Soft plastics

[benniejordaan]

Wonder if someone can help out here. This is the one "dark art" I haven't really gotton my head around. I'l like to make my own minnows. Particularly in 6-8". I will be using them to target Kings, Geets and Kakaap. I want it flexible yet strong.

I noticed with plastics that there are various types. What I would like to know is what should I use? Where is the best place to buy it? I do not want huge quantities either.

 

[eviltoy]

Bleh I searched everywhere here for that not too long ago with no luck if I do manage to find I will drop you a mail

 

[benniejordaan]

eviltoy wrote:

Bleh I searched everywhere here for that not too long ago with no luck if I do manage to find I will drop you a mail

I know for a fact you will not get it in S.A. We need to get it in the states I'm sure. But If I'm not mistaken I think there was a guy somewhere bringing it in, in bulk and dividing it into smaller quantities.

 

[swarley81]

Hi Bennie,

you are looking for Nutt.

Here was a thread with his product/prices:

http://www.sealine.co.za/view_topic.php?id=56456&forum_id=78&highlight=plastisol

 

[swarley81]

On this topic, why will silicone not be a good alternative for a soft plastic material?

Maybe LGF can give a few pointers here as I know he makes his own soft plastics?

 

[benniejordaan]

swarley81 wrote:

On this topic, why will silicone not be a good alternative for a soft plastic material?

Maybe LGF can give a few pointers here as I know he makes his own soft plastics?

Ja, he's definitely the pro when it comes to soft plastics. Let's hear from him later on.

Thanks for the link!

 

[Little Green Fish]

Thanx for the vote of confidence, but I'm No Pro.

Kay it seems you wanna make something say like the Berkley Gulp or Zoom or anything similar for targeting the species mentioned, so I take it that it must be the same material.

Kay, so the plastisol I use, I got from NUTT, some many many moons ago and it was actually just sitting on the shelf.

There's a couple of companies in and around JHB in SA that do mix the stuff (bunch of chemicals and powders) but here's the poef part, they either have a gentlemans agreement with some other sa company that produces lures to only sell to that company, or they will only sell in quantities of 200 liters upwards at around R80 - R90 /l, yip a quick 16-17k which if I'm running in mass production mode will take me at least three months to finish making 6000-8000 packs of worms a month.

I have spoken to Nutt just last week and he will still sell in small quantities (dunno how small, but I could ask when next i speak to him) else I can include quantities if guys want with my next order and decant and send off to whoever wants, that way you could get whatever ammount, postage will just be a little bad as weight now determines the price.

Anyhows, I am yet to find somebody (think Nutt also sells the colouring and the glitter)in SA that sells the glitter and the colouring that I get from the states.

Molds and injectors, I also get them from the states, still waiting for another lead I've been following with a local engineering shop to produce aluminium molds locally.

If there's anything specific you wanna know, ask and I'll help where I can.

One thing I can DEFFS tell you, is don't, I repeat DO NOT even consider molds made of anything other than aluminium, it's just not worth it, end product from silicone, resin and even gelcoat surface fibreglass molds is a far cry from what it looks like when coming out of aluminium, some issues are dullness, warping, lots and lots of air issues (remember this stuff gets injected at roughly 170* C) and then the bur where the two halves meet, impossible to get it as neat as a machined aluminium mold.
The only problem with aluminium molding is that if you want to inject your own designs you must get a mold made specifically, there are some overseas companies but they are cuckoo with prices, locally it doesn't look all that great either, either toooooo expensive or turn around time is some serious long wait, or both.

 

[Little Green Fish]

One more thing I forgot to mention, you can buy molds from over the big blue pond, but and here's the issue again, you can buy what they have at a price or get them to make what you want and just as well have bought a plot on mars.

One other thing with the molds (and its all of them) from over there, is the sprue placement, all are placed in a vertical fashion at a 90* angle to the lure cavity (yes to save on material costs) but it inheritantly creates air issues like nobody's business, so injecting whilst hanging on to an almost 200*C piece of aluminium, gets you thinking out of the box.....

 

[eviltoy]

I know a oke that makes moulds locally maybe he can make us some? Guys name is Robby Lawson. His moulds are cut from aluminium ingots

 

[benniejordaan]

OK, thanks! I think I have the mould sorted. The trick is to have a mould that is ultra smooth and shiny. This can be achieved by laying paint on your mould to bleed properly and smooth then polish the plug before making a mould from it.

My next question. Where can I get a small quantity of Plastisol - I don't know... maybe a kilo or 2?

Can you show us what the injector looks like?

 

[Little Green Fish]

benniejordaan wrote:

OK, thanks! I think I have the mould sorted. The trick is to have a mould that is ultra smooth and shiny. This can be achieved by laying paint on your mould to bleed properly and smooth then polish the plug before making a mould from it.

My next question. Where can I get a small quantity of Plastisol - I don't know... maybe a kilo or 2?

Can you show us what the injector looks like?

Bennie, like i said, the only place i can think of (the only way you'll be able get small ammounts like that would be if I order the normal ammount 50l and then decant and send it off to you. Here's apic of the injectors, hope it loads, they're about $59 excl shipping.

