I will try and take some photos later. It will require some disassembly, in order to get the mold into a position suitable for taking a photo. I was so obsessed, with alignment of the two halves, that I designed them to be mounted on rails. Unfortunately, this design prevents a "quick removal" of the mold from the machine. As for the milk jugs, I will have to wait until amassing a few of those, before I will have enough volume to work with.

A good starting point would be to set the temperature of heater to processing temp for your plastic. A good source for finding the processing temp is the Modern Plastics Encyclopaedia.

I am interested in starting a small fishing lure business out of my shop at home with the hope that it takes off and then moving to a full production facility. I have the contacts to market the product and the knowledge to design it....however I lack the knowledge to manufacture the product...Are there affordable machines out there to get started without spending a fortune? Where is a good place to learn the pitfalls of injection molding..Would I be better off just designing the products and having them molded by someone else?

jack102,

You need to sit down and do a lot hard thinking about a developing a business.
From the beginning to the envisioned end.
Seek help from reliable sources and educate yourself. Take some courses and attend seminars in your locality.

Just what is a full production facility including ALL that it is associated with it?
You invest money to make money. So what is the total investment and operating cost of the manufacturing facility
and cost per unit and how does that compare with the competition. 

Seek professional's who know how to manufacture something.
They can provide you with ball park cost per unit and upfront costs to start production.
Now think about this hard, they would have the facility and expertise do the manufacturing.
They also must make a profit, so do you think that you can build and develop and run a facility
and make a better return on your investment than using them?

The above is small insight to the question "Would I be better off just designing the products and having them molded by someone else?"

If you really know what you want to do then the rest is easy!

RICH

Anyway, I am just curious to see what others have done along these lines.

FIRST:
STOP !  and go through a safety review of what your doing and address all hazards.

THEN:
I would suggest that you make a diagram of the complete process from beginning to end.
Now do the engineering for the process and save yourself all that trial and error.

RICH