How long till a Lee 10 lb bottom pour melter is ready to go?

[birddseedd]

How long should i have to wait before im not enough to pour using the lee 110v 10lb melter?

thanks

mike

[Bill in Ky]

Welcome to the forum !!
I'm new here too and I've never answered a question...always asking.. It takes my pot, which is like yours about 20 minutes, depending of course how much lead you put in it.
Sit your mold up on the ledge and let it get hot.
The boolits will tell you when everything it hot enough. If the boolit is not filled out, its too cold, if its frosted white looking, too hot.
Good luck !!

[birddseedd]

Welcome to the forum !!
I'm new here too and I've never answered a question...always asking.. It takes my pot, which is like yours about 20 minutes, depending of course how much lead you put in it.
Sit your mold up on the ledge and let it get hot.
The boolits will tell you when everything it hot enough. If the boolit is not filled out, its too cold, if its frosted white looking, too hot.
Good luck !!

Thanks.

in 20 minutes the lead is melted, but it seems to take an hour or two before its hot enough to make a decent bullet. do i need to look at taking it back?

[Love Life]

You mean the lead is melted, but it takes an hour or two for the spout to get hot enough to pour? Is that what you're saying?

Or...are you saying that after pouring into your mould for two hours, you still aren't getting good bullets?

[bangerjim]

Or buy a casting thermometer. Stick it in the lead and know the temp if you are worried about it!

I never use one......just common sense after doing it for a long time.

You do have a Production pot IV right?

On my Lee 4-20's I set the temp control between 5.5 and 6.5.

banger

[bangerjim]

We need more description on what you having problems with!!!!!!!!!

There could b 2 dozen things and more solutions to "I am not getting good boolits".........!

banger

[Yodogsandman]

Describe how your bullets are coming out during the warmup, I'll bet there's lots of good folks here that can tell you whats going on. Like a wrinkled looking bullet is alloy too cold from the pot. Fool around with how far from the spigot your mold is when you pour. Try a direct stream, try swirling it in. I had to blow on my mold between casts today to cool the mold off or I would get voids.

[Love Life]

A wrinkled bullet can also be a too cold mould or contaminated cavities. I honestly want to help, but don't know what he (or she) is asking or saying.

[birddseedd]

If i put it on 12, and leave for 20-30 mintues, it's melted, but seems its not hot enough to make good bullets. after an hour of casting they start to get better. slowly.

[birddseedd]

wrinkled, as he said.

i also put the hold on top of the pot and get it hot enough that lead wont stick to it.

[TXGunNut]

How many times do you have to add lead to cast for an hour? Does sound like something is wrong. A thermometer will take the guesswork out of it.

[birddseedd]

How many times do you have to add lead to cast for an hour? Does sound like something is wrong. A thermometer will take the guesswork out of it.

I don't have a thermometer. and when I add spruce lead or bad bullets i try to give it time to warm up again. but even at that, if it should be ready after half an hour, mine is nowhere near that.

[gray wolf]

Sorry for this little rant, it is not directed at anyone in particular.
But folks need to stop sending things back, this is the real world and sometimes things do not work and we need to take a little initiative and find out why. + it cost money to do all this back and forth and ultimately the cost is reflected in higher cost to the consumer. Not to be confused with getting something that is obviously broken or just will not do what it is advertised to do, even after a cash course in engineering.
This is not a flame or an insult, and not to be taken personally. just that it seems to be happening more and more. Sometimes folks just don't understand the equipment they are trying to use, casting bullets is not plug and play.
May I ask what your alloy is and what temp you are trying to melt it at. Do you have a thermometer ?
The #,s on the pot are not true temp settings but rather a reference for the user to guess what the temp may or may not be. The more knowing folks that do not use a thermometer are very good at what they do and after trial and error mixed with years of experience have developed a sort of sixth sense for what they do.
For instance, WW metal will slush up at about 450 470* and many times will be fluid at about 550*
You can stir it, and see it's liquid, but it is not always ready to cast, it may only look that way.
The metal will at times need to be hotter in order to flow from the bottom spout.

100 to 150* over liquidized will most times work, if your pot is just hot enough to melt the lead and not hot enough to flow, or make good bullets you need to turn it up a little, but then you also need to know when to turn it down, ( thermometer will help ) It sounds like your melt depended on what is known as time and temperature. ( it finally heat soaked long enough to flow and make bullets. )

If you had it cranked all the way up and still had a failure to get up to temp and make bullets in 20 or 25 Min.
then sure you may have a bad pot. So could you please tell a little more about what efforts entailed.
********************
After reading some of your post, (( I guess i type to slow )) it may be your mold is not hot enough or has not been cleaned enough or properly. You could be casting to slow,
or spending to much time looking at the bullets and letting the mold cool off.

If the metal is flowing from the pot it should make good bullets but you need to cast at a speed that will cooperate with and be in harmony with the temp of the metal. within reason of course.


GW

[birddseedd]

You realize, the whole point of this thread was for me to find out if mine is defective or not.... before actually taking it back...

heat all the way up, half hour or more, not even half way hot enough to caste unwrinkled bullets.

if others can do it in half an hour, then mine has to be bad.

