First Boolits I Have Ever Cast

[BigRix]

I finally scored a lead pot at the my favorite gun store. A Saeco.

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss208/BigRix/Casting/ab4cadab.jpg

Warmed up the lead that was in the pot when I got it, and gave it a go.

Lyman 429421 with newly acquired RCBS handles.

I had a heck of a time with the second cavity. Lead would splash off the sprue from the first and go into the second and then solidify on the sprue and close the hole. Causing a partial fill.

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss208/BigRix/Casting/7e9a3f31.jpg

They mold warmed up some more and it got better but still a lot of wrinkles and splashing into the second cavity.

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss208/BigRix/Casting/c4ec5f2b.jpg

I then almost by accident found that if I held the sprue tight against the spout I got a complete fill. The sprue was also very small.

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss208/BigRix/Casting/611f3c08.jpg

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss208/BigRix/Casting/a1b1187c.jpg

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss208/BigRix/Casting/7fb5135b.jpg

The end result after about 20 boolits the looked like this.

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss208/BigRix/Casting/1d802266.jpg

I have no idea what the composition of the lead that was in the pot was but it worked well so far. I set the pot to 650 degrees. No idea if that is accurate or not. Boolits weighed 254-255 grains and measured .432" with my calipers.

I welcome any and all comments or critiques.

[Doby45]

You need to heat your mold more. Pot temp is good, but that mold and sprue plate need to get up in temp.

[357 Voodoo]

+1 get a hot plate and preheat the mold on it

[onondaga]

Looks like it took 20 tries to get your mold hot enough. You can warm it on a hotplate too. The ideal mold temp is about 100 degrees less than the fluid point of your alloy..

Gary

[BigRix]

Is holding the mold up against the spout ok? It seems that it would save waste and give full fill out. I've never heard of anyone doing it before so I can only assume I'm doing it wrong.

[Tom W.]

Sure, there's nothig wrong with it if you get full cavities and your bases are flat..

[454PB]

I prefer a larger sprue puddle, but whatever works for you is fine. When I first used a bottom draw pot, I did it like you are, and I began to find venting fins on the boolits.....too much head pressure. I now position the mould about 1/2" below the valve, and leave a nickel sized sprue.

From your description, it sounds like you may have too much flow from the valve.....indicated by the fact that the first sprue overflows into the second cavity.

And yes.....preheat the mould.

[runfiverun]

that bolt thing up there is to slow down your pour speed i like mine pretty slow.
aim at the side of the hole and let the alloy swirl into the hole.
a mold holder thing might help you also, it does me.
and warm up the mold more, i sit mine on the edge of the pot and let it warm up as the pot does.
your heat temp indicates a higher tin alloy, like 5/5, or maybe even lino.
but the weight say's not lino at that diameter.
you got the not sure about the heat part right but it looks like enough and most definately would be with a warmer mold.

[onondaga]

Putting the pour nozzle into the sprue funnel Like you are doing is called pressure casting. Lyman and some other molds are designed for pressure casting. Note in the Lyman manuals where the method is explained that after the mold is filled that the mold lowered with the flow of metal allowed overflow and puddle on the sprue plate. The puddle on the plate suggestion is intended to heat the sprue plate and keep it at operating temperature for best fill out of your mold.

There are a number of good casting techniques, you will find that some molds will only work well with pressure casting and others will prefer swirl casting and ladle pour to get the best bullets. When a mold is fussy, try a different method.

Gary

[Fritz D]

Is there any reason why you have your mould mounted that way? Usually the mould is attached to the handle with the sprue plate pivot on the left.

[Cherokee]

+1 what fritzD said

[BigRix]

I didn't know which way it should go so I figured it the sprue plate was pointing down when I flipped the molds over to drop the boolits, it wouldn't try and fall closed and get in my way.

I'm holding the mold in my left hand, open the sprue with my gloved hand, turn the mold over in a clockwise direction, and if needed tap on the hinge bolt to release the boolits.

[geargnasher]

If it works, go with it. I noticed the blocks are on the handles "backwards" also, but if you are cutting the sprues with a gloved hand while still soft, but set enough to not smear lead on the top of the blocks, you're doing just fine. Many, if not most, casters let the sprue harden completely and then have to whack the sprue plate with a mallet, often several times, to get the sprue cut. It works, but I don't like it.

