First cast boolits, and I'm hooked!

[famdoc2892]

Made my own lead dipper from a copper end cap, fired up the melt pot last night and cast my first .30 cal boolits from a Lyman 311291. Boy, was that exciting! In just over an hour, had about 35 usable boolits and at least that many flubs.

Question, how do you deal with the dross catching on the lip of the dipper and diverting/preventing the pour stream into the mould? Do you flux before/during your pouring session? If so, (I'm using sawdust) do you then skim off all the carbon before you start pouring again?

Pics as soon as I remember how to do it...!

[ku4hx]

Are you leaving the dross in the pot?

I have two dippers I use for pouring (Lyman and Lee) and a old SS serving spoon I use for cleaning out what dross I have when I do flux my casting pot. I generally flux the pot when it seems to need it that's not all that often. I use the spoon to remove the dross. When I smelt, I make every effort get the melt as clean as possible and sometimes that means fluxing it more than once. I remove the dross (and clips and everything else not alloy) with a long handled french fry type dipper I got at a local Publix grocery store.

My practice is to remove what dross there is (be sure it's dross) from the pot before I start casting. That being the case, the times I've used a dipper there is none to avoid. When I've used sawdust, I'd sort of swirl the ashes and debris to get a clean spot to draw the alloy from. I also keep and old, heavy rag handy to wipe the dipper if necessary.

But now days I generally use my bottom pour spout. It's worked well for me so I've done very little "Dip 'n Pour" in recent years. I can generally get 300-350 per hour when casting pistol boolits. Maybe more if my back allows it.

[famdoc2892]

Thanks for the reply. The ingots I used were among the very first I ever smelted, so I suspect they were not a clean as yours. The pot was also less than pristine from smelting tire weights, so sounds like I shot myself in the foot! I'll be glad to find a bottom-pour furnace, but want to learn the manual basics first.

[x101airborne]

Glad to hear you getting goin. The stainless spoon is indespensable. I have two just in case one gets misplaced with my last beer. You are absolutely correct to learn one thing at a time. Lord, I didnt just step in a pile of casting material at first, I WADED off in it. And, of course, got overwhelmed. (Thanks again Gear for getting me straight!) My advice is to start learning how to clean the lead from the smelter. And NEVER smelt in your pouring pot. It is harder than most admit. Properly cleaning smelted lead is almost as complex as casting boolits. And lets not even get into making proper, accurate and repeatable alloys. Welcome to the journey of a thousand miles. Ever need any help (what little I may be) dont hesitate to ask.

[HangFireW8]

Made my own lead dipper from a copper end cap, fired up the melt pot last night and cast my first .30 cal boolits from a Lyman 311291. Boy, was that exciting! In just over an hour, had about 35 usable boolits and at least that many flubs.

Question, how do you deal with the dross catching on the lip of the dipper and diverting/preventing the pour stream into the mould? Do you flux before/during your pouring session?


Once you get the fluxing (puts the good part of the flotsam back into the mix) and the cleaning (removing actual dross) down pat, get yourself a real ladle. It flows from the bottom, and you can keep it from flowing by holding it sidewise.

Watch some youtube videos on ladle casting to see.

HF