[gray wolf]

Well it sounds like you made up your mind, send it back and let us know how the new pot works out.
Sometimes we need to ask questions while in the prossess of trying to help.
My post was all about trying to help.


You realize, the whole point of this thread was for me to find out if mine is defective or not.... before actually taking it back...
But do you realize the questions that we asked were to find out if what you were doing was defective.
It's how help is given and gotten, we ask, you tell.

[birddseedd]

Welcome to the forum !!
I'm new here too and I've never answered a question...always asking.. It takes my pot, which is like yours about 20 minutes, depending of course how much lead you put in it.
Sit your mold up on the ledge and let it get hot.
The boolits will tell you when everything it hot enough. If the boolit is not filled out, its too cold, if its frosted white looking, too hot.
Good luck !!

if this guy's pot takes 20 minutes or so and his hot enough to work, and mine takes an hour +, that would indicate that mine is defective? or is my logic wrong?

this is all im trying to find out. i get wrinkled bullets, a sign of low temps, even if i wait 40 minutes before casting.

[s mac]

Like it was suggested, your melt may be hot enough, your mold may not be, cast a little faster.

[Love Life]

I still don't know how to address your problem.

Was your mould cleaned well? Does the alloy flow from the spout? What is your casting tempo? I run my alloy just hot enough to flow from the spout and I have no issues getting nicely cast boolits.

[birddseedd]

flows fine. i scrubbed scrubbed the mold when i got it, even got bees wax to lube it per the instructions. just seems its not getting hot enough

[Love Life]

Cast faster. Do not stop to look at your boolits. I want you to cast until your sprue breaks and your boolits are crystallized.

[gray wolf]

lows fine. i scrubbed scrubbed the mold when i got it, even got bees wax to lube it per the instructions. just seems its not getting hot enough
OOPS, did you get any wax in the mold ? it can flow and you wont even know it.


flows fine.
Then the pot is working, [YES] [NO]

[birddseedd]

iv tried that. iv also tried making extra spruse and less spurce.

seems the only fix is to let it sit for an hour

[birddseedd]

OOPS, did you get any wax in the mold ? it can flow and you wont even know it.


Then the pot is working, [YES] [NO]

not the first session. yes 2nd. then cleaned it off for the 3rd. always same problem. not enough heat

[Love Life]

iv tried that. iv also tried making extra spruse and less spurce.

seems the only fix is to let it sit for an hour

Then you probably have a pot problem...maybe. I'm talking serious casting tempo. Cast, dump, cast, dump, cast, dump, rinse and repeat.

How long does it take for your sprue to solidify and go from shiny to dull?

Have you ever had broken sprues and bullets that look crystallized?

[birddseedd]

no frosting. by the time i get to hole 6, 1-5 are solid. 6 takes about 4 seconds to solidify

[Mk42gunner]

Since your alloy flows fine, it is probably something else causing the wrinkled boolits.

Reclean your mold with hot water and dawn dish soap. Then pre-heat the mold while your pot is warming up, it doesn't hurt to dip the front corners in the melted alloy.

Once lead doesn't cling to the mold, start casting bullets. Do not take time to look at the first ten or so. Just fill the mold, then cut the sprue as soon as it solidifies. Dump those bullets and refill the mold.

If you aren't getting three to four fill cycles per minute, you are casting to slow; assuming you are using a Lee aluminum mold.

Robert

[gray wolf]

I still don't think it's the pot, Didn't know it was a 6 hole mold.
Are you inside or outside ? Also a 6 hole mold will probably not get hot enough just sitting on top of your pot, it helps but Aluminum dissipates heat rather fast, when you do get the last hole filled how hard is it to open the sprue handle.
I am still leaning to a cold mold or still not clean, soap and water is not quite enough some times for wax removal. Like I said it's not always plug and play, and a six hole mold is not always the easiest to start out with.
This plot has thickened a little, and if you hang in I think we will get it figured out.
Wish you had a two hole mold to try,

[birddseedd]

I still don't think it's the pot, Didn't know it was a 6 hole mold.
Are you inside or outside ? Also a 6 hole mold will probably not get hot enough just sitting on top of your pot, it helps but Aluminum dissipates heat rather fast, when you do get the last hole filled how hard is it to open the sprue handle.
I am still leaning to a cold mold or still not clean, soap and water is not quite enough some times for wax removal. Like I said it's not always plug and play, and a six hole mold is not always the easiest to start out with.
This plot has thickened a little, and if you hang in I think we will get it figured out.
Wish you had a two hole mold to try,

spruce is always easy. iv tried just doing one hole at a time. same result. i can dip the mold in the alloy and it does not stick. according to instructions thats when its hot enough.

wife used some strong stuff to clean it. then i smoked it. same issue

inside or outside

[BK7saum]

I'm far from the expert, but sounds like your mold is not hot enough. When I get to hole 6 the first and 2nd are hardening. If the Sprue hardens almost immediately then the mold is too cold. In case I didn't catch it what boolit are you casting?

[BK7saum]

A thermometer would be extremely helpful. It seems that you may be trying tocompensate for a cold mold with extreme lead temperature. If so, you will oxidize the tin out of your alloy and cause additional problems with your fillout.

[454PB]

Hmmm......10 pound pot and 6 cavity mould, what could go wrong:(

You need some serious mould preheating, not just dipping it into molten lead. I use a propane torch on mine.

