Tube molds?

[Coldfooter]

Has anyone milled/created their own soft plastic swim baits or large tube molds? IF so, what was the biggest headache in doing so? I'm planning to mill a couple in the near future and will like some input as far as venting and so on.

Thanks
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I have never tried it myself, but I watched a program once that showed them dipping long rods into the melted plastic and then peeling off the tubes after they had cooled/cured.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]A lot different than pouring solid plastic baits.[/#0000ff]
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[Coldfooter]

I've done that and it works out ok but it really dont allow for upper and lower, or side ta side two tones paterns.
As far as creating a pouring mold for tubes,, lets just say I got a little creative over the weekend after putting the old thinkin' cap on. []

Thanks for the reply Pat
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[gdn443]

Tubedude is right about useing a rod. They use a metel rod. If you call Lurecraft at 1-800-925-9088 they said they can tell you in a few mins. how to do it.
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[maniac]

Bend the rod into a L shape that way you can dip the two or even three color tubes. Good luck!
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[daffy]

[black][size 1]Del-Mart makes a tube mold that looks very interesting. Thinking of buying one soon. Here's the web Page have a look.[/size][/black]
[url "http://del-mart.com/"]http://del-mart.com/[/url]
Later LBD
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[Rippinem]

Don't know for sure, but I think we've both fished with the same guy and we both know his baits work very well (especially for that 40 pounder you want to catch). I too, and prob. everyone else who's been with him, would like to make similar type swim baits.

SO far, buying the finn-s 10 inch swimbait has been the closest match for me.

Good luck, and let me know if you found a good answer.
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[crawchuck]

I'm new here and it's a nice forum! Been making molds of all sorts since 1985. Tube molds are pretty basic with an insert to provide the hollow but require thicker sides than injected tubes for hand pour operations. Then you need a cutter to form the tails.

My stuff is at [url "http://geocities.com/crawchuck/molds.html"]http://geocities.com/crawchuck/molds.html[/url]

I have made moldmaking tutorials posted on other forums. They are quite in depth and lengthy. Do I just post links to their location? Would be much better than re-doing the things.
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[Tube_it]

It took me about 20 tried but I have it down. It is not as complicated as it seems just time consuming and cn be costly during trials. Lurecraft has some good large tube molds but for medium like 1/2" (circumfrence) i wanst able to find anything. Now it is easy I have 6 diffrent molds that I use.
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[Coldfooter]

If you'll note, I first made this thread nearly 3 years ago. Since then we have worked out the details of "dipping tubes". We create our own tubes in sizes ranging from 1" up to the mega stuff. I will add that creating our own stuff as been enjoyed but due to "learning the ropes" it was costly in the beginning. Now however we dont often "scorch" a batch of plastic but that certainly wasnt the case in the beginning.

Thanks for the replies. I should check this page more often.
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