Kay it doesn't wanna load

 

[benniejordaan]

Little Green Fish wrote:

benniejordaan wrote:

OK, thanks! I think I have the mould sorted. The trick is to have a mould that is ultra smooth and shiny. This can be achieved by laying paint on your mould to bleed properly and smooth then polish the plug before making a mould from it.

My next question. Where can I get a small quantity of Plastisol - I don't know... maybe a kilo or 2?

Can you show us what the injector looks like?

Bennie, like i said, the only place i can think of (the only way you'll be able get small ammounts like that would be if I order the normal ammount 50l and then decant and send it off to you. Here's apic of the injectors, hope it loads, they're about $59 excl shipping.

Kay it doesn't wanna load

Thanks for the offer. Wingz has offered me a liter to try! I asked him for "medium". Do you think I am going down the right road here?

 

[Little Green Fish]

You can't go wrong with the medium plastisol, especially cause you want to use it in the sea, too soft will last longer but might get pushed off the hook where as too hard won;t see a second cast, again depending or how and where you're intending to fish it, but the med would also be my choice, just remember (dunno how much heat stabiliser is in that product) to start with nothing more than say 100ml and stir it every 15 seconds till it is clear, you could always ask wingz to tell you how he heats it up with detail to heat setting on the microwave, the ammount he heats at a time, how often he stirs it, and what the max time in the microwave for that particular quantity is, ALL OF THESE are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, the stuff looks ok the one second, the next it starts smoking and that's that,nothing you can do to stop the raging yellowing and the clumping as it already burned, so get the info B4 you put any in the microwave.

Also remember to shake the container until there's no solids in the mix anymore, after that, shake it for another two to three minutes just to make sure.

 

[benniejordaan]

Little Green Fish wrote:

You can't go wrong with the medium plastisol, especially cause you want to use it in the sea, too soft will last longer but might get pushed off the hook where as too hard won;t see a second cast, again depending or how and where you're intending to fish it, but the med would also be my choice, just remember (dunno how much heat stabiliser is in that product) to start with nothing more than say 100ml and stir it every 15 seconds till it is clear, you could always ask wingz to tell you how he heats it up with detail to heat setting on the microwave, the ammount he heats at a time, how often he stirs it, and what the max time in the microwave for that particular quantity is, ALL OF THESE are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, the stuff looks ok the one second, the next it starts smoking and that's that,nothing you can do to stop the raging yellowing and the clumping as it already burned, so get the info B4 you put any in the microwave.

Also remember to shake the container until there's no solids in the mix anymore, after that, shake it for another two to three minutes just to make sure.

Thanks for that. As soon as I get some, I'll do a small pour and see how it goes before I continue. Next week I'll work on a plug for the mould.

 

[fishersteve1972]

As far as colour goes these work just fine and a fraction of the price.Just slice off what you need and add to plastisol when ready for pouring.You dont need much on a diy scale..If you want to darken the colour add a touch of black.

As far as the glitter goes I use normal craft shop stuff.Dont use super fine stuff tho.

For the plastisol you can add hardener or softener to get texture to what you want.

 

[eviltoy]

If soft plastics worked in Cape Town I woulda invested some more time in them but ya they dont really work in our conditions so Ill stick to spoons etc

 

[benniejordaan]

eviltoy wrote:

If soft plastics worked in Cape Town I woulda invested some more time in them but ya they dont really work in our conditions so Ill stick to spoons etc

YF tuna on a Ron Z lure (Soft plastic)

[flash=425,344]http://www.youtube.com/v/ature=player_embedded&v=N7aFOaVduK4&hl=en&fs=1[/flash]

So I think Soft plastics might just work in CT!

 

[fishersteve1972]

eviltoy wrote:

If soft plastics worked in Cape Town I woulda invested some more time in them but ya they dont really work in our conditions so Ill stick to spoons etc

hear that all the time,if theres fish there just got to figure out how to catch them.

 

[eviltoy]

benniejordaan wrote:

eviltoy wrote:

If soft plastics worked in Cape Town I woulda invested some more time in them but ya they dont really work in our conditions so Ill stick to spoons etc

YF tuna on a Ron Z lure (Soft plastic)



So I think Soft plastics might just work in CT!

IM a shore angler Havent been on a boat in years would love to go tuna hunting though

 

[Little Green Fish]

fishersteve1972 wrote:

As far as colour goes these work just fine and a fraction of the price.Just slice off what you need and add to plastisol when ready for pouring.You dont need much on a diy scale..If you want to darken the colour add a touch of black.

As far as the glitter goes I use normal craft shop stuff.Dont use super fine stuff tho.

For the plastisol you can add hardener or softener to get texture to what you want.

I like the oil pastels idea, just won't work for me as I need to measure the exact droplets of colouring to get the consistancy in all the shoots.

Craft glitter ? when do you add it and how hot does your plastisol get, reason for asking is that all the diffirent makes of glitter (craft glitter) i used melted and became colouring for the plastisol, so instead of having a green lure with red glitter I had a brown worm without glitter?