[BK7saum]

Do you have a hot plate that you could preheat the mold on?

[birddseedd]

I'm far from the expert, but sounds like your mold is not hot enough. When I get to hole 6 the first and 2nd are hardening. If the Sprue hardens almost immediately then the mold is too cold. In case I didn't catch it what boolit are you casting?

well. if i drip lead onto something else, seems it solidifies just as quick, heck i swear its half solidified when its sticking out of the spout. the mold and spruce has even gotten stuck to the spout itself.

[BK7saum]

A thermometer would really tell a lot of information about whats going on. Are you able to get good boolits after an hour? Really the lee pot should reach Max temp in under an hour, maybe 30 minutes or less.. never really timed it though.

And yes, if you drip lead, even 850-900 plus onto cool metal it will solidify almost immediately

[BK7saum]

A thermometer would really tell a lot of information about whats going on. Are you able to get good boolits after an hour? Really the lee pot should reach Max temp in under an hour, maybe 30 minutes or less.. never really timed it though.

And yes, if you drip lead, even 850-900 plus onto cool metal it will solidify almost immediately

[birddseedd]

after an hour or more i can get good bullets. i got about 680 good bullets. i probably did at least 1000+ in total.

[BK7saum]

What boolit, size and weight are you casting. It takes a lot more casts to get a small caliber and weight mold up to temp. The volume of lead held by the mold is only a small percentage as compared to volume or mass of the blocks. On the other hand, I have a lee 45 caliber 360ish grain mold that will go from cold to getting frosted boolits in only a few casts because there is lot of lead to transfer heat to the mold.

[birddseedd]

9mm 125grain

bought a new mold that i think is 9mm 124

[BK7saum]

Are you putting the spriest back into the pot after each cast. If so, that us continually cooling off your pot.

[birddseedd]

Are you putting the spriest back into the pot after each cast. If so, that us continually cooling off your pot.

not continually no.

[BK7saum]

Someone else will need to weigh in on that mold as I don't cast for 9mm. But that is a smallish boolit compared to the large 6 cavity blocks.

I cast some 52 grain 22 caliber in a 6 cavity block. I preheat the mold on a solid top hotplate set at medium or slightly over and let it heat for the 20 minutes or so until the pot heats up.

[BK7saum]

not continually no.

I usually just set the spriest aside until I've emptied the pot then refill, top of and allow to come up to temp.

[BK7saum]

Sprues. There! Updated my autocorrect.

[Bzcraig]

You realize, the whole point of this thread was for me to find out if mine is defective or not.... before actually taking it back...

heat all the way up, half hour or more, not even half way hot enough to caste unwrinkled bullets.

if others can do it in half an hour, then mine has to be bad.

Getting "unwrinkled boolits" has nothing to do with your pot temp as long as lead is flowing from your pot! Wrinkled boolits indicates you have a mold problem. Either it is too cool or unclean. Tell us how you have prepped your mold before using. Is it aluminum, brass or steel? How did you clean it?

How much beeswax did you use? Many beginners use too much and get wax in the mold which equals wrinkled boolits.

Next, understand you will not get good boolits consistently without lots of practice.

You do not have a pot problem.

[BK7saum]

Birddseedd,

I'll pick this back up later. Calling it a night.

Good luck and hope you get it sorted out. Im not 100% convinced your pot is bad. Without a thermometer it is hard to day. But if you are eventually getting good boolits, my gut tells me its just taking a while for the mold to get up to temp. Been there, done that.

There is a steep learning curve to casting. Sometimes it comes around quick and sometimes you have to work and work to find what works.

Brad

[birddseedd]

Getting "unwrinkled boolits" has nothing to do with your pot temp as long as lead is flowing from your pot! Wrinkled boolits indicates you have a mold problem. Either it is too cool or unclean. Tell us how you have prepped your mold before using. Is it aluminum, brass or steel? How did you clean it?

Next, understand you will not get good boolits consistently without lots of practice.

used alcohol and a tooth brush to vigorously scrub the cavities, dab it with a cloth to dry the cavities of the alcohol. touch the joints and bolts with bees wax after heating it up for a while.

wait half hour and start casting, caste for an hour. before giving up.

[birddseedd]

Birddseedd,

I'll pick this back up later. Calling it a night.

Good luck and hope you get it sorted out. Im not 100% convinced your pot is bad. Without a thermometer it is hard to day. But if you are eventually getting good boolits, my gut tells me its just taking a while for the mold to get up to temp. Been there, done that.

There is a steep learning curve to casting. Sometimes it comes around quick and sometimes you have to work and work to find what works.

Brad

thanks for the help. i can wait till i get a new mold and try it again. but it seems everyone is heating it up by placing it on top of the melter for a half hour. seems it should work the same for me.

[birddseedd]

oh. also using a lighter to get smoke on the cavities. although, it seems not much has helped. i have to pry bullets out of the dumb thing. part of why im gettig a new one. also i need a mold for tumbling lube.

[BK7saum]

One more suggestion. Heating on top of the melter does get some heat into the mold but not enough. You will need to cast quickly, cut Sprues, dump boolits and repeat several times a minute to get the required amount of heat into the mold. Don't even try to examine your boolits. The longer the mold is open the more heat you lose. When you are casting cast enough that the boolits are frosted, then you can slow down a bit.

