? about cooling a mould

[Possum]

Can't remember, but I know I read it somewhere. Will it be detrimental to my Lee 6 cavity to cool it by placing it for a few seconds on a damp cloth after I pour the lead in it?

What are the routines some of you follow when casting? My moulds end up getting very hot and they take forever to cool off.

[Orygun]

A few seconds on the (sprue plate only) works great. Somewhere in the forum there is a thread on "speed casting" and that'ts all I do with my Lee six.

Oh, here it is......on page 2; http://goatlipstips.cas-town.com/casting.html

[Possum]

Found it...Thanks for the tip.

[45r]

soon as your mold starts dropping good boolits turn your alloy temp down to 700 degrees if possible and try not to let it get over 750.your tin will start coming up at this temp or higher.if it does sprinkle in some sawdust and stir with a wooden stick and push the dross to the side of the pot and squish it against the side and it will usually flux back in the alloy.sometimes antimony and tin could be in the dross at the top and you don't want to remove it especially if you want to heat treat your boolits in the oven.the lumpy stuff that shows up on the top is antimony sometimes.I read about pushing the dross to the side on this site and now do it all the time now and all you end up taking out of the pot is about a half spoonfull of ashs or dirt.I put a little parrifin on top after stirring to form a barrier to slow oxidation also.my boolits come out looking like their crome plated and I can go as fast as I can pour them.I use bull-plate on the sprues also.A hot mold lets you turn down your alloy temp and that is good.open your sprue as soon as it gets the frosty look.Cool your mold with a fan or cast outside when windy works well for me also.I like to use my iron molds outside on cool windy days and my aluminum molds on warmer days as the aluminum ones can be hard to keep hot enough but your 6 bangers might not have that problem and if you keep your alloy around 700 degrees.keeping your mold and alloy at the right temp and fluxing your tin and antimony back in with sawdust and a wooden spoon has been working so well for me lately that I finally think I might be getting allmost as good as some of the experts that I've learned so much from.I've learned more here than the books I've read on boolit casting.Good luck.

[mooman76]

I don't cool mine. I turn the lead down if it is getting too hot and I let the mould cool naturally!

[medic44]

I cool mine occasionaly as needed for a few sec on a cool rag. Only if I start to get a slower time for the sprue to harden. Frosting on the boolits from a hot mold doesn't hurt the boolit. If you are water cooling the boolit the greater the temp difference between the boolit when it hits the water and the water the harder the boolit.

[axxman928]

Goatlips,
A wealth of knowledge and pictures to boot. You can't beat this site for information.
Thank you for sharing it with us "newbies".
axxman928