Need a little help

[12DMAX]

Having trouble getting good band fillout on half the boolit. Same boolit in both pictures. Using 50/50 ww/lead + tin. Pot temp 700-725

[Ifishsum]

Try turning up the pot a bit and casting a little quicker to keep the mold hotter. That's worked for me anyway.

[Love Life]

Ifishsum beat me to it. Try casting a little faster and that should take care of the problem.

[P.K.]

Same side every time?

[drklynoon]

Like the OP I would try casting faster and maybe pouring slower.

[12DMAX]

Same side every time?
yes sir it is.

I will turn the pot up and cast faster.

I pressure pour with a ladle.

[williamwaco]

The photos are not large enough to be sure, but I enlarged them in Paint and it looks like severe frosting on the base and second band.

If it IS frosting, you are casting too fast and or too hot.

[slim1836]

Mold may be too cold. Also, try pouring (if bottom pouring) at different distances from the spout.

Slim

[GP100man]

I have the same problem with a 2 cavity 358156 (I think that`s what your boolit is) when I run the mold too hot .

I slow my pace a bit ,keep the pot the same temp around 725f
The problem is the blocks (being a little large) hold heat too good .

I tried to guggle the temp a bit as the molds come to temp, but it`s a little more fiddling around than I wanna do while casting .

I`ve found that with my 358156 mold if I slow the pour rate & hold the mold level , pay attention to where the stream hits I have very low rejects.

[runfiverun]

slowing the pour makes the mold vent better.
try just pouring the lead into the mold instead of the mated twist method.
leave a sprue.
but like william say's i was seeing some frosting,the pressure pour could be the cause of the bands shrinking and pulling back like that.

[12DMAX]

(Maybe) some better pictures.

[runfiverun]

it's just that one spot all the time.??
if it is i'd say that you either got something in the mold right there [like oil]
or that is where the alloy keeps hitting first, causing a hot spot in the mold.

id try pouring the alloy onto the sprue plate and let it run into the cavity.
it looks like your mold is right on the verge of just right and too hot,except that one place.

[Ed_Shot]

I have that same problem with my Lyman 358242 DC. After much experimintation and observation I concluded that my mold had a venting problem and I cannot see what is causing it. Tried hotter and cooler quicker and slower and adjusted and cleaned. Even got a different set of handles.

I cast with a Lyman ladel. For this mold I must fill the cavitiy with the ladel not touching to mold then touch the ladel to the spruce plate to do a last instant pressure pour to get a well filled out base. If I do a regular pressure pour I get bands that look like your pictures.

[Jailer]

Your mold is too cold. Pre heat the mold a bit hotter and cast a bit faster and it will go away.

That's exactly what boolits from my aluminum molds look like when the mold is just a bit below proper temp.

[12DMAX]

it's just that one spot all the time.??
if it is i'd say that you either got something in the mold right there [like oil]
or that is where the alloy keeps hitting first, causing a hot spot in the mold.

id try pouring the alloy onto the sprue plate and let it run into the cavity.
it looks like your mold is right on the verge of just right and too hot,except that one place.

Its not that exact spot, That is an extreme example of what i get. Where I get it is on one half of the cavity and its 99% of the time right at the edges of the bands. If you look at the picture on the right look at the leading and trailing edge of the bottom band, that is what i am getting, sometimes all of the bands have this sometimes only one.

[runfiverun]

i still think it is the same place in the mold taking the initial heat of the alloy each time you pour it from the ladle.
a little different twist rate and it vary's a little where it hits.
but it will hit consistently on the same side of the mold.

[GP100man]

The mold has a hot spot & cooking the tin off .

Here`s my first experience with it

http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx110/GP100man/102_0417.jpg

These 2 boolits were born at the same time ,well almost .

The checked 1 came out of the cavity I poured last (I filled the mod the same way each time) the unchecked came out of the cavity I poured first & it gave the mold more time to absorb more heat ,thus getting hot enuff to cook the tin off causing voids.