Right now, just try to cast fast enough for frosted boolits. Then you will have developed a cadence that works.

One gauge for mold temp is how long the lead should be liquid after the pour. It should be liquid for at least 2-3 seconds. If not, then mold temp is still too low.

[birddseedd]

i did try going as fast as i could, even holding up the pour lever and moving from one cavity to the next without turning off the pour.

doesnt help that on every caste i have to grab something and pound on several bullets to get them to come out.

[BK7saum]

If your having to pry boolits out, then there is almost no way to keep enough heat in the mold

Look up the sticky on lee-menting on how to deburr the edges of the cavities.

[birddseedd]

Ill check it out. course at this point iv chucked the dumb thing across the room and put a pretty big divit in it. i followed the instructions to a T, not sure why the bullets were sticking. but it was really bad. im going to see if midway will refund it.

[BK7saum]

Sucks that you are starting out with a difficult mold. Don't get discouraged. One day in the not too distance future you'll reflect back on your struggle and be able to chuckle about it.

I do understand your frustration.

[birddseedd]

eh. seems everything i do goes this way. even my business. i woulda gave up if my wife would have let me. but putting much more time and hard work into something than its worth seems to always work out in the end. although i wish the scars in my arm would go away

[Cmm_3940]

If your boolits are sticking enough that you need to spend time prying them out, your mold is cooling off too much between pours. I am guessing you have a six cavity aluminum Lee mold? You need to fix this problem first. It sounds like your mold may have burrs on the edges of the cavities. Even a microscopic burr or rough spot will make your boolits stick. Lee molds are notorious for this, but can be made to work just fine with a little effort. See the sticky thread on Lee-menting for ideas on how to get your boolits to stop sticking. With small boolits in an aluminum mold, you need to go FAST and keep the mold HOT, or they will not fill out. You can't go fast enough if the boolits are sticking as bad as you described.

EDIT: Need to type faster; BK7saum beat me to it.. :)

[badbob454]

are you using an extension cord ? this may cut down the power

[Bzcraig]

I recommend starting over. Molds can look clean when they aren't. Clean the mold with a good degreaser, Dawn dish soap and hot water will work. Then take a toothbrush and some Comet to the cavities, you don't need to scrub hard or long just well. If your boolits are sticking and they are not frosted the mold is too cool. I know it's frustrating hearing this over and over but unless the boolits are frosted the mold isn't too hot. It shouldn't take more than a couple of taps on the hinge bolt to get the boolits to drop. As mentioned, with all the time taken to get the boolits out your mold is cooling so you can never get a head of it. Spend some money for a casting thermometer, it will help you enormously just starting out. Still would like to know more about your mold. Since you mention returning it, I assume new, but who made it and what is the material? What size boolits are you pouring? The more info you provide the better able we can advise you. What alloy are you using?

[leftiye]

Until the thermometer reads 725. If you're not being able to get the lead hot enough, try using a mold heater during casting after dropping the boolit, inspect it whilst heating the mold on the mold heater. And get a new (nother) pot.

[Moonman]

You can also just call Donnie, at Bayou Bullets, He can sell you some great projectiles
coated with HI-TEK polymer coatings (No Leading, NO MESSY LUBES, the coating is the lube).

Load them up and go shoot.

Casting is not for everyone, Buy some projectiles, load em' up,

GO SHOOT AND HAVE SOME FUN.

[gray wolf]

OK, just by a chance and I know it's if-E BUT !
Is it possible that some 220 V parts got into your melter by accident at the factory
or you got a 220V thermostat. I am not an electronics person and just a last ditch effort to come up with something.

[Pb2au]

The Lee six cavity mold can be a bit of trial. The end game is exactly what the others have said.
1) Start over. Completely clean the mold again. I know you are tired of cleaning, but humor us! :mrgreen: Especially since we know there is a high possibility that beeswax has migrated over the surface of the mold.
2) When it is dry, grab a magnifying glass and carefully inspect the edges of cavities. The last two 6 cavity molds I received had very tiny burrs along the cavities. Using a sharp exacto knife, gently flick them off. Gently!!!!
3) Find a wooden match stick and gently rub the edges of the cavities. This will gently burnish the edge without damaging the mold.
4) Head over to the auto parts store and buy a tube of anti-seize. Using a Q-tip, get a microscopic amount of the anti-seize on it and touch the alignment pins.
5) Same Q-tip, put a microscopic amount on the leading edge of the sprue cutter. Take your finger and spread it along the mold side of the cutter. Again, a MICROSCOPIC amount! You should see just barely a haze. This is enough.
6) Preheat the mold. Those 6 cavities need the heat. If you have an old hot plate, that can help. If not, let the mold sit on top of the pot for a half hour while you are doing something else. No smoke needed in the mold cavities.
7) Start casting. As Love Life said perfectly, just keep casting. No gawking at bullets, just find a tempo and go. The introduction of the lead into the mold will sink more heat into it, this is good. Soon, the cavities will fill out and your boolits will be fine.
8) As you are casting, keep a couple of ingots preheating on the top of the pot. That way when you add them, there will be less of a temp drop.
9) If you need to stop for a bit, park your mold back onto the top of the pot. This will help keep the temp up in the mold.

