Ice baths? Yay or nay

[Arto729]

I’m pretty new to soft bait injection molding. I’ve started with senkos and have them down pretty good, but I’ve seen from a lot of guys I watch on YouTube and what not put their soft baits in an ice bath directly from the mold. Anyone have an opinion on this? And if so how long do you leave them in the ice water before hanging or laying them out to cure? 

[Driftwood]

I just let them hang for 24 hours. 

[Jazzatomo]

The ice water helps them to set up quickly, and helps prevent any malforming if you dont lay it out perfectly on the bench.

I do it depending on the number of baits I am running. I always seem to run out of space in the containers I use

[McLuvin175]

It doesnt need to be an ice bath necessarily; just cool water. This helps the bait relax into their normal molded position helping to reduce deformation. They will still need to be laid out or hung after the water bath. I imagine most do this when they are trying to maximize production, ie speed things up.

[DaBehr]

I lay mine on a cookie sheet.

When I'm done shooting, I take the sheet over to the refrigerator in the garage and put it in, and take a beer out!

[Arto729]

Thanks for the help guys! I’ll definitely  remember to take a beer out when I put the baits in! Haha

[Jig Man]

I put mine in a baking pan of cold water.  When they are cool, I put them on a clean bath towel to dry.

[basskat]

I've done it both ways. Not sure there's any advantage to a water bath with injection molds. Just let them hang for 48 hours.

When hand pouring I do use a water bath. Speeds up production.

[wallyc14]

Just me but I don’t want  water or ice anywhere near my hot liquid plastic . I’m a fumble fingers something will happen. I hang mine up through  a Rubbermaid wire shelf I’ve got on the wall. 
literally hang over 1000 baits. 

[mark poulson]

On 8/5/2020 at 6:05 AM, DaBehr said:

I lay mine on a cookie sheet.

When I'm done shooting, I take the sheet over to the refrigerator in the garage and put it in, and take a beer out!

12 oz or 16 oz?  Does it matter?  Hahaha

[Judgie]

I put mine in a water bucket with cold water,

if anything it teaches them to swim.

[SlowFISH]

I dump mine in a bucket of water.... BUT......I think bait shape can dictate which is best... "simple things" like senkos/worms/beaver/craws/etc... probably no real advantage to water vs. hanging.... BUT -  I make a few baits that if I hang - the long side appendages take a set in the wrong position due to gravity pulling them down..... I found if I just dump them in the water -  they float around and find their "molded shape" and set in the correct/molded position - I can then take them out of the water in 5-10 minutes and lay them down or hang to dry/cure after that.

 J.

[Arto729]

Good to know, I’ve wondered about hanging different shaped baits and how it would affect the finished product. I’ll definitely keep this in mind as I dive deeper down this soft bait rabbit hole