I now cast slower & alternate cavitys first turn at the spout .

[12DMAX]

The mold has a hot spot & cooking the tin off .

Here`s my first experience with it

http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx110/GP100man/102_0417.jpg





These 2 boolits were born at the same time ,well almost .

The checked 1 came out of the cavity I poured last (I filled the mod the same way each time) the unchecked came out of the cavity I poured first & it gave the mold more time to absorb more heat ,thus getting hot enuff to cook the tin off causing voids.

I now cast slower & alternate cavitys first turn at the spout .

I spent some time casting tonight going through all the helpful tips and ideas everyone has offered (thank you !) I really had no luck. I just opened this thread up and saw this post. These 2 boolits were cast at the same time.

[runfiverun]

and they say filling 2 cavity's at once has no advantages...
the heat thing [in the mold] is subtle, but it really shows in the last picture.
the swap back and forth would work well,and turning down the alloy heat wouldn't hurt either.
when i was ladle casting my melt temp was in the 625 range.

[12DMAX]

and they say filling 2 cavity's at once has no advantages...
the heat thing [in the mold] is subtle, but it really shows in the last picture.
the swap back and forth would work well,and turning down the alloy heat wouldn't hurt either.
when i was ladle casting my melt temp was in the 625 range.

Wish I had caught GP's post before I started tonight. I will cast some up tomorrow @ 625 and alternate my fill. Thanks guys, will report back.

[41 mag fan]

I wouldn't drop it down 100* if you've been in the 725* range. Start at 675*, cast some, set your mold on the hotplate or move those casts off to the side, lower pot temp down to 650* and cast some more. Or you can vice versa it, start at 625, then 650, then 675. After casting several at each temp, go back and compare which gives you the best results.
RFR made a good comment about alternating cavity pours, start with furthest then next round start with closest to you.
I've had this happen to a 476 425gr mold of mine, I had to swirl my liquid in and slow down my pour, leaving a big puddle on my sprue plate.
All of mine I bottom pour and some mold like a further from the spout, some prefer within an 1/8" from the spout
Some of my bigger molds like the pour slowed down, some like it fast, it just depends on the mold, and takes some playing with to figure them out.

One things nice...you can experiment, and if not good, remelt and try again.

[JIMinPHX]

The first thing I would do is clean the mold cavity real well.

If the problem still exists, the second thing I would try is tipping the mold sideways as I filled it & then flipping it up straight just as it gets full.

If that doesn't help, the third thing I would do is add another 1% tin & see what happens

I don't recall reading if you were pressure casting or not. That may help.

If I still had problems after that, I might be tempted to improve the venting a little.

[Jailer]

I still say your mold is on the cusp of being too cool. The mold needs more heat.

[JIMinPHX]

You may want to try casting with a fresh batch of alloy from another source too. Contaminated alloys can give you weird results sometimes.

[MtGun44]

Add a bit of tin. Scrub mold cavity with Comet and toothbrush.

Bill

[12DMAX]

I cast some up last night with a pot temp of 650. Only preheating of mold I did was a 20 count in the lead. This mold will not take lead without pressure pouring. Started getting servicable boolits after 10 drops. I really had to slow down my pace, I was leaving the mold open for a 10 count before the next pour or my boolits would start to get those hot spots on the bands. So, slowing down and dropping my pot temp has helped but boy this mold gets hot fast. I will keep plugging away at your suggestions and im sure i will find a solution.

[Larry Gibson]

Appears to be from a Lyman 358156?

If so I also suggest cleaning the mould real well and making sure the vent lines are clean. I use a dental pick to GENTLY clean the vent lines on my moulds. That generally cures that type of problem with COWWs +2% tin and then add the50% lead. Continue to cast at 725+ degrees.

