Still struggling

[Arceagle]

I thought I was beginning to figure this stuff out but am still having a few problems.

Most of my casting has been in small amounts to test before I made lots of boolits that just had to be remelted. I would cast 100 to 150 and cull 30% to 40% and sometimes it was as high as 50%. Most of these would be due to wrinkled noses - the boolits not mine. The rest of the boolit would not be wrinkled just a small C shape near the nose would not be filled out. I think this is being caused by a leaky valve on my lee lead pot. A small amount leaks thru just enough to hang a single drip from the spout. That drip is hanging long enough to be cool when I fill the first cavity this is a big problem when only using a 2 cavity mold. Most of my casting so far has been 115gr. and 135 gr. boolits.

My second problem. Yesterday I tried casting 500 boolits in one session with a 2 cavity mold. I have to keep my pot around 700 degrees to keep the valve from plugging. I was dropping these in water and using a 50/50 ww/lead alloy. I had severe frosting, the frost would wipe off but left a less than smooth surface underneath. Could this be from too hot a mold? Pot too hot? Both? I try to keep up a quick as pace as possible so my lead in the spigot/spout doesn't cool.

Would insulating the spout on the pot help?
Do I need to slow my pace and let the mold cool a little between fills?

Final count after casting - less than 50% good boolits. Are boolit casters allowed to cry?

[462]

Eliminating the leak is easily done, and a site search will turn up a couple methods. A clean alloy and pot are absolute necessities.

Frosted boolits are an indicator of a too hot mould. Boolit casting is not a timed production contest. Slow your casting pace so that your boolits have, at the most, a lightly frosted appearance that can be easily wiped off.

Your temperature is okay.

[44man]

How I would love to cycle new casters through my set up.
Words alone are tough and we live too far apart. :groner:

[popper]

I don't know what you would insulate it with. A chunk of 1/2" steel plate with a hole for the spout should keep it from cooling so much. Might be hard to see the spout.

[runfiverun]

i just knock it off the spout with my mold.
then pour.

[T-Bird]

I had one of those Lee pots when I first started casting. It leaked frequently due to trash etc hard to keep temp up, wrinkled boolets etc. Bought me a plumber's pot for melting lead, and a RCBS ladle, heat it all over my fish cooker. If boolets frost, I back off the heat, If they stay shiny and don't fill out, I up the heat, pot holds 25#. My ladle never stops up!Been using it for about 15 yrs.

[grouch]

One easy answer is to cast with a ladle. Much less needless complication.
Grouch

[DrCaveman]

What I've found is to turn that sucker up to about 8, wait a while and pour some boolits. This is after setting the mold on top of the pot, but of course it isn't quite hot enough. After 3-4 pours with quick sprue-breaking (they go straight into the sprue bucket) the boolits start coming out crispy-edged and a little frosty. Turn the heat down to about 4, and run until your pot gets down to about .75" height left. Take a break, turn it down, dump in the sprue and obvious rejects, come back in 10 minutes for the next go.

I'd say skip the water quenching, until you get boolit shape and weight correct. Are you shooting 9mm? At the pressures involved, with properly sized and lubed boolits you should not have a prob with your alloy, unless those WW are softer than I get around here. 15.4 bhn is my typical for WW mix here, but I think that without range lead influence it may be closer to 13.0 bhn.

[DrCaveman]

Oh and by the way, open that lee pour up FULL THROTTLE every time. If this does not suit your rate, then adjust the flow screw.

[Bret4207]

If you are getting wrinkled noses and frosted boolits I'd say you have some oil or something still int he mould. IME Lee moulds, all moulds really, take 3-4 heating/cooling sessions to start performing right.

Try cleaning the mould really well to start with. It sounds like it's hot enough. Flux your alloy more too. You should see better boolits soon, then you can slow your pace a bit and get to where they boolits exhibit perfect fillout. You may or may not get light frosting at that point.

[9-toes]

I cast last night and was struggling. Bullets were wrinkled, voids, acorns - you name it. Then I took a breath and started focusing on what was working right. Lead temp was fine. Mold and sprue plate was too cool. Sat the mold on top of the pot with the sprue plate down - got better. Also focused on the pour rate - lead has to flow and displace the air. Then I hit my stride and started really getting the keepers.

[plainsman456]

I have one mold that has one cavity that has that same half moon thingy.
The other cavity casts great.What I did was try different temps,pour rates and angles.
What finally worked was putting that cavity real close to the spout.
Let me tell you this one act started turning out fine boolits.
It might be worth a try.

[popper]

Knock the drip with the edge of the mould. Pre-heat it. Keep a large sprue puddle. Pour off center to the sprue hole and keep it close to the spout. Add some weight to the handle of the pot and turn the spindle a bit when it starts to drip. Move the handle up and down with authority.