less (time wise) after removing and stirring...  IF you use IR or stir first and measure you can easily over cook that center point by alot - even though you might only be 320 (after stirring).   WIth dark colors you probably don't notice... with clear/light stuff you'll see it brown in the center (when over cooked) then tint the whole cup (brownish) instantly once stirred - and you might still not be at 350 yet (whole cup temp).

Again - not saying IR doesn't work.... I use IR on my presto pots with stirrers if I 'm cooking a big batch - but with micros and smaller batches (1 cup) I found the digital thermos worked better for me....

J.

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Maybe I am missing something here, I never stir while it is cooking. Maybe I know my microwaves better than most  but with 4 cups I put my plastic in and set it for 7 minutes. Pull it out stir and shoot. I have two microwaves same brand and model but one cooks faster so I reduce the time about 15seconds. After awhile you should know what your microwaves doing and not have to stir to make sure. That being said my original question was the statement that if you are doing laminates you need a probe but that’s not true you need whatever devise you measure temp with to be within 10 deg of each other. Doesn’t matter which one you use as long as it is that close to each other. I don’t say one is better than the other because it’s not. But an infrared one is much faster and you never have to clean it.  

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7 hours ago, SlowFISH said:

Bryan - Your 100% correct 350 in the middle only isn't cooked enough.... BUT - your clearly missing my point..... if you're heating in a micro you CAN'T stir while it's heating... so you can easily see 20-30 degrees hotter in the center than the top/side when you first remove it... so by understanding how hot the center is when you first remove the cup you can judge how long you can keep it in the micro without scorching the center. 

Maybe it's semantics. I'm not sure. Maybe I  have a lack of comprehension.   If I take a cup out of the micro and it's 350 in the middle and 320 after I stir it, I heat it the next shot like it's 320 degree plastic, not like  plastic that "was" 350 at one point.   

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23 hours ago, Frank said:

Maybe I am missing something here, I never stir while it is cooking. Maybe I know my microwaves better than most  but with 4 cups I put my plastic in and set it for 7 minutes. Pull it out stir and shoot. I have two microwaves same brand and model but one cooks faster so I reduce the time about 15seconds. After awhile you should know what your microwaves doing and not have to stir to make sure. That being said my original question was the statement that if you are doing laminates you need a probe but that’s not true you need whatever devise you measure temp with to be within 10 deg of each other. Doesn’t matter which one you use as long as it is that close to each other. I don’t say one is better than the other because it’s not. But an infrared one is much faster and you never have to clean it.  

Exactly!!! Way I have always seen it, Why waste the time taking it out and stirring when you need to shoot several gallons a day. Only time I ever stir is when I add flake and salt before dumping in the pots. Same as you I have 2 identical nukers and I know one of them I have to set 15 seconds less than the other. 

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One minute at a time, Stir and check temp Once you get to 300 degrees, the n add one minute, but, check the temp every 20 seconds or less. Make sure you stir before checking any temps. The lower the temp that you shoot, the better the bait. This is for us doing 8 ounces at a time.

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51 minutes ago, opaleski said:

One minute at a time, Stir and check temp Once you get to 300 degrees, the n add one minute, but, check the temp every 20 seconds or less. Make sure you stir before checking any temps. The lower the temp that you shoot, the better the bait. This is for us doing 8 ounces at a time.

So does the time differ with a different 8oz cup. Doing this even once in awhile should give you a time that is accurate enough to not have to fuss with it. Not like I never heat small amounts. But a good starting point if I was going to heat 2 cups would be half the time of a 4 cup. Then adjust from there slightly. 

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