I also suggest you don't "pressure pour" from the ladle holding the spout against the sprue hole during filling. Hold the spout against the sprue hole when ladle and mould are in the horiztal position. As they are turned to the vertical slightly lift the spout from the sprue plate allowing a good sprue to form on top even if some runsoff the side (I hold the mould and ladle over the pot when doing this so the run off goes back into the pot). Between fills run the ladle through the pot to slightly stir the alloy and to ensure you get the hottest alloy into the ladle for the next pour.

Larry Gibson

[12DMAX]

Appears to be from a Lyman 358156?

If so I also suggest cleaning the mould real well and making sure the vent lines are clean. I use a dental pick to GENTLY clean the vent lines on my moulds. That generally cures that type of problem with COWWs +2% tin and then add the50% lead. Continue to cast at 725+ degrees.

I also suggest you don't "pressure pour" from the ladle holding the spout against the sprue hole during filling. Hold the spout against the sprue hole when ladle and mould are in the horiztal position. As they are turned to the vertical slightly lift the spout from the sprue plate allowing a good sprue to form on top even if some runsoff the side (I hold the mould and ladle over the pot when doing this so the run off goes back into the pot). Between fills run the ladle through the pot to slightly stir the alloy and to ensure you get the hottest alloy into the ladle for the next pour.

Larry Gibson

Its actually a mint condition Ideal 358156 a buddy gave me. I just got done scrubbing the mold again and headed to the basement to cast. Will try your recomendations out.

[dverna]

To get good bullets at a high production rate I have used a wet cloth and put the sprue plate on the cloth for a few seconds to cool it off a bit. This is with a 10 cavity H&G.

It may not do much for you but it is a cheap thing to try.

Don

[12DMAX]

Ok, things went really good tonight. I cast +- 150 and had no issues. I do believe what was happenning was a venting issue. I have to force lead into this mold to get good fillout cannot pour it in so I tried larry's method of pulling the ladle up off the sprue once horizontal very messy till i got the hang of it. I didnt need to slow down at all tonight. I am not calling this good yet, i will keep going and see.

[JIMinPHX]

This mold will not take lead without pressure pouring.

This makes me think that you probably have a venting problem.

[12DMAX]

This makes me think that you probably have a venting problem.

I have made sure all the vent lines are open. I really struggle trying to stream the lead in, cavities fill ok but i just dont get nice square bands like i do when pressure pouring.

[JIMinPHX]

I'm a little shy to recommend that an inexperienced person improve their venting, because it is very easy to damage a set of blocks when you try to do that sort of thing. How handy are you with a precision file?

[12DMAX]

I'm a little shy to recommend that an inexperienced person improve their venting, because it is very easy to damage a set of blocks when you try to do that sort of thing. How handy are you with a precision file?

should'nt be a problem, recommend away i'm all ears.

[220swiftfn]

Ok, things went really good tonight. I cast +- 150 and had no issues. I do believe what was happenning was a venting issue. I have to force lead into this mold to get good fillout cannot pour it in so I tried larry's method of pulling the ladle up off the sprue once horizontal very messy till i got the hang of it. I didnt need to slow down at all tonight. I am not calling this good yet, i will keep going and see.

Now THAT looks good........ The thing to remember is that you're LADLE casting, so the way to do it isn't to hold and pour, it's to mate the ladle and mold horizontally and rotate up to vertical, PAUSE, twist and lift the ladle to leave a sprue puddle. If you don't pause, you wind up starving the mold (it's not really "pressure casting" with a ladle, not the same head pressure as 10-20 pounds of lead behind it.....)



Dan

[12DMAX]

Now THAT looks good........ The thing to remember is that you're LADLE casting, so the way to do it isn't to hold and pour, it's to mate the ladle and mold horizontally and rotate up to vertical, PAUSE, twist and lift the ladle to leave a sprue puddle. If you don't pause, you wind up starving the mold (it's not really "pressure casting" with a ladle, not the same head pressure as 10-20 pounds of lead behind it.....)





Dan

Thanks220, I do as you said with the ladle on all my molds but i was having a booger of a time with this one, larry mentioned lifting the ladle just as i came vertical and for now that seemed to have corrected my problem.