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Jon
11-10-2013, 06:35 AM
I'm getting a bit low on bullets for the 45 and 38 so I dug out the Lee 10lb Production pot. Granted it was 42F with a bit of a breeze, but I couldn't get a decent cast at all. Everything was coming up with wrinkles. I set up a wind break, but it didn't seem to help.

is the 4-20 pot a bit better at heating and recovery? I know it has a 700w element vs the 500w smaller pot.

Time for a thermometer I guess just to make sure. :-?

Beagle333
11-10-2013, 10:06 AM
I haven't noticed a difference. I ladle mine out of both a 10 and 20# Lee, but 720 degree lead is 720 degree lead. Perhaps your mold isn't getting/staying hot enough. Try protecting it better from the wind and casting faster?

Dusty Bannister
11-10-2013, 10:19 AM
A thermometer might be a good idea. I tend to cast with aluminum molds and they like hot and fast tempo in melt and mold temp, so I end up with frosted bullets that are well filled out. I cast in an unheated shed so the breeze is not a problem. I do use an exhaust fan for safety of course.

I also use the bottom pour pot, and suspect you might be using one also and not a dipper. If you allow too much drop from the nozzle to the mold, you do lose a lot of "heat" as the air passes the thin stream of alloy. It looks like you can work with some of those factors and perhaps overcome the lower temp. By the way, my 4-20 tends to suffer from "nozzle freeze" in really colder weather because the nozzle is the furthest point from the heating elements. The 4-10 nozzle is closer to the heating element and does not seem to be so sensative.

Increase the heat.
Stop the breeze by using some kind of shelter.
Faster tempo.
Allow the sprue plate to nearly contact the pot nozzle when filling the mold to keep things really hot.
Keep the mold hot by preheating with a hot plate, and have a covered box to keep the mold up to temp when you are not filling or dumping the mold.

I find that the smaller the castings, the more sensative to low ambient temps. Perhaps you can cast the 45 on cooler days, and the 38 on warmer days with a low breeze? Good luck. Dusty

osteodoc08
11-10-2013, 10:29 AM
Try heating your mold up on a hot plate. How much tin in your alloy?

If using two molds at the same time, they are likely cooling too much. What type mold are you using?

groundsclown
11-10-2013, 10:30 AM
Do you not have a garage? What about a back porch?
I'm gonna throw this out there, granted this is WHAT I DO...I'm SURE someone will come along & gasp & talk about the horrors of such recklessness but here it goes.

Obviously I smelt in the backyard like most but for casting, I cast....GASP_indoors_GASP

I know, right? Cue up the doomsdayers in 3..2..1..<knock knock> Dianne Feinstein is at my door telling me to think of the children![smilie=b:

Now I'm not saying everyone should start casting in their living room while watching Oprah with their spouse, 3.2 kids, 1 dog, 2 cats etc etc.
For me I cast in the back room, AKA a "florida room" here in..well, FL:grin: Its also where I reload & computer is set up. I'm not vaporizing lead here. I dont nibble on the sprues, as tempting as it may be & wash my hands everytime I get up to do or touch something else. (goes for handling cast as well while reloading)
I flux very well when smelting & none what so ever while casting. So no house full of smoke....as nice as burning cedar or pine may be, it belongs outside.
I got no 3.2 kids to distract me.
My 2 well mannered (read NO LAP)dogs go to the backyard when casting. So no cold wet noses to get burned should something bad happen.
No carpet in the back room. Its terrazzo tile...darn near bomb proof. So if a spill or accident should happen, it's only ME that I have to worry about, not the carpet, linoleum, pergo floor...exotic rosewood floor..etc

Best of all, my wife is very grounded & realistic. I dont run an operation like say Missouri Bullets in my living room. I cast maybe twice a month for 2-3 hours. Theres REALLY and I mean SERIOUSLY worse things in everyday life to worry about.

If you cant get away with doing it inside & I understand completely that most guys cant, I'd find a back porch or maybe purchase a shed..even used from craigslist. Friends, relative or neighbor got a garage you could use?
Depending on your job, is it feasible to go cast there for a few hours on your day off? Yeah yeah I know. Its the LAST place you wanna be on your day off.
I wish you luck.

Rob

longbow
11-10-2013, 10:33 AM
I've cast outside at as low as 5 degrees F and often at below freezing... however, I am using a propane stove and cast iron pot. Point is if you get the lead hot enough and keep the mould hot you can cast in cold weather.

Not sure how well insulated the electric pots are but I certainly have no problems with propane heat.

You do have to cast fast thought to keep mould temperature up.

