Cormorant Lures

No... It is a side injection mold... Besides, they are already out the door and on their way to their new owner as we speak...

I have given up on the Caney Creek Croaker... Still wanna keep a frog in my arsenal, but that one for me was just to much of a headache... Going to try a different frog and hope for the best...

Which frog mold have you found to be the easiest to shoot?!? (no hollow feet, air bubbles in the eye sockets, etc.) I am looking for a new frog mold and I haven't decided on which one yet... Any info would be greatly appreciated!!!

If I just watched the same video, I think the "green colored" machine you are talking about is meant for consumer use... It looks like a machine they plan on putting in stores so consumers can make there own affordable plastics... Just my 2cents...

I am really trying to picture in my brain how this whole system is going to look and exactly how it's going to work... Are the pots going to actually be part of the system or do you just need them to melt the plastic?!? So if I already have two presto pots, I should only need the new "injector unit"?!? I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Oops... sorry! You do realize I was not the one who hijacked the thread in the first place... Seems like the original idea for this thread got switched up about 10 posts ago...

Ok just for the record, I believe this thread got dropped way to quickly... A new machine to help with the advancement of technology for this industry is HUGE!!!

Sounds like Bear is going to be "TIGHT LIPPED" on this one... To me, it also sounds like a dual color injection press... I would be VERY INTERESTED in buying one of these machines if it is what I think it is... I hope it can hold more plastic than the Jacob's press, eventhough I guess it wouldn't neccessarily matter... Three weeks is TO FAR AWAY ALREADY!!!

It was me, but what I did was adapt a blending block to work for hand-pouring duel colors by using two presto pots... This whole post is really starting to intrigue me... I have always been looking at the Jacob's press, but was never ready to buy one because it does NOT have the dual color capability... I have also always been intrigued by Bear's Bench Top Injection Machine, but I have been waiting to solidify my customer base before buying one because of the price... Hand injectors make nice looking baits, but the amount of scrap the injector's produce from the "plug" inside them as you inject is terrible!!! I am anxious for a product that the only scrap it produces is from the runners and the occasional bad bait...

I have attached a poster and registration form for a local BASS TOURNAMENT here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that I am proud to be a sponsor of... I am really hoping to get the 50+ boats needed for MAXIMUM payout!!! Please spread the word!!! Thanks!!!

Pretty sure I read on this forum that people use crayons for coloring plastic... Am I right?!? If so, pretty cheap alternative for you in South Africa!!!

Depends on how many molds you have now and/or plan on getting in the future... For me personally, I am very glad I got the 6oz. version... I think most people are happy with the 3oz. version but for me the 6oz. version gives me WAY more versatility... Just my 2cents...

So I finally think I've got this Pourasol down to a science and at least I know I've got the 3.5" Croaker molds figured out... First off the plastic: I heated up my plastic like normal in my presto pot... Before shooting my first set of molds, I shut off the stirring mechanism and let all the microbubbles rise to the top... Now thanks to one of the posts I read in either this forum or another forum, I lit my blow torch and watched all the microbubbles burst on the surface... Again, THANK YOU to whoever came up with this little trick, it is probably the coolest and easiest idea I have used to date!!! Watching all those microbubbles burst was like a release of BAD CARMA!!! I also thought of a new storage vessel tonight while at my grandparents house... I was sitting on the couch and picked up a local Menard's ad and there IT was on the back page... One of those rubbemaid water coolers like you use for camping and such... It's perfect for my purpose, it can hold 5 gallons of plastic, it has a really nice pouring spout, and the top comes on and off with ease and allows for me to easily use my paint mixer when necessary... So it seems that the Lureworks Pourasol is finally becoming user friendly for this novice bait maker... Now to the molds: I am also going to include a little updated information on my injector situation as well... It seems that lubrication is the key for a happy injector... My o-rings seem to be doing just fine as long as they stay lubricated with a little bit of worm oil... Now last night it seemed as though I thought I had my mold and injector situation under control... I guess I thought that WAY to soon... Things went south quickly and I thought it was going to be another rough night in the laboratory... But I took the advice that many have given me and I decided I needed to figure out what I was doing wrong... Inject to fast and the feet filled up correctly but I was having problems with air pockets around the eye sockets... Inject to slow and the air pockets around the eye sockets disappear but the feet did not fill up correctly... Soon after experimenting with both fast and slow injection rates, I began to incorporate BOTH and found that it worked PERFECTLY EVERYTIME!!! So it boils down to this: There is about a 1/2" or so of injecting that is involved with a 3.5" Croaker mold... I found that if I inject the first 3/8" really slow and the last 1/8" super fast, not only do the voids around the eye sockets disappear but so do the feet problems!!! I have now shot 2 1/2 presto pots full of frogs and have only had about 4 total bad ones out of the 150 or so that I injected... Pretty darn good success rate if I say so myself... I haven't done any recent injecting with my craw molds... I would like to get the claw dent situation figured out as well... Hopefully if I can use the same type of diagnosing techniques I used for the frog molds, I can get rid of those pesky dents... THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED!!!

