Got my first melting pot the other day.

[Dave Bulla]

Well, I finally found one at an estate sale. It's a Lee but I don't know the model. Might hold ten pounds and in fact was 3/4 full when I bought it. Also got 4 or 5 muffin tin ingots with it. Bought the pot and ingots for $30. Is that a decent price? The condition is good, it was just a little dusty. Original owner used it for making sinkers and jigs.

I've got no idea what alloy the lead is but I turned it on and tried casting some boolits in my 9.3 mold from NOE that I bought over a year ago and never used yet. I didn't do anything to the mold, just started pouring boolits. Never did get any worth a darn and kept putting them back in the pot hoping that as the mold heated up they'd improve but they didn't. They were all wrinkled at least a little. If this is pure lead, would that be normal? If so, the fix would be to add some tin right? Should I have done anything to "break in" the mold? It's aluminum, not steel.

Part of the problem may have been the bottom pour spout. The stream of lead was kinda weak. In fact, it was only a dribble until I fished a wire up through it but my wire was really too small and weak to do a lot of good. I think some crud was keeping the plunger from sealing too because the more I cleaned, the faster it leaked but at some point I had it working a little better. Steam of lead was about like a pencil lead and it was only dripping a little when closed. I think I need to drain it and maybe do the charcoal cleaning I read about. Think that would help? Probably should flux the lead good before I dump it out too.

About two years ago I was getting on here quite a bit and was getting a handle on the concept of making boolits and even went to the home of a member here to get a little hands on time which helped but I never did get into it my self and now I feel like I need to start over on the learning. I'd give my friend a call but he's usually awfully busy with work and I hate to be a bother. I don't have a hardness tester either nor any tin or antimony to add if this lead happens to be "pure". Worst case I guess would be that I flux the lead, pour off into ingots then buy some known alloy or scrounge for some ww's but everywhere I ask they either don't have any, won't give them away or just got rid of them "yesterday".

[Wayne Smith]

The wrinkles could also be from your mold and/or alloy being too cool. Do you have a thermometer that can go up to about 1000 degrees? They are not expensive. On the Lee pot the numbers are not directly related to temps.

Yes, flux what is in there, dump it and then clean the pot. You will get a much stronger flow when you have a clean pot! Get some way to measure temps so you know what you are doing. A hotplate to preheat the mold is a good idea too.

[Mk42gunner]

I didn't do anything to the mold, just started pouring boolits.

Clean your mold, Dave. It really sounds like oily residues are contributing to the wrinkles.

Also drain and clean your pot, then start with clean ingots. Also preheat the mold, I preheat mine by resting it on top of the alloy; one of these years I will get an electric hotplate, but it hasn't happened yet.

Robert

[Dave Bulla]

Thanks guys. This will likely be a long slow process for me as I seldom get time to mess with it or am just too lazy. On the mold, HOW do you clean an aluminum mold? It looked and felt perfectly clean when I got it new and after pouring about 100 bullets so far, it looks exactly the same. Wouldn't all that molten lead burn off any residue? Do aluminum molds even come with any sort of coating? I mean, it's not like they will rust in storage or anything. Might be a stupid question but well... it sounds logical to me.

Also, I've got two little cast iron smelting pots and I can easily weld up some angle iron ingot molds. What is a good size? Say 2" angle 4 inches long and only pour about 2/3 to 3/4 full? I suppose I could use a muffin tin but that shape looks like it would be a hassle to stack for storing.

Last question for now that I'm sure has probably been asked before but how do you smelt with a stick and how many times or for how long? I've heard people talk about it but don't recall details. Is it just a matter of letting part of the stick burn up in the molten lead and the carbon does something to remove impurities?

Thanks.

[Mk42gunner]

Thanks guys. This will likely be a long slow process for me as I seldom get time to mess with it or am just too lazy. On the mold, HOW do you clean an aluminum mold? It looked and felt perfectly clean when I got it new and after pouring about 100 bullets so far, it looks exactly the same. Wouldn't all that molten lead burn off any residue? Do aluminum molds even come with any sort of coating? I mean, it's not like they will rust in storage or anything. Might be a stupid question but well... it sounds logical to me.

Also, I've got two little cast iron smelting pots and I can easily weld up some angle iron ingot molds. What is a good size? Say 2" angle 4 inches long and only pour about 2/3 to 3/4 full? I suppose I could use a muffin tin but that shape looks like it would be a hassle to stack for storing.

Last question for now that I'm sure has probably been asked before but how do you smelt with a stick and how many times or for how long? I've heard people talk about it but don't recall details. Is it just a matter of letting part of the stick burn up in the molten lead and the carbon does something to remove impurities?

Thanks.

I scrub new and new to me molds with dawn dish soap (20,000 ducks can't be wrong) and hot water, using an old toothbrush. Then rinse with hot water and let dry.

I have used muffin tins for ingots, they are a PITA to store. Angle iron makes a much better ingot mold and the triangular shape stacks much better. I make mine from whatever angle iron I have laying around, I like 1 1/2" best. As to the length, I go with anything from 8- 10 1/2". That way I can lay them across the top of the lee or RCBS pot to preheat while I am creating space for them by casting boolits. Three or four wide is plenty, also cut at a slight angle to produce a slight draft, and weld the outside of the V to prevent locking the new ingot in the mold.

The 10 1/2" length came from BruceB years ago, he had posted that would fit in a .50 cal ammo can for neat storage.

Fluxing with a stick while smelting-- after the WW melt and you skim the clips, take a dry stick and stir the liquid alloy. The stick will char, which is what is actually helping to clean the alloy. I can't explain it very well, I suggest you look up some of gearnasher's posts about fluxing/reducing.

The fluxing stage doesn't take very long; I stir with a stick a few times then skim the dross until the alloy looks clean-- (a judgement call), then ladle into ingots, let them set up, dump and repeat.

Hope this helps,

Robert