Longbow

Lefty Red
11-10-2013, 11:39 AM
I use to go to my "man cave", my garage, and open the door and cast. I would be wearing my Carahartts and it was cold! Still made some nice boolits!

Lefty

engineer401
11-10-2013, 11:57 AM
I've cast when it is 15 degrees and the air is still. The bullets were as good as when cast any other times. I used a 10# Lee dripper and aluminum molds from Mountain Molds and Accurate Molds. Not a problem.

wmitty
11-10-2013, 08:11 PM
Here in north Texas it has finally cooled down enough to allow casting outside without dripping sweat in the melt...

propwashp47
11-10-2013, 08:38 PM
glad you got good temps for casting. I draw the line at 3 beach towels to mop up sweat for 200 boolets,i am in centex. come on cold fronts

Fishman
11-10-2013, 08:57 PM
Yes it is casting weather here in central Texas but it is also hunting season. Decisions, decisions.

lead chucker
11-10-2013, 09:12 PM
I built a covered area off my garage it's open on one end so I can cast out there. I used to cast in the garage with the garage door up but had to turn it into a taxidermy studio.

Jon
11-11-2013, 10:30 AM
Thanks guys, I don't have a garage to cast in. I've been casting outside. I do have a hotplate somewhere that I picked up to preheat molds, but haven't used it yet. Hopefully it's not too far buried anywhere.

The setup was a LEE 10lb bottom pour pot, and a 6 cavity 230gr .452 mold. The pour could have been a bit closer to the spout than it was. I'll try that next weekend.

snuffy
11-11-2013, 12:46 PM
quote/Do you not have a garage? What about a back porch?
I'm gonna throw this out there, granted this is WHAT I DO...I'm SURE someone will come along & gasp & talk about the horrors of such recklessness but here it goes.

Obviously I smelt in the backyard like most but for casting, I cast....GASP_indoors_GASP/quote/

Me too! If I didn't cast in my loading room, I would maybe have 50 days out of a year to cast outdoors. Here in WI., that's how many days I could do it outside. Then, I would probably have something else I had to do.

Forget the extreme left trying to rid society of all lead products, and their myths and outright lies about lead poisoning. If you must, you can easily rig an exhaust fan to the outside, or just close the door to the man cave and open a window.

A cold wind passing your mold is exactly why you're getting wrinkled boolits. Aluminum is really good at conducting heat! Get a shelter of some kind to create dead air, no air movement, past the mold and pot. Problem solved!

CastingFool
11-11-2013, 12:59 PM
I experienced a similar situation. trying to cast .452 bullets in an unheated breezeway (so I was out of the wind) 44 deg. using a dc lee mold. Bullets kept coming out wrinkled, so I finally gave up.

mckenziedrums
11-11-2013, 02:01 PM
I'm a newbie caster... only had one other casting session back about a month ago that was my first. I busted out the Lee 6 cavity 255gr for my 45 colt and rocked out 400 perfect boolits. Two nights ago I finally had a chance to try it again and this time with a fancy NOE HP mold... Could not get good fill out to save my life. Going to hopefully try again tonight after cleaning it a second time and really hoping it wasn't the cold air. At one point I ran the pot up above 800 degrees to account for the temp but just always had some little defect so I'm hoping it was more the cleaning than anything.

snuffy
11-11-2013, 02:47 PM
[QUOTE=mckenziedrums;2471635]I'm a newbie caster... only had one other casting session back about a month ago that was my first. I busted out the Lee 6 cavity 255gr for my 45 colt and rocked out 400 perfect boolits. Two nights ago I finally had a chance to try it again and this time with a fancy NOE HP mold... Could not get good fill out to save my life. Going to hopefully try again tonight after cleaning it a second time and really hoping it wasn't the cold air. At one point I ran the pot up above 800 degrees to account for the temp but just always had some little defect so I'm hoping it was more the cleaning than anything.[/QUOTE

It was that the mold was not hot enough, PERIOD. Especially or more so than a solid nose boolit. The pins MUST stay hot as well as the rest of the mold. A hot plate is essential in that situation. Get the mold hot, then keep it hot It has little to do with the lead temp, it's the mold that was too cool.

mckenziedrums
11-11-2013, 02:54 PM
I'll pick up a cheap hot plate and give it a shot. Any idea temp wise where the sweet spot is on an aluminum mold? I should add that I went through a LOT of casting before I gave up and I was speeding up as much as possible to get the temps up. She should have been pretty darn hot by the time I called it quits.

Shiloh
11-11-2013, 03:29 PM
Not yet but soon. Although it won't last, we got our first measurable snow today.

Shiloh