I need some help

[Whitespider]

OK, I need some help. I got my stove wired up in the garage today, heated up the pot and melted my first lead. Fluxed with some sawdust (used way too much) and skimmed off the mess. Poured the molten lead into a muffin pan to cast ingots.

My muffin pan has 6 holes, filled five holes and the last hole only half-full. After the lead solidified I flipped the pan over. The hole that was half full fell out but the five others didn’t. I had to ruin the pan to get them out. I had to pull the metal from the muffin pan off the lead with a pair of pliers, a little piece at a time. Those ingots were stuck almost to the point of being welded to the muffin pan.

Why did the half-full hole fall right out? Why did the full holes freeze in the pan? I did wipe a little moly bore cream in the pan before I used it, hoping that would help as a release agent. Was that a mistake?

[45nut]

best I can figure is the expansion ratio of the lead vs the steel and the full cups taking too long to cool vs the 1/2 cup. What did you have the pan sitting on to cool?
No idea about the moly,,maybe felix will see the thread and offer some insight.

And about the sawdust flux,,, or any flux for that matter, I would rather use a little and do it a few times vs trying to clean in one sweep.

Welcome to the board and to the new facet of shooting.

[Bret4207]

I had the same sticking problem with the first muffin pan I got. It ended up in pieces and I was out big money, like $1.99. Many moons later I tried it again with a teflon coated heavy duty Wally World model. No problems at all. The teflon burns off after time, but the heavier gauge metal seems to make a difference. I sometimes put the muffin pan in a slight depression in the driveway (unpaved, or as we hicks call it- dirt) where water gathers. That works good, but you have to be careful about water getting in the pan.

[garandsrus]

Whitespider,

If you use aluminum muffin tins the ingots will drop right out when you flip them over. The true aluminum tins will be shiny silver. I have found a number of them at Salvation Army stores and flea markets.

John

[WHITETAIL]

Whitespider, Welcome to the forum. As far as the muffin pans go. Most guys and gals go with the cast iron muffin pans. From what I can gather from your post. The pan you used might be not one piece, and the lead got in the seams.
Then for the next time you try it, coat all of your pans with Crisco. This will keep your pans from rusting and is a good releaseing agent.

[Lloyd Smale]

alot of times new muffin tins are sticky. It helps to let them completely cool before you drop them out. Once you use them a few times they will get a little rust in them and that seems to help make the ingots drop easier. If i got you right your smelting lead in your casting pot. thats not a real good idea. It will save you alot of agravation if you smelt in a seperate pot.

[monadnock#5]

Yard sale and flea market season is just around the corner. Look for anything made of cast iron that looks like a good candidate as an ingot mold. I have one muffin mold and one that casts half cylinders. With both I can empty my plumbers pot. Then I place them on my table saw for the heat sink effect. Go back and recharge the plumbers pot, which takes a while as I haven't found an easy way to dig weights out of the bucket. Dump the clips from the previous melt from the
coffee can into a plastic bucket. Then I go back (15 to20 min.) and dump the ingots out and stack them. Once in a while I have to give the bottom a thump to release a couple of reluctant ingots. Then it's back to stirring, skimming and fluxing. So I guess as much as mold material, it's also developing a routine that works.

Ken

[Orygun]

OK, I need some help.........
Why did the half-full hole fall right out? Why did the full holes freeze in the pan? I did wipe a little moly bore cream in the pan before I used it, hoping that would help as a release agent. Was that a mistake?

I had the same thing happen with the muffin tin. I just figured they were tin and sort of bonded with the alloy. Tried at different cooling temps and eventually had to destroy it to get the ingots out.

I will now only use cast iron or as mentioned above, the heavy aluminum with teflon coating. I posted this pic in another thread, which shows my favorite ingot molds.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3711&stc=1&d=1176646690

[DeanoBeanCounter]

If it helps, here is a web sight to find swap meet across the country.

http://www.collectors.org/FM/

Deano :)

[Mk42gunner]

The easy way to get wheelweights out of the bucket is to dump them on a piece of plywood; then you can use a shovel to load your smelting pot. This also gives you a chance to catch the rubber valve stems that always seem to land in the bucket.

Robert

[Whitespider]

Thanks for the help and advise guys.
I had much better luck today.
See my new post.