Keep at it. Welcome to the site btw.

[Dusty Bannister]

Another thing to try since he has not done anything with the burrs. Take a loosely tufted Q-tip and drag it along all the edges of the cavities. The loose fibers will catch on the rough burrs and make them easier to see. I would not use a Q-tip to apply the anti-sieze, but I would use a toothpick. No thermometer? OK, cut some thin strips of paper, about an inch long. When you think the pot is at temp, drop a piece on the melt and watch to see what happens. If it curls and chars but does not flame, it is not hot enough. If it curls and chars and pops into flame, you have enough heat in the melt. That means you need to get it together and pour lead fast. I suspect that the next report will be a broken cam lever because the mold is cold and the sprues are hard to cut. You must heat up the mold, and that has been suggested many times already. Dusty

[Moonman]

The LEE 6 cavity ALUMINUM molds are 1 1/2" Square bar stock.
They loose heat faster than say a multiple cavity N.O.E. mold
which is ALUMINUM and 1 3/4 square bar stock, more mass to hold the heat.

6 cavity LEE'S NEED TO BE HOT!!!!!
You need to BE CASTING FAST, and keep casting.

Invest in a thermometer from a vendor here PLEASE.
It helps with trouble shooting along with record keeping
for future casting with your different molds.

[birddseedd]

The LEE 6 cavity ALUMINUM molds are 1 1/2" Square bar stock.
They loose heat faster than say a multiple cavity N.O.E. mold
which is ALUMINUM and 1 3/4 square bar stock, more mass to hold the heat.

6 cavity LEE'S NEED TO BE HOT!!!!!
You need to BE CASTING FAST, and keep casting.

Invest in a thermometer from a vendor here PLEASE.
It helps with trouble shooting along with record keeping
for future casting with your different molds.

I tried to find a steel 6 cavity, seems the best in steel is 2 cavity. that just sounds tedious.

[gray wolf]

TWO hole mold and 500 bullets in 2 hours is quite OK for me,
how many have you made with the 6 HOLE ?
A six hole Brass will break your arm after a while and a six hole Iron is also a little heavy.

[birddseedd]

TWO hole mold and 500 bullets in 2 hours is quite OK for me,
how many have you made with the 6 HOLE ?
A six hole Brass will break your arm after a while and a six hole Iron is also a little heavy.

over a grand. only got 680 good ones.

[bangerjim]

gray-wolf brought up an interesting point for you to check.

The 10# pro pot is 500 watts. A standard Lee 500 watt heater 120vac is about 30 ohms. Check it!

The 700 watt heater in the larger pots is about 3 ohms.


They could have put a 220v heater in your pot by mistake!

banger

[birddseedd]

I just spoke with the reload guy from the store I got it from. He was real quick to tell me to bring it back

[ShooterAZ]

Get a 20 pound pot next time.

[birddseedd]

Is it worth it?

[BK7saum]

Yes. Second the 20 pound pot. If I had to buy over again, 20 lb would be minimum size to get. I have 2 10lbers and a 20. The 10 lbers get straight wheel weights for 2 cavity rifle molds and the 20lber gets 50/50 COWW/lead for the 4 cavity molds and it still empties quickly with 200+ grain boolits.

[birddseedd]

The 20 lb uses 220?

[DLCTEX]

You can get it either way, but I'd go the 120 volt. I use a electric hotplate to preheat my moulds.

[gray wolf]

And don't put any junk in the pot !!! clean metal only
Pine wood shavings ( pet bedding ) for flux.

[ShooterAZ]

Using a 6 cavity mold, your lead will disappear in no time with a 10 lb pot. 20 pounds is better unless you are casting 22 cal boolits.

[williamwaco]

Cast faster. Do not stop to look at your boolits. I want you to cast until your sprue breaks and your boolits are crystallized.


This is the solution to your problem.

If you are casting fast with a two cavity aluminum mold, even with 600 degree pot temperature, your bullets should begin to frost after around 12 to 15 fillings.

This assumes four fillings per minute AND pour the largest sprue you can on the top of the sprue plate.
More metal in the sprue puddle heats the mold up faster.

If you are using a six cavity mold It will take more, fillings but with a 10 pound pot you are going to have lots of trouble keeping the pot filled. A six cavity sucks the pot dry very quickly.

[bangerjim]

If you live in the US of A, then order one that is 120 vac. Plugs in to a standard wall outlet!

If you live elsewhere, then you probably want the 220 vac unit.


The "20" in the part number indicates the max weight of lead the pot will hold, NOT the voltage it runs on!

bangerjim

[snuffy]

How long should i have to wait before im not enough to pour using the lee 110v 10lb melter?

thanks

mike


Mike, right here is where you should have told us all what it took 76 posts to find all the particulars you had going on.

