Casting ingots....need help

[mrblue]

So i melted some lead, poured it into a nice cup cake pan. Let it harden a bit and well Now i can't get them out, they seem to be stuck in the pan. I attempted to get one out and broke the pan. ANy help or do i got to melt it all down again. the pan is aluminum. Do i have to coat the pots first or not use aluminum any suggestions.

[Wal']

Is the pan zinc by any chance ???????

[GARCIA]

Steel is your friend!
Think you lost the ingots but you might want to try to smelt it back down on low heat to recover your lead.
I picked up an all steel muffin tin at wallyworld for like $12. Got the heaviest one I could find. It was made by "ONEIDA". Same company that made bayonets during WWII. Works great.
Hit the yard sales and try to find you an old cast iron one as they are the best.

Tom

[mongoosesnipe]

I spray mold release into the cup cake pan before I cast ingots that said melting them back down is probably you best bet at this point

[dragon813gt]

Wrong material for the application. You can melt them back out. Buy a steel pan, sit it outside in the rain and let it rust some. You won't have any sticking issues ever again.

[captaint]

Try to get the ones that are NOT soldered together. Needless to say, that don't work out real well. Let the steel ones rust a little. Makes the ingots fall out easier. Mike

[350Gr]

I'm a NewB too and had that problem, I took a propane torch, inverted the pan over my cold melting pot and put the heat to the bottom side of the cupcake pan and they melted out. Might try that.

350Gr

[jcameron996]

I had the same problem. Pretty much destroyed the muffin tin on the first use. Some of the ingots came out but some seemed to weld themselves in. I gave up on the muffin tins and just bought ingot molds. Read on here that some people were using the stainless steel condiment cups from wally world. You can pick them up for about 25 cents a piece. I got a bunch of them but haven't had a chance to try them yet.

[Sasquatch-1]

If you have a Cracker Barrel restaraunt near you they sell the cast iron corn cob corn bread molds. Pick up a couple of these. They work great in the small bottom pour pots. The only thing is that you can probably buy dedicated ingot molds for the same price or maybe cheaper. The condimnent cups work great and are cheap. One member here actually mounted them on a steel bar to make them easier to handle. If you use the condement cups and a small pot only fill the cups half way. They will fit better.

[surfanarchist]

61127

$18 at Amazon. Cast iron. Each slice weighs about 2 pounds (lead, not cornbread).

[Smitty's Retired]

61127

$18 at Amazon. Cast iron. Each slice weighs about 2 pounds (lead, not cornbread).

You apparently have never eaten my sister-in-law's cornbread!!

[Le Loup Solitaire]

The skillet style "triangle" mold shown in the last two posts is cast iron and was originally made by Wagner. A new and very similar version is now made by Lodge and is reasonably priced. Also made by Lodge is a "corncob" mold and that is not expensive, around $10. There is no need to rust them or beat on them as lead will not stick to cast iron. Nor do you have to fill the compartments up to the brim...bigger-heavier ingots tend to freeze your pot and take longer to get up to the casting temp that you had/want. LLS

[superbee]

After suffering a similar muffin pan fiasco on my first ingot pouring attempt, I spent about $10 on a Lee ingot mold. It has worked flawlessly for me right out of the box every single time, as is and un-modified - one of my better $10 investments. I'm sure the Lyman ingot mold would work just fine too.

I used a small propane torch to melt the lead out of the muffin pan.

[Ed_Shot]

The cheap'o dark gray non-stick muffin pans at W-mart are great for ingots. Your lead never sticks and mine are lasting for years. It's a plus that the muffin ingots fit easily in your casting pot.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Lee ingot mold
https://fsreloading.com/lee-precision-ingot-mold-90029.html
makes ingots that stack real nice.

[ranger1962]

I like the corncob pans they are available at wall mart or gibsons made by lodge