Thread: Laminates; At My Wits End

Ok...lets take this a step at a time.

With a twin injector the plastics have to be within a degree or two of each other and the plunger seals have to be avbsolutely free to move. If you need to, take the twins apart, wash with alcohol and then lube well with worm oil when re-assembling. On your next shoot with it try heating the plastics at the same time in a microwave making sure the quanities are the same and maybe try heating the plastics to just under the 350 degree mark...330 or 340. Do not make one plastic a soft and the other a firm or medium until you get things ironed out. Take all of the variables away and start over. Something is the hang-up and everything has to be on the same playing field to find the problem. I'd start with the injector system. Then I'd move to the plastic. If one color is blowing back into the other its telling me that the pressure isn't equal. Take a serious look at the block to see if there is something in there you are missing too.

On a hand pour, try adding a touch of softener to the injected color and make sure you heat it to around 360-365 and hold pressure on the plunger when it stops after the cavities are filled. Try injecting a hair slower too so no air has a chance to slide in between the colors. Having one or the other color softer allows it to melt at the seam way easier and the pressure at the end is obvious.

CF. First thing what temp are you shooting at. I would recommend lower than 330. A big problem most ppl run into is worrying about keeping temps the same. The big picture is keeping the flow or viscosity of the plastic the same. If you have pearl in one of the colors it thickens it meaning that color needs to be hotter than the other.

All this said i actually think that an o ring is bad in on of te injectors. Letting it suck air.

Thanks for the replies Guys. Yall have thrown quite a few things at me to check on and I'll let You know as I check them out. I will say that I do not have a thermometer and have been going by trying to keep the thickness the same. It could be an O ring because It sure felt funny when I was pushing down on the injectors and it went down like I had not sucked up enough plastic when I had pulled up enough for two shots. I'll take it apart and do some single shots to see if there is any by passing going on in one of them. Thanks again for pointing me in some directions.CF

It would be a good idea to get a thermometer especially when you are just starting out with the twin. I dont use mine a whole lot any more but that comes with a lot of time. I can usually guess within 5 degrees. I would get the thermometer before worrying about the o rings.

I aint buying no twin injectors.... i only make baits for myself so i shoot a bunch of one color then cut bellys off reinsert and shoot a second color holding the pressure for a min. and i never go over 350.. works for me but hey these guys (Ctom rondon and snake ) are the Pros....id do as they say Mr. Ed

They have to be close in temp. I was doing the same thing. When colors mix like there doing one is way hotter than the other one. I heat both cups at the same tim in 1 single microwave. It helped alot for me!

Hey CF also go over to caneycreekmolds.net to there forum it will you out alot!!

Great site. Thanks for the heads up.CF