In no particular order;
1. What kind of lead are you using?
2. Are you inside a structure, house garage, what's the ambient temp?
3.Are you plugged directly into an outlet, or running off of a cheap lightweight extension cord?
4. Is it a lee 6 cavity mold?
5. Spruce is an evergreen tree, it's sprue.
6. Take the lee instructions to the bathroom, use in an emergency if you run out of TP. Now go to your local auto store, find some 2 cycle synthetic engine oil. Use that to lubricate the locating pins. You can put a tiny amount on the under side of the sprue plate,* it helps prevent the lead from hanging onto the sprue plate.
7. Richard Lee has some funny ideas about casting boolits. Smoking molds is a bandaid to rough molds, it helps a little, but does not last long. His idea of bullet lube for lubing the locating pins and sprue plate hing means doing that results in the problem you're having. it migrates with heat into the cavities, resulting in wrinkled boolits.
8. Your problem is 2 things, you've got contaminated cavities, oil or wax in them. 2 Your mold has never been hot enough. .That's a period...
But it's a moot point, you chucked the mold, damaged it, so maybe you'd better deal with the anger issue, THEN
maybe try it again?
*By a tiny amount I mean put enough on to see some , then when it's hot, wipe the excess off with a paper towel! Just the trace left is enough.
What part of the country are you from?


If i put it on 12, and leave for 20-30 mintues, it's melted, but seems its not hot enough to make good bullets. after an hour of casting they start to get better. slowly.


wrinkled, as he said.

i also put the hold on top of the pot and get it hot enough that lead wont stick to it.
As said, that won't be enough to warm the whole mold.

I don't have a thermometer. and when I add spruce lead or bad bullets i try to give it time to warm up again. but even at that, if it should be ready after half an hour, mine is nowhere near that.


You realize, the whole point of this thread was for me to find out if mine is defective or not.... before actually taking it back...

heat all the way up, half hour or more, not even half way hot enough to caste unwrinkled bullets.

if others can do it in half an hour, then mine has to be bad.

We can't guess under what conditions you're casting.


if this guy's pot takes 20 minutes or so and his hot enough to work, and mine takes an hour +, that would indicate that mine is defective? or is my logic wrong?

this is all im trying to find out. i get wrinkled bullets, a sign of low temps, even if i wait 40 minutes before casting.


flows fine. i scrubbed scrubbed the mold when i got it, even got bees wax to lube it per the instructions. just seems its not getting hot enough

The beeswax is one of the problems. It spreads to the cavities.


iv tried that. iv also tried making extra spruse and less spurce.

seems the only fix is to let it sit for an hour


not the first session. yes 2nd. then cleaned it off for the 3rd. always same problem. not enough heat


no frosting. by the time i get to hole 6, 1-5 are solid. 6 takes about 4 seconds to solidify

Again the mold's not hot enough![/COLOR


used alcohol and a tooth brush to vigorously scrub the cavities, dab it with a cloth to dry the cavities of the alcohol. touch the joints and bolts with bees wax after heating it up for a while.

wait half hour and start casting, caste for an hour. before giving up.

[COLOR="#FF0000"]While alcohol is a decent solvent, it won't get beeswax off. I submerge the entire mold in water in a pan, add some Dawn, get it boiling. THAT gets the oil and anything else off. Then rinse in hot water. The use the 2 cycle oil to lube.


Ill check it out. course at this point iv chucked the dumb thing across the room and put a pretty big divit in it. i followed the instructions to a T, not sure why the bullets were sticking. but it was really bad. im going to see if midway will refund it.

As I said, the destructions are a joke. No smoke, and lube with the 2 cycle oil.


I just spoke with the reload guy from the store I got it from. He was real quick to tell me to bring it back

I doubt a new pot will help.

[gray wolf]

Good jobSNUFFY

[rondog]

Let me toss this out there as a wild guess - do you have your casting furnace plugged directly into an outlet, or are you using an extension cord to power it? If so, is it a heavy duty cord, or a lightweight household cord? Just long enough to do the job, or is it a really long cord?

The reason I ask, I don't know the amperage draw of your pot, but if there's a too-small or too-long extension cord, or even a too-small outlet circuit in the picture it's possible it can't get enough power to heat up properly. I've ran into this before with high-draw appliances. You might try plugging it into a different outlet and see what happens.

Again, just a wild-*** guess.....

<edit> Sorry, I hadn't read the 2nd page yet, I see this has already been mentioned. Just wanted to write it down before I lost the thought...

[bangerjim]

use a 12 gauge extension cord of the shortest length needed for tools and stuff.

Also feel the plugs. If they are warm or hot after some usage, you have dirty corroded contacts.

I even have a couple 10 gauge ones. My shop is wired with 8 gauge 220V from the mains.

banger

[birddseedd]

If i don't smoke the cavities, what do i do to keep them from sticking?

[whisler]

I have A 10 lb. Lee pot and can easily get lead to over 800 degrees (on my thermometer) if I don't watch things and turn it down. A thermometer would sure help, as others have said.

[Djones]

Sprues. There! Updated my autocorrect.

Thanks guys...I got in trouble again for laughing out loud while reading cast boolits. I woke my wife up....haha

All this spriest spruce talk was killing me. I'm still chuckling.

The mold sounds too cold to me. A setting of seven until melted then turn knob to 3 and cast away until half full pot. Place mold back on hot plate, add more preheated lead from same hot plate, turn back to seven until melted, turn knob back to three and start casting again. Repeat previous steps once pot is half full/empty.

Don't say spruce or sprites again or I'll laugh.

