Fern

Thanks, This is definitely a neat idea. I while have to try this with the one I have. Thanks!

Thats awesome. how much glue did you have to use? does the heat affect the glue at all? What temp do you keep it at to keep the plastic hot? does the unit smoke at all?

Interesting, I wonder if you can cold pour color patterns and what not and then fill it in with hot plastisol.

Polysol is a company that produces plastisol, it is not a separate product.

There is a post just a couple above yours that will show you all the sites but just to name a few, angling AI for molds, bait plastics for plastisol and some other stuff, janns netcraft, dead on plastic....

Hey Cami, Sorry to tag you again in an old post however I am new to learning these chemicals and I am hoping to clear up some confusion I have. I see you have repeatedly provided this recipe which calls for 50% PVC glue (tangit) and 50% MEK and you have also mentioned that some people use THF instead of MEK and also suggested the use of Cyclohexanone for thinning. My question is that after I looked at the ingredients in Tangit, I found that Tangit is made up of THF, MEK and Cyclohexanone as its only ingredients so if it already has MEK in it, why are we adding more?. Also I noticed that lurecraft's Clear 3000 has these same 3 ingredients as well. Why not just use Tangit instead of purchasing the clear 3000? Sorry for all the questions but as I mentioned I am trying to learn. Can you explain also what exactly THF does to soft bait plastic and What MEK does to soft bait plastic and alone and why mixing them is important? I am assuming that the only role Cyclohexanone does is for thinning when using a spray gun, am I correct? Thanks for your time.

Cami, I have been messing around with making pigments and have been looking for safer alternatives for MEK. I found a company that claims they provide just that so I was curious if you have ever tried this safer alternative for MEK. They provide free samples. https://www.vertecbiosolvents.com/ktr1

This is the "Gazilla" by Maniac Lures. I believe they went out to business last year.

Maybe try dusting your mold with some mica powder. a mix of white and a bit of blue highlight should do it. Using a makeup sponge blot it on in random areas of the mold then inject the mold. Should give you the effect you are looking for.

I heat a cup at a time. I never burn the medium(262) or the saltwater(312), it only ever burns when i heat the super tough (362).

You are correct, I dont check the temp much, I just got use to working with 312 and getting it to temp correctly every time. The 362 stuff stays very viscous and thick and by the time its nice and liquid-y, I can already see yellowing. I guess I should re-invest in another thermometer (misplaced the last one and never replaced it). Question though, If it is past the 350 and its still thick, what causes this? shouldnt it be liquid if its at temp?

I have been using bait plastics 312 saltwater blend for a while now with no issues. Recently I switched over to their 362 and I find that the plastisol burns so much easier than the 312 ive used before. It either yellows badly or burns. I use the same 700 watt microwave and pour the plastisol in a 1 cup pyrex, hit 2 minutes, mix, heat 30 seconds, mix, heat 30 seconds, mix and repeat till the plastisol has become less viscous. When I use the 312, this works perfectly every time but with the 362, I keep getting yellowed plastic or burnt plastic. I mix the plastiol with a drill and mixer i got from baitplastics for about 2 minutes before heating.

Hey everyone. I have been making these larger trout tubes and have been having a hard time trying to find a good pink for the Rainbow trout's lateral line. While I have you guys here, what are your best trout color recipes? These trouts are 7" inches 3-4 ounces .

This was bait plastics saltwater blend mixed with some extra tough blend.

I was researching plastisol out of boredom trying to see if there is anything I can mix into plastisol to change the characteristics of the formula to make it stretchier. While doing this I found additives for plastisol inks (for silk screen printing) that say high gloss additive, extra stretch additive, flatter additives to reduce gloss. has anyone tried mixing this additives with bait plastisol? What were your findings? What about mixing plastisol ink with plastisol? has anyone mixed anything into plastisol that made for an interesting effect? I don’t know much about plastisol but I sure am curious about it and ways to make it better.

I sometimes make baits ahead of time for myself and leave them out till I want to use them and even those are cloudy before the lead head gets inserted. I will have to do a more controlled test to see what the culprit is.

I do not soak my baits to cure, I hang them. I also do not use any heat stabilizer, I use the bait plastics saltwater blend as is (properly stirred with a hand drill and drill stir attachment). I have noticed that even the clear baits that I make a few weeks ahead of time get cloudy even before I insert the lead head into the plastic.

The strip along the back (as seen on the bait with the green strip) is made of plastisol. markers and pens are not used in my process. Everything is plastisol, dead on plastic pigments and bait plastic flake.

So this has never really been an issue for me but it is now bothering me after seeing other baits that do not suffer from this. I have been making tube jigs for a little under a year now so still learning. I typically make tube jigs that are clear bodied with a stripe of color along the back. My question is this, why does the clear section of the bait become sort of cloudy after a while. I have included two pictures, 1 of a bait that is freshly made with the clear section still nice and shiny/clear and the other is of a bait that has been essentially just curing on the rack for a few weeks now. none of these baits have touched water and I live in Las Vegas where humidity is not a problem, especially right now that it is warm. I have a few baits from another company that I was given that I have used and handled plenty that have clear sections that have remained clear. Yet my baits eventually start getting cloudy. I have some baits that I have made that I haven't really handled much that are still sort of clear so it has led me to believe that maybe the oils in my hands are somehow messing with the plastic and altering the clarity, but if that is the case why dont the store bought baits get cloudy when handled. I use bait plastics saltwater blend. Should I be wearing latex gloves when handling baits? is it the bait plastics brand that does this? if so, does anyone know a brand that stays shiny and clear even after use and not get dull and cloudy by just hanging in the curing rack. anyone else have this problem?

Does it make the plastic brittle or is it pretty tough? does it discolor the baits? how long does it take for the plastic to get hard?

I hear yah. A guy i spoke to on facebook that makes big tubes recommended using this copper stub out to make big tubes using the horizontal method. Ordered a few diff sizes.

How much plastic would be be required to fill something like that up to the top?

Since I posted this, I have been mixing mica powder with SB 3000 and brushing it on my baits and sealing it with clear plastisol. It has worked great so far.

Thank you, Cami for your explanation. I look forward to trying this method out. Hopefully they can catch stripers too!

Thank you for your suggestion, Cami. I have no experience making tubes in this fashion so I have a few questions. how does the rounded head form inside the pvc pipe? do you get consistent thickness results using this technique?