Pouring Plastics?

[NILBasser]

Ok, so I'm looking at pouring some of my own plastics and I have a couple questions first for you guys that have done this already. I'm looking to pour some worms similar to Robo Straight tails and want them as soft. When I look at buying plastic I find soft, med, hard and I'm assuming I want soft but is it so soft it falls apart? Can I meltdown used baits and add softener to get the consistency I'm looking for? Does anyone have a "recipe" to get a Junebug color?

[Jig Man]

I use medium plastisol and add hardner or softner as needed. I remelt but haven't used softner in any of it.

JUNE BUG

4 oz plastisol

1 drop purple maybe 2

1 drop black

1 drop red

2 drops blue

green & purple flake

[NILBasser]

Thanks

[ww2farmer]

Just a word of caution based on my own expierance..........a guy I know pours his own baits, I went over one day gung-ho to get in on it, well after a brief lesson and pouring some myself that turned out fine I got pretty sick, his area was well ventilated, and he had no issues, so I just chalked it up as coincidence. I went over again some time later.......and got sick again. Mega headaches, sinus and chest congestion, sore throat, scratchy eye's, etc... I decided I couldn't be around that stuff. IDK if it's allergies, or I am super sensitive to it (I have no issues with plastic baits once they are made, never got sick using or handling them) I am glad I found out this before I jumped in and bought a bunch of stuff to pour my own. I don't know if my issues with it are 1 in a million, but based on my expierance with it, you might not want to jump right in whole hog untill you know if you will or won't have the same problems I had beeing around plastic fumes.

[Shane Procell]

Plastic fumes are TOXIC.

[Jig Man]

The fumes from plastisol are indeed toxic if you cook it till it turns black and burns. Otherwise it isn't a problem. When you melt it keep a close watch and if in a microwave do it with short bursts with lots of stirring between bursts.

A good infrared thermometer will tell you when it reaches 350° and is ready to pour.

[ChrisAW]

Event without the event of burning plastic, you should be using some form of a respirator.

For the question of which material to use, I would go for soft for your open pour molds. This is what I was instructed by the people I buy my plastic from, when he called to confirm an order mistake. Soft is not going to fall apart. Most peoples open pour baits end up with thicker appendages than you would normally see with injection molds, and soft will help allow the baits to move like they should. I would be very surprised if Roboworm used anything higher, as soft as those things are.