[birddseedd]

maybe i need to get a hot plate to put my spruce on.

[birddseedd]

even when im casting as fast as i can and my wife checking the bullets, it seems to take an hour before i get good bullets.

the spruce always looks right i think

[Djones]

even when im casting as fast as i can and my wife checking the bullets, it seems to take an hour before i get good bullets.

the spruce always looks right i think

Clean mold with tooth brush and dawn. Do not smoke mold at all and wait to lube mold until you get good bullets. Once you get good bullets use the least amount possible of mold lube to lube mold.

Don't say spruce after 9pm eastern daylight time. That's when my wife heads to bed and I can't laugh about spruce/sprites anymore.

Anther quick note is that metal is porous. Aluminum is not really porous but it could take some hot/cold/hot cycles to remove all petroleum products from your wrinkly bullet cavities.

When you cast do not stop pouring until all cavities are completely full. A big ugly sprue (spruce/spritzler) on top of the steel sprue plate will help heat up the mold. You should feel heat through the wooden lee handles if the mold is hot enough.

[birddseedd]

my wife got some stuff to clean it with. got it squeeky clean.

doesnt matter, that one is all knicked up from trying to pry out bullets and iv got a new one on the way. ill use a srynge to lube the new one.

[Djones]

my wife got some stuff to clean it with. got it squeeky clean.

doesnt matter, that one is all knicked up from trying to pry out bullets and iv got a new one on the way. ill use a srynge to lube the new one.

If midway won't refund you I'm sure somebody here will buy your damaged mold from you to make into some other kind of bullet mold.

A syringe will apply too much lube. Use a toothpick with minimum lube. If you see lead sticking to top of mold block you may need a little more lube.

[birddseedd]

Their email said they would take it back.

[Mk42gunner]

Casting is a skill which can be learned, however you are making it difficult by trying to learn with a six cavity Lee mold. Don't get me wrong, they can make some good boolits in a hurry, but they are not the mold I would try to learn on.

If I were you, I would order a two cavity mold and get the basics down with that. Doesn't really matter who's two cavity, but Lee's are the cheapest.

Go down to the Molds and Maintenance section and read the stickies about Leementing and other mold prep.

A clean mold will drop boolits just fine, no smoke needed; it doesn't matter if it is aluminum, brass, or iron.

For ease of casting I rate mold material in this order: Brass, Iron, Aluminum. Weight is the opposite. It doesn't really matter, a well tuned mold of any material will cast and drop boolits just fine.

Hope this helps,

Robert

[dondiego]

even when im casting as fast as i can and my wife checking the bullets, it seems to take an hour before i get good bullets.

the spruce always looks right i think


birddseedd - a spruce is a type of tree. A sprue is the solidified puddle of alloy that is sheared from the bullet in the mold.

[aviator41]

Sounds like the lead isn't hot enough, the mold isn't hot enough, the cavities aren't lubed properly (smoke that dang thang!) and perhaps your lead is contaminated. Is it possible you got some zinc in your pot somewhere? That will make some seriously gnarly bullets that are totally worthless.

I drop a pea size piece of wax into my pot to smoke my molds once it flashes, then a second one to flux the lead. that cast like crazy. Keep your speed up. When you stop, leave the mold sitting on top of the post to keep it fairly warm. be prepared to throw a round or two of crappy bullets before you start getting good ones.

My sprue goes right back into the pot, I just run the pot a little warmer to compensate, stopping when the pot is down to 1/3 capacity to refill, grab a Coke and stretch the back while the new lead is melting and getting to temp.Most people poo-poo this idea because of splash out and temp variations, but I've had really good luck doing it this way. Makes clean up a lot faster too. I ALWAYS flux a newly filled pot, regardless of source of lead. Even Ingots. They could pick up junk from storage that needs to be fluxed off. Forgetting to flux your pot can cause wrinkles and voids as the lead is contaminated.

I can tell the lead is to temp based on how viscous it is. You want the lead to flow like water into the mold. If it flows like motor oil, it's not nearly hot enough. Don't worry about splashing lead off the sprue plate (within reason). It will solidify on contact and you can put it back in. just make sure you have the mold full. I hold my 38 mold about 1/2 inch from the spout and work from the cavity farthest from my hand in so that by the time I get to my hand, I have overflow under control and any splash out happens with my hand as far away as possible. consistency in distance from spout to mold is important - to a point. Develop a rhythm so you can anticipate when the mold is full and the sprue plate cavity begins to fill. you want the overflow lead left on the sprue plate cavities on top to be touching each other, so it slogs off the plate as one big piece. This ensures each mold is full. Don't try and stop and start from one cavity to the next, just move the mold and don't stress about overflow. You will find that lead cools so quickly that it really won't run all over the place. When it's time to demold, give the mold a quick rap on the back with the handle closed, then open the mold. Most, if not all of the bullets should drop out. If not, give the mold a few gentle taps with a wooden stick (old hammer handle works well). don't try to pry against the mold to get the bullets out, you will destroy the mold (as you have discovered). If you have a bullet that absolutely will not come out of the mold, use a set of pliers, touching the bullet only, to remove the bullet, examine the bold for lead splatter on the face or top that might hold the two cavities apart as you pour. this is a major cause of failure to drop. if you find it, wipe it off the mold (or GENTLY scrape) then re-smoke the mold, re-heat and try casting again.

