Taming of the sprue

[BBQJOE]

I borrowed a mold from a friend. he does this to all his sprue plates. He does it with a demel. It makes it easier to pour. You just hit the stream right between the two holes instead of filling them individally sort of.

Anyone else do this?

[MtGun44]

I have a few used molds that previous owners have done variants of this. Doesn't
seem to provide any real benefit that I can see.

Bill

[Echd]

Seems a solution in search of a problem to me. I don't see how it could cause real problems but it doesn't really fix anything.

[gray wolf]

Waste of time .

[Threepersons]

I make my own sprue plates. Some are made of half inch hard
plate. That gives me a very large well to fill with alloy. Works very
well on some molds.

[45-70 Chevroner]

Waste of time .

Ditto!!!!

[Bigslug]

I've never done cut my own, but have come to prefer grooved factory sprue plates. I start with the near cavity under the spout pulling the mold towards me along a home-built guide fence as I fill, and the grooves seem to make for a neater, faster pour that helps to keep the hot metal more directly above the cavity where it can do some good rather than puddling all over the place. Unlike your friend though, I'm pouring directly into each individual cavity as much as possible, using the groove for overflow control rather than attempting to pour between holes.

[ku4hx]

If it works for you, go for it. But since I cast mostly from Lee six cavity molds, I don't see where it's anything more than a rather crude looking gimmick. One of my molds actually prefers the alloy stream to hit the sloped part of the pour hole so the lead sort of swirls into the mold. I don't think it'd work there for me and I try my best in my old age to not fix what ain't broke as often as possible.

I kind of like those little flying saucer amoeba-looking sprue chunks anyway . Back in my youth when I had more lead that I could ever use, and it was cheap, those little flying sauces were great fun to launch with a wrist rocket type sling shot. You never knew exactly what crazy flight path they were going to take. Fun as all getout to shoot out over a pond. Never hit a thing but the water but I always felt the turtles were laughing at me.

[Dusty Bannister]

Many years ago I did that to one of my Lyman molds. It was a much wider groove and never really showed any benefit. I would not recommend doing it now. Call it a learning experience and let it go at that. Dusty

[dverna]

H&G had a deep groove cut between the holes in the sprue plate and they made some of the best molds ever produced. I only every ladle poured my H&G and it worked very well. I poured into the hole and did not interrupt the pour when moving from hole to hole. Just allowed the melt to pool in the groove.

[dbosman]

One mroe thing I wondered about but never thought to ask.
Thanks folks.

[41 mag fan]

I think the proper way to do it is start with one hole and keep pouring in the trough to the next hole. Tom offers these for his molds. I have 1 like that and now request the normal sprue plate. I have seen no benefit or advantage to them

[Le Loup Solitaire]

H&G multi-cavity molds or as they used to be called...gang molds, came standard with the"trough' that connected the cavities so one learned to use them. Results were good. If one used a ladle, it was customary to pour going uphill, but that wasn't necessary to get good bullets...either way... orpouring "flat" worked too. Bottom pour also produced good results with the trough. Point is if it was there you could or could not use it. If you like it and decide to cut your own trough and it works for you then by all means do it and use it. I have found that when there is a choice it is better to learn the choices so that if you want to use one or the other, you can as it suits you. As a left handed person I also learned to cast right handed so I can and do-do both. It is handy if I feel that I am getting tired on one side so I can switch when I want. The good bullets are the same from either side. Anyway if the trough is there I use it; if it isn't I don't/never have cut my own..I use it as is. As long as you get good quality casts it isn't worth worrying about. LLS

[oldfart1956]

+ 1 on the H&G gang mold "trough." It's really a trough...not a little bitty groove. And it works well...with a few caveats. The mold&sprue plate better be smokin' hot. And pour from rear to front (handle to pivot/hinge) so you're pulling the mold out from under the pot as you're filling it....not pushing it under the pot. Especially if you have a mold guide on a Lyman pot. Cause if you don't the sprue freezes with the mold jammed under the pot and the mold guide won't drop low enough to allow ya to remove the mold. So now ya get to wait till the pot cools down to room temp so you can turn it upside down and remove the base...remove the mold guide and pull the mold off the spout. Go ahead...ask me how I know all that. Audie...the Oldfart..

[GLL]

I ladle cast all of my Ballisti-Cast and H&G 4-cavity molds. For me the large trough allows production that is just as fast as my bottom pour pot ! None of my other molds have this feature though. Even my molds from Accurate Molds have the standard sprue plate.

Jerry

http://www.fototime.com/B9B9633AFF48197/orig.jpg

[Kull]

I like sprue plate trough's. I ladle cast and they make it easy to continually pour from one hole to the next, or even just pour in to one hole and let the overflow fill up the next cavity and on down the line. Makes for a nice big sprue plate as well.

[R.M.]

Never had any luck using the Lyman sprue plate with the trough. Not sure why though.

[PWS]

I like the groove but only because it makes the sprue stay in one piece better!

[rush1886]

I'm a ladle caster. I did this to a sprue plate on an older Lyman 2cav 358 mold about a year ago. The original plate was damaged, a new one was on order, and I figured what the heck?
Although everyones mileage will vary, I liked the result so much, I've now done it to every mold I own except an LBT. I do make it, the trough, even in width to the pour holes,and just about 1/2 the thickness of the sprue plate, deep.

As stated, I hand pour, and what I like, is the trough allows me to end up with a large, deep sprue puddle. At least by my hand, I seem to end with fewer slugs sucking an airhole thru the sprue puddle. Therefore more even weight slugs, across the board.
I do not find much advantage in the actual pouring process, but being able to control that puddle is something I really like! I can actually finish pouring both slugs ( I primarily cast with 2 cavities) and just as the puddle begiins to skin over, I pour a top off layer.
The trimmings are nice, too. I end with a pile of sprue slugs, if you will. No spider legs or tinsel fairy wings.

As for me, I'll take the trough!!

[41 mag fan]

I ladle cast all of my Ballisti-Cast and H&G 4-cavity molds. For me the large trough allows production that is just as fast as my bottom pour pot ! None of my other molds have this feature though. Even my molds from Accurate Molds have the standard sprue plate.

Jerry

http://www.fototime.com/B9B9633AFF48197/orig.jpg


Now that sprue plate trough is different than the one I have and looks like it'd work better. I actually see a benefit to a trough like the one in the picture.
Thanks for posting this pic GLL!!