Some observations: If you get your mould hotter by either preheating it on a hotplate or dipping a corner of the mould, then the tip of the sprue plate into the molten metal until the lead doesn't stick to it and runs off as a liquid from the mould's outer surface, then you will get better fillout. Assuming you're using some sort of alloy with antimony in it, you will start to see light "frost" on the boolit's surface right about the time you get it to what I call the ideal temperature, and you won't have to pressure cast to get good fillout. If your alloy has little or no antimony in it, it will not frost very much at all.

For most boolit casting alloys, I've never seen the need to go over 725 degrees (except pure lead, sometimes I run it very hot for better fillout), and most of our typical boolit alloys containing between 2 and 6% antimony and one or two percent tin will cast just fine at about 100 degrees over their full-liquid state, which usually indicates a pot temperature of 625-700-ish. Hopefully no one will tell you to "crank up the pot temperature" to compensate for your too-cool mould, cast faster instead.

Try timing your casting pace, try for an even three pours a minute for 20 or 30 pours, don't stop, don't look at the boolits, just concentrate on cycling the mould. You'll find that if you drop your alloy stream into the mould about 1/4-3/8", in the side of the hole and hold the mould at a slight angle, you can get the aforementioned "swirl" effect and that helps fillout and void elimination greatly.

Using an alloy of known approximate composition will sure help determine how hot the metal needs to be, and preheating the mould to at least 350 degrees for starters will help your fillout. Pour a large sprue puddle, about the size of a quarter over each hole so the second one runs into the first will get and keep your sprue plate hot enough for good, sharp bases. adjust the size of the puddle to control sprue plate temperature. One day when you have this down pat you might discover you need a fan to keep your mould in the right temp range, but right now I'll be you're only pouring one or at most two a minute while you get the hang of it, and your mould is cooling off while you look at boolits, sprues, etc. Keep a steady stream of hot lead going in there and I'll bet it will soon start dropping jewels with the right alloy and without any head pressure. Try lots of things once or twice, but like I said, do what works for you.

Gear

You have discovered pressure casting by accident, but it is indeed a legit method that some moulds like. Personally, I only have one that likes it, and it has no vent lines. Pressure casting with that one yields about one in three rejects due to a hidden internal void only found by weighing. Most other moulds I have get bad whiskers or flashing when pressure casting, the main issue being the flashing bits like little pieces of aluminum foil that slip in between the blocks when the mould is opened and then get ironed on the face of the blocks. This accumulates and makes your boolits oversized and out-of-round because the blocks won't close properly. If you pressure-cast, be sure and check for flashing bits on the mould faces every few pours.

[MtGun44]

Hotter, hotter, hotter. All good advice above.

Also, get some Bull Plate lube from the Bull Shop and use it sparingly on the sprue plate.

That is a wonderful design, great boolit to start with. Try it over about 10 gr Unique size
to the throat diameter or +.001 on your cylinder throats (front) and you will have a nice
medium (1050-1100 fps) .44 mag load.

Bill

[Lizard333]

If you don't have Bull Plate, you can use some synthetic 2 stroke mix oil one a q-tip. DO NOT USE A LOT, by this I mean using less is definitely better. Once you cut the sprue off, with the boolits still in the molds, apply some to the Q-tip and put some on the top of the block where the plate touches, and then some on both sides of the sprue plate. I can't stress enough that a very lite layer is all that is needed.

[BigRix]

I'm currently using silicone dielectric grease. A little bit on a Q-Tip and lightly coat the bottom of the sprue plate, pins, and pivot bolt. Haven't had any issues cutting the sprue by hand and no smearing. Then again I only cast about 40 boolits and my mold was too cold.

I'm just about to start another session this morning and will update you when I'm finished.

[geargnasher]

Silicone dielectric grease is an acceptable substitute, it can handle the temps and the silicone oils will help to prevent galling. It isn't, however, anywhere near as good as Bullplate sprue lube, and the dielectric compound isn't all that great for aluminum moulds if and when you get some of those. I use a high-temp silicone oil on most of my moulds, but bullplate is used on all of the iron ones.

Gear