Keep in mind that as you empty the pot of lead, it will begin to flow more slowly. you don't have to run the spot at "full on" or "full off" - find the sweet spot depending on how much lead is in the pot. as the pot empties and you get down to that 1/3 level, you will find that running the spout 'full open' is just enough flow to fill the mold properly. with a full pot, you only need to 'crack open' the spout to get the mold to fill out properly.

Running the pot with the lead too hot will make frosty (but not wrinkled) bullets and will heat the mold up quickly. You might try running it on the hot side (not on 9, but maybe 7-5 or 8) just to see of you can get unwrinkled bullets. If you tumble lube, it doesn't matter if they bullets are shiny or frosty. They will all come out of the lube bucket looking the same.

If you're going to spend any amount of time casting, you need a temp gauge.

Oh, and don't try to cast less than a full mold. If you have a 6 cavity mold, cast all 6 cavities. Trying to cast only one or two will result in nothing but frustration as there's no way to keep the mold to temp without using the entire thing.

If you water drop your bullets, keep the water well away from your pot, lest the tinsel fairy may come to visit!

[gray wolf]

After all this I am sitting back wondering how an out back living in the bush old guy like me ever got past taking the melting pot out of the box.
Wife said I should have been a Scientist ERR sum-in Eh.

gray wolf

[Dusty Bannister]

Oh, and don't try to cast less than a full mold. If you have a 6 cavity mold, cast all 6 cavities. Trying to cast only one or two will result in nothing but frustration as there's no way to keep the mold to temp without using the entire thing.
===============
Must disagree with filling all cavities of a cold mold like the Lee 6 cav mold. By starting at the plate hinge bolt you are cutting the sprues before they reach full hardness and warming the mold. If you fill all 6 cavities and then cut the sprue, you will likely break the cam lever handle off. That, based upon previous comment by the OP, will result in a second check of the glide ratio characteristics of a lee 6 cav mold.

ONLY fill all 6 cavities of a well preheated mold.

[gray wolf]

will result in a second check of the glide ratio characteristics of a lee 6 cav mold.
OK, So just what is the glide ratio of a 6 cavity Aluminum versus --lets say a two hole Iron.
We need to take into account the height of the mold at launch time, + the velocity,
+ momentum differential induced by the weight difference, not to forget the impact material in order to figure the damage to the launch vehicle, in this case a boolit mold.

In any case this should let us reach an altitude of at least page 11 for this thread. :popcorn:

[flyingrhino]

If the lead runs from the spigot it is hot enough. Mine won't run until around 600. Your issue is mold temperature. I use a cheap walmart hot plate and set my mold on it to get good and hot before I start casting. When starting to cast only fill the first 2 or 3 cavities and dump. Repeat as fast as possible until you have a few seconds before the sprue frosts over then fill all 6 cavities.

Get yourself a thermometer. I cast without one for 1000's of bullets thinking I was smart enough to tell when the temp was right. Got a Tru-Tec off Amazon for ~$30 and found out I wasn't as smart as I thought. My lead temp was pushing 900 degrees. I had piles of dross. I now can keep my lead temp around 750. As it approaches 800 I drop in another ingot. I keep ingots on the hot plate at about 500 degrees. They melt in the pot almost instantly and only pull the pot temp down about 50-100 degrees. Casting 200 grain bullets I do 6 pours (36 bullets) then drop an ingot. Once I get the rythem I can really crank them out. Also, lay a cover of some sort over the top of your pot. Even covering 3/4 of the opening will really help with containing the heat. I use a small piece of sheet metal. You will know when things are right when the sprue takes about 4-5 seconds to frost and the bullets are frosty. The bullets also fall right out of the mold when it is the right temperature. When the sprue takes longer than that I just touch the sprue plate to a damp sponge for a few seconds and keep on pouring.

Clarification: a previous poster recommended not pouring partial molds. I agree with one exception...when starting, if the sprue is frosting before you are done pouring all cavities then the mold/sprue plate is too cold. You have to cut the sprue before it gets too hard or you WILL break the sprue handle. Been there, done that. If I start pouring and the sprue is hardening too quickly I cut it and start again. When the mold is at proper temperature you can pour all 6 and still cut the sprue easily. I can generally flip the sprue handle with my thumb and it cuts easily. But, as he said, cast all the cavities or you won't be able to maintain an evenly heated mold.

[lonewelder]

I pre heat my mold on the stove.when I get ready to cast I only fill the first cav. For a couple times.then the first two for a couple times,depends on what they look like.then three cavities once or twice,and so on and so on.I think you will find this helps.filling all six cav right out of the gate will take a looooong time to bring your mold up to temp.lee six cav like heat.keep at it and you will soon be able to run two six cav at a time.

[lonewelder]

Fliyingrhino

Sorry I did not read your post.it seems we are saying the same thing.I also run a higher on the setting but I keep an eye on the thermometer and control the heat by dropping in spuces to keep it where I want it.works for me and the pot doesn't run dry as fast

[birddseedd]

I got a new mold, now everything is working great. although seems the spruce plate is wanting to scratch the top of the mold. might take hte one off the other mold before sending it back.