NEW to casting, quick questions

[cdngunner]

I tried using a muffin pan but something didnt look right with the pan or the ingots. The pan did not pop out the ingots cleanly, looks like the pan is now coated in a very thin layer of lead. The ingots seemed porous, right there I thought the pan might have been zinc coated but the pan never saw temps hot enough to melt zinc. I re-melted the ingots and used my tiny cast iron pan to make ingots. The ingots turned out a lot cleaner but now have crystaline structures which reflect light like a disco ball.

http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t477/yomma4/IMG_20140402_203642_zps8b8f3da3.jpg
http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t477/yomma4/IMG_20140402_203659_zps1db89e43.jpg

Again the pics dont do it justice but you can see a bit of it.

thanks

[Love Life]

Don't sweat it.

[canyon-ghost]

Lead is a crystalline structure. You've got minute amounts of impurities, no problem.

[ShooterAZ]

Muffin pans will stick when new...especially if they are teflon or coated. Once the coating burns off, they should dump right out. The ingots look fine to me.

[cdngunner]

Excellent.....GTG

[Walter Laich]

keep doing what you are doing

[Pb2au]

Carry on. It's an ingot, not a space shuttle. As stated above, the coating on the pan was probably cooking off, causing the effect you saw.
Now get to work and make some bullets. They are far more interesting than ingots.

[runfiverun]

if you seen a pock marked surface that looked like the moons surface on your ingots that was something [Teflon most likely] gassing out on the muffin pan.
if you got the tin coated pans the ingots will melt the tin and they will stick, you usually end up bashing the pan flat getting the ingots out of these.

[TMenezes]

Get a different ingot tin or use your cast iron thingy. As for the reflective bits, don't worry about them. They should go away when your cast them into boolits. Ingots are just ingots, nothing more. I use a cast iron pan that looks like it was intended to make those triangular corn dodgers. Couldn't find a steal pan that didn't have some sort of Teflon coating. Only bad part is that its heavy to start with and gets massively heavy when its full of lead.

[zuke]

Old aluminum mold's will work out a lot better. Garage sale season soon

[cdngunner]

Old aluminum mold's will work out a lot better. Garage sale season soon

Zuke, old boy, you get around :)

[BPrezPB]

Old aluminum mold's will work out a lot better. Garage sale season soon

Ooh interesting, I had thought aluminum was a nono. Ill have to try some now "thumbsup"

[SSGOldfart]

aluminum muffin pans about $1.50 at the dollar store work great

[SSGOldfart]

Old aluminum sauce pots will melt through on you,I think they get much hotter as the lead gets deeper,but muffin pans work good just don't try using one from your kitchen wife or mother will not be happy about that:coffeecom

[Smoke4320]

seasoning the cast iron pans seems to help ingot release as well .. Coat with pam spray and cook off
worked great on Beone's ingot molds as well

[trucker76]

Ooh interesting, I had thought aluminum was a nono. Ill have to try some now "thumbsup"

My ingot molds from Lyman are made from cast aluminum.

[zuke]

Zuke, old boy, you get around :)

Yes I do :coffee:

I saw a couple aluminum muffin pan's at Value village 2 day's ago. They were $1 each.

[pretzelxx]

I spent $5 on my nonstick pan, works great! I forgot some ingots in the pan today for about an hour, came back and I tapped them out just fine.

And I also have a thin layer of lead left over. Doesn't hurt anything. And besides the ingots don't have to be spotless, you'll melt them down anyway

[cdngunner]

My inner redneck came out. Grabbed the welder, chop saw and some angle iron. Cut a few pieces about 4 " long, welded longer pieces across the ends.

Down and dirty, they drop out about 7/8 of a pound

101659

[zuke]

Nice work!

[Love Life]

That's kind of cool!

[cdngunner]

So, solved my muffin tin problem.

Threw the dang thing in my wood burning stove.

Took it out when it was cold. Brushed it off and used it. No problem, my muffins popped out easy-peasy.

[Whitespider]

L-O-L
The best release agent for those tin-coated muffin pans is a bit of rust. First thing ya' do is toss 'em in a self-cleaning oven for a while to burn off the tin, then lightly scuff them with 200-400 grit sandpaper, then set them in a damp spot for a week or so (like a well pit, or damp cellar) until they get a patina of rust in 'em. Those ingots will near jump out'a the cavities by themselves.
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