Hey guys, I just recently got into making soft plastic fishing lures and the process of microwaving and stirring is to time consuming for me.(Either that or i’m doing something wrong) Is there an easier way to heat plastic? I have heard about presto pots but i hear a lot of good and bad things about it. Preferably something that isn’t in the thousands please 

A microwave works well as does the presto pot but you aren't going to speed the process up. For starters, if you heat the plastic too fast you are likely to scorch it. The idea with the microwave is to get it hot and then stir to evenly distribute the heat in order to keep from over heating. By stirring in between allows you to get the plastic to the right temp and consistency without overheating or scorching.

On 3/20/2018 at 9:26 AM, smalljaw67 said:

The idea with the microwave is to get it hot and then stir to evenly distribute the heat in order to keep from over heating. By stirring in between allows you to get the plastic to the right temp and consistency without overheating or scorching.

This is exactly it. You can check your power settings if the microwave has been recently unplugged... Heating a pint of fresh plastisol takes me at least 2-3 minutes in 45 second intervals.

 

Good luck to you! Welcome to the sickness!

On ‎3‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 9:20 AM, prideandinstinct said:

Hey guys, I just recently got into making soft plastic fishing lures and the process of microwaving and stirring is to time consuming for me.(Either that or i’m doing something wrong) Is there an easier way to heat plastic? I have heard about presto pots but i hear a lot of good and bad things about it. Preferably something that isn’t in the thousands please 

Not sure how it is time consuming as it takes about 5 minutes for me to microwave plastic enough to pour? I start with 2 minutes then do 30 second intervals to keep from scorching the plastic but I am not an expert. My problem is duplicating colors as I do not use a recipe I just eyeball it until it looks good.

 

Allen 

My problem is that I make large amounts and my molds only have 4 cavities. I want to be able to have the plastic stay at a consistent temperature for long periods of time to make the process much quicker. I’m not sure if I am doing this wrong but when i use the microwave it takes time to heat the plastic back to a good temperature 

The presto pot is more effective in keeping larger quantities of plastisol at operating temp for long periods.

I  collect the sprue and leftovers in a pyrex cup to reheat in microwave before adding to the presto again.

Pyerex cups can also be placed on a hot tray or in an oven but I never tried that.

 

Chris