I have just rolled out some baits for only the second time and was struggling to get consistently round boilies. I was using the gardner rolling table and gun, with a slightly smaller nozzle than table diameter but the baits were either moulding together or making more of a dumbell shape than round! Any help or tips would be great.

In reply to Post #1
If they moulding together just roll one sausage at a time until you get used to it
Barrel shapes mean the sausage is too small so cut a little at a time off the nozzle until they correct, but be careful you are not stretching the sausage as you gun it

Make sure:-

The base mix is properly mixed as otherwise it may affect the diameter of the sausage coming out of the gun.
You apply even pressure (within reason) when pulling the gun trigger as again it can affect the sausage diameter.
Try and keep the gun the same height from the table throughout extrusion and move the gun along the table at the same speed as the sausage (again within reason, doesn't have to be dead accurate). Going to quick will stretch the sausage (dumbell) too slow will cause bunching (boilies won't roll, will split/have holes in)

Thanks for the tips.

In reply to Post #2
You can get dumbbell shaped with too big a nozzle as well - which will make them mould together

Sometimes not all base mixes will roll well with the same nozzle/rolling table combination.
You might have to experiment by changing the nozzle size or by tweaking the base mix, and/or your extruding technique.

You can try using this as a rough guide for the nozzle and finished boilie combinations:

Boilie size = Nozzle size
12mm = 9.8mm
14mm = 11.4mm
16mm = 13.0mm
18mm = 14.7mm
20mm = 16.3mm
22mm = 18.0mm
24mm = 19.6mm
30mm = 24.5mm

It actually could also be the Gardner table if it's a new one. They are shockingly bad quality these days. I posted up a video on YouTube explaining my displeasure. I was a bit angry so the language is a bit on the ripe side. I will send you the link as the video is a good indication of how piss poor they are now. The old ones I had years ago were spot on. These days you are better off with the carp spirit or if you are really into it then in my opinion nothing beats a shilliam table until you go up to machine rolling.

In reply to Post #7
I'm glad you posted that and it's not just me. I bought 1 about 4 years ago and I tried every which way to put it together without it sticking where the lines line up on the different plates on putting the pieces together. I have 2 from the 90's irrc, now they have seen a bit of use but they were never that bad at 1st!

The new ones sound like a train going over tracks when they don't stick, they will eventually wear into each other but it's not good.

In reply to Post #7
Yeah they do feel completely different to my old set I had about 15 years ago! But no doubt there's something I've done wrong.

In reply to Post #6
Ah! I thought that as I had previously rolled a fishmeal basemix and it came out a lot better compared to the milk protein I just done.

In reply to Post #7
mine needed wet and dry paper to level it off and make it smooth after mounting to a board.

and then for the 1st few KG it shed some plastic...

In reply to Post #7
Please be advised that I wasn't in the best frame of mine when I shot this video to send to my mates. If you are under 18 years old or easily offended then please dont watch. It is however a good indication of how poor these tables are these days straight from the packet. I was particularly unhappy as I'd also had a very poor quality mini Gardner table turn up. Hope this is ok to post up.

https://youtu.be/FmAiA9lBVz4

In reply to Post #12
That is bad quality control.
I'm over 18 yrs old, But a good layman's term review you did

In reply to Post #12
mine is sort of like that i just use a fair bit of pressure to close the gaps.

i think it would be better if they were made in one piece to be honest.