So far today I have found that by keeping the o-rings and injector well lubricated it seems to be helping... No hollow or half-missing feet in my frogs today so that's a plus... Still having MAJOR microbubble issues... I am pouring out of my basement... I am pretty sure, if not almost 100% sure I am greatly attributing towards my microbubble issues... All the previous plastics I have purchased have either already been placed in a sealed container or have been transferred to one by me... With the Lureworks Plastisol however, I have read all the so-called HORROR stories about hard-packing... So I have been keeping it in a 5-gallon bucket mostly with the lid just sitting on the top and NOT SEALED... I can imagine I have been inducing moisture into the plastic by storing it this way... I would really like to transfer it to a container with a pouring spout, but I am kind of at odds with how I would stir it... I have a paint mixer that attaches to my power drill, but it will not fit in the opening... I have read on one of my previous posts about other homeade stirring units, just not sure what to use and how often you truly need to stir the stuff... I am beginning to shy away from the fact that I first believed my injectors were on the fritz... Lubricating them after 5 shots or so had helped out tremendously... They still might be a contributing factor and have not been completely ruled out... But I now know that microbubbles are an issue I need to address first... Once the microbubble issues are taken care of, if there are other problems that remain or manifest I will know that it is NOT microbubbles that are the cause... Oh yeah and Frank, I know you did not sell me a bad product... Odds are says I have just been making rookie mistakes since the beginning... I trust you a long with a lot of the other veterans on this site and others... Your a great guy and have loads of experience... I can only wish that someday I will be in the same caliber with you and the others... Now fight nice children... LOL!!!

Alright so here's the deal... I am using Lureworks Medium/Soft Pourasol... I use two of Bear's Presto Pots with stirring paddles... I am using two 6oz. injectors (Twinjector) from Bass Tackle... I do NOT use oil in my molds... All my other products: glitter, color, softener, stabilizer, etc. are from Lurecraft... The more and more I think about it, I believe (nope wrong word) I KNOW that I have MAJOR microbubble issues... I now do recall seeing them in my plastic while it's heated... How the heck do you get rid of them?!? I do NOT believe however that microbubbles are the main cause for my feet issues in my frogs... I DO believe that microbubbles however are the main issue for all the bursted bubbles I get on the rest of my baits... The "hollow" or "half-missing" feet in my frogs also happened when using Calhoun's plastic and possibly when using Caney Creeks plastic... When I first started injecting, I only had THREE single cavity frog molds... From the start, I injected one at a time and have always had issues with the d*mn feet on the frogs... One day I changed the o-ring, put a little plumbers tape underneath it and BAM, it was gone!!! All my hollow feet problems disappeared on my frogs... I think I poured almost 6 total batches of frogs without ONE BAD FOOT!!! I have had to change the o-ring since it got dinged up from the locking pin slot... Now I cannot get it to pour a good frog again to save my life... I tried BOTH injectors this morning and neither one could get the job done... Bursted bubbles all over the frog bodies and hollow and half-missing feet all over the place... I have never had problems with missing claws, legs, wings and/or tails on my brush hogs and craws... Just bursted microbubbles on the bodies of each and dents in the claws of my craws... The dents in my craw claws piss me off too!!! Nothing but a headache... Sometimes I wish I would have just bought (2) cavity craw molds instead of the (4) cavity molds... Maybe the dents in my craw claws are a venting issue?!? It sucks everytime I open up one of the craw molds, I know to expect that at least one of them are going to have a dented claw... To me, it's unacceptable... As far as the orders I am worried about, I am talking about all the bait and tackle shops I have been visiting lately and all the local tournament fishermen that are interested in my stuff... I have them all lined up and a good majority of them are going to be calling me around May 1st looking for product... I am trying to get ahead a little on inventory to lessen the initial blow from all of them calling around the same time... It's just that when my plastic, equipment and/or processes are beginning to fail me, I am getting worried!!! I want to be able to produce NICE LOOKING baits ALL THE TIME!!! I should have no problem achieving this goal, but for some reason my plastic microbubbles like an S.O.B. and I think my injectors are on the fritz!!! BTW, one of the injector nozzles seems way more "snug" than the other... I dunno... Thank you for all the replys!!! At least I know you guys won't leave me hangin'!!!