Mold heater

[JSH]

I had good intentions of putting this up all summer.
Lady at work cleaned out her garage. She threw out an old electric skillet. So it gets hot, dang, should be some use for CB's some how......... I took the sawsall to it and cut the sides down flush with the bottom, like a griddle.
I use that thing a lot now. Preheat molds and ingots. I was trying several different bullets and didn't like loosing the first 5-6 castings to the junk pile till the mold got heated up. I can get several molds and a bunch of ingots on it all at the same time. Works really nice on the 6 bangers. Now after the mold sets on there for 15-20 minutes about 2 drops and it is slinging them out nicely. Also plug it in and heat up my FWFL to pour into my sizer when need be.
Jeff

[13Echo]

A mould heater is a good idea. I bought a cheap hotplate from Wally World and made a small housing out of sheet metal to make a small oven for the moulds, that way they are soaking in hot air instead of just heating from the bottom. A bar-b-cue thermometer shows I'm heating the entire block to a least 500deg F. A piece of sheet metal on the coils helps keep the mould from direct contact. If you are heating aluminum moulds it would be a good idea if the mould was raised a bit off the coils.

Jerry Liles

[HvyMtl]

Hello to all, [smilie=s:

A mould heater is a good idea. I bought a cheap hotplate from Wally World and made a small housing out of sheet metal to make a small oven for the moulds, that way they are soaking in hot air instead of just heating from the bottom. A bar-b-cue thermometer shows I'm heating the entire block to a least 500deg F. A piece of sheet metal on the coils helps keep the mould from direct contact. If you are heating aluminum moulds it would be a good idea if the mould was raised a bit off the coils

Written by

Jerry Liles

2 cents worth, I'm not an electrician so I don't know what its called but I use an electrical box for the above mentioned application. The mold fits right inside with the handles sticking out.

Ken

[13Echo]

HvyMtl, That's a good idea, easily obtained and you don't need to cut or rivit. I decided to make mine to cover the entire hotplate surface to capture as much heat as possible and make room for more than one mould if necessary. I just cut the pieces out of thin galvanized steel and pop rivited them together. There is a door that has a hole for the handles that helps keep the heat in. I have a high temp bar-b-cue thermometer in the top so I can make certain the moulds are getting hot enough. Overkill perhaps, but what the heck, it was fun to build. It sure does make a difference in how fast I get good bullets.

Jerry Liles

[beagle]

All good ideas. My bench is so cluttered that I don't have room for any more gadgets. I use a piece of rat wire about 8" square over the pot on the Pro Melt. By the time the lead's hot, the mould is normally pretty warm also. If I'm using two or three moulds, they go on the back housing.

But, if you have room, the electrical way is the way to go./beagle