Newer to casting, observations and questions.

[bearstopper]

I have been reading and collecting casting equipment for many years but for some reason didn't get around to actually casting until a couple years ago and since then only about 4 sessions. Got a Lyman Mould Master and seems to be quality stuff. So, just got a SC 452423 to go with my 625 JM and had to immediately try it out. It began casting horrible bullets from the get go and did not improve. Maxed out, the pot heats to around 700º according to a slightly damaged (dropped the dial into the pot for a split second) Lyman thermometer. My gut feeling was that it seemed to be taking much longer to fill the mould than before, so I emptied the pot with a ladle and sure enough needed to clear the spout. To my surprise it began casting perfect bullets from a now cold mould which has never happened to me before. So apparently pour velocity is more important than mould temp in this case. When things heated up I started to get frosted bullets and so lowered the temp a little and worked well. As the melt cooled the pour slowed again eventually resulting in poor bullets again. So I again emptied the pot and cleared the spout and cast a bunch more.

Is it common to be able to cast beautiful bullets from a cold mould?

What temperature is the happy medium to avoid frosted bullets?

What is the max temperature that my furnace should heat my lead? Lyman Mould Master XX in near new condition.(Trying to determine if maybe my damaged thermometer is reading incorrectly)

[Tatume]

First, don't be too concerned about frosted bullets. Lightly frosted bullets are usually good bullets.

Don't know about your Lyman pot, but my Lee 20 pound pots will go to about 800F. If you're getting frosted bullets I suspect you're well above 700F.

Clearing the pour spout of a bottom pour pot can sometimes be done with a piece of bent wire, being careful to not burn yourself. I prefer ladle casting for this and other reasons, but use a bottom pour pot for pure lead bullets.

Nice bullets from a cold mold is uncommon, and I suspect your mold is hotter than you think.

Take care, Tom

[AlaskanGuy]

What kind of pot are you using?.... Also, are you putting ingots in your pot or something else?... What are you fluxing with?.. If you are having that much trouble pouring, seems like you might be using lead that is not clean. If you are using a lee pot, there is a screw that you will need to twist every once in a while to keep things flowing correctly... Either way, you should not be clogging your spout that often.... Need answers in order to figure it out.. And pics are always good.

AG

[Garyshome]

I find Pour velocity is very important. But the molds need to be warmed up also.

[paul h]

Is it common to be able to cast beautiful bullets from a cold mould?

I'd say it's almost impossible to cast a nice bullet from a cold mold unless you're using alot of tin. Mostly cold molds yield a wrinkly shriveled incompletely filled mess. Even if you don't have wrinkles, carefully inspect the base and lube grooves for rounding

What temperature is the happy medium to avoid frosted bullets?

Embrace frosty bullets. All that you should be considered with is getting a completely filled bullet with nice sharp base and edges at transitions to lube grooves, canalure etc. Sometimes you can get nicely filled bullets w/o frost, sometimes you can't.

[Okie73]

I have been reading and collecting casting equipment for many years but for some reason didn't get around to actually casting until a couple years ago and since then only about 4 sessions. Got a Lyman Mould Master and seems to be quality stuff. So, just got a SC 452423 to go with my 625 JM and had to immediately try it out. It began casting horrible bullets from the get go and did not improve. Maxed out, the pot heats to around 700º according to a slightly damaged (dropped the dial into the pot for a split second) Lyman thermometer. My gut feeling was that it seemed to be taking much longer to fill the mould than before, so I emptied the pot with a ladle and sure enough needed to clear the spout. To my surprise it began casting perfect bullets from a now cold mould which has never happened to me before. So apparently pour velocity is more important than mould temp in this case. When things heated up I started to get frosted bullets and so lowered the temp a little and worked well. As the melt cooled the pour slowed again eventually resulting in poor bullets again. So I again emptied the pot and cleared the spout and cast a bunch more.

Is it common to be able to cast beautiful bullets from a cold mould?

What temperature is the happy medium to avoid frosted bullets?

What is the max temperature that my furnace should heat my lead? Lyman Mould Master XX in near new condition.(Trying to determine if maybe my damaged thermometer is reading incorrectly)

I start with a question.How much does the spout hang down on your pot? The reason I ask is because it sounds like your temp is dropping to much and your spout is freezing not clogging. I have this happen on my Lee 4-20 if temps drop much below 650 or to much breeze. Just a thought. Try heating the spout with a mini torch for just a few seconds the next time this happens and it could save you from having to empty the pot.

[bangerjim]

1) if you are using 100% clean ingots to cast with and do NOT use saw dust in your casting pot, you should never have a plugged spigot. I NEVER have that problem....only use bees wax to reduce tin back into my 110% clean lead. You flux with wood dust in your smelting pot to get all the crud out B4 pouring your ingots. Heating the spigot does make lead flow after adding more ingots many times.

2) YES........you CAN get perfect boolits with a cold mold. (!!) Use pressure casting. I have found since discovering this little talked-about and much-maligned procedure, you can get perfect boolits from the 1st one. You simply start with at FULL (important for pressure) pot and put the sprue plate hole of your mold right up against the spigot on you bottom pour. It is shaped that way for a reason! Fill the cavities and dump perfect boolits. Still........I pre-heat all my molds for casting on a hot plate. I have a 45-250 mold I need to use this on to get good slugs even with a hot mold.

3) Frosty boolits are not a problem. In fact I like them. I PC all my slugs and the frosty surface allows the PC to stick even better......or it seems to. Some claim it leads to a size problem, but I have not encountered that problem in MANY cast frosties.

Good casting!

banger

[Bret4207]

Each mould is a law unto itself. Some cast great when cooler than others. Some want a spout to sprue hole contact pressure pour, some want an air drop, some want dead center, some want off center. As far as the frosting goes, you have 2 temps to consider- pot temp and mould temp. You control the pot temp with the thermostat or PID. Mould temp you control by varying your casting rate. If the moulds getting hot but the pot is working right, then slow down a bit and the mould will cool. If it's not getting hot enough, pick up the pace and it'll get hotter. As has been said, light to moderately frosted, evenly frosted, boolits are great. Don't worry about them, they'll be the best filled out ones usually.

Your plugging issue sounds like either a cold spout or krap in the mix. I've been using sawdust for flux for years with zero issues. Figure out which one the problem is and go from there.

[bearstopper]

I do believe that the first time it clogged due to failure to properly clean it after extended non use and the last session. The second time was due to freezing since I was trying to lower the temp to see if the frost would go away. I fixed it by using an oversize sewing needle with the pot empty but on. I tried to find my propane torch to unfreeze the nozzle the second time but I haven't used it in so long and have moved I am unsure where it might be. I will be on top of it from here on out.