Good/bad Day Casting

[RANGER RICK]

Went out to the garage today to turn on the caster pot .
I set my 5 molds under the master caster to get them up to temp , usually takes 45 min and were ready to start casting .
It was a whopping 12 degrees in the garage so I went inside the house to get a different coat on and get some reject bullets to put them in the pot .
Well I got side tracked and did not check on the pot for the full 45 min .
I usually check on things every ten minutes or so .
When I went into the garage I had a huge mess and I was missing a mold !!!!

Thats right the needle seat was not seated right and half the 90 pounds was all over my casting bench and covered a mold completely up !!!

Took me awhile to chip all the lead off the bench and the mold .
The mold handles took the brunt of the lead and they got a little crispy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Got everything back into good working order and I was off casting beauties for two hours until my back was and icicle .
Closed things up and went and got the snow blower going and spent the next two hours blowing the driveway .

When will spring get here ????

RR

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/RANGERRICKQUIGLEY/DSC00279.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/RANGERRICKQUIGLEY/DSC00278.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/RANGERRICKQUIGLEY/DSC00277.jpg

[OLPDon]

Rick:
That's one heck of a sprue. Wondering are you using Bull Shop's Sprue Plate Lube?
One of the great adventures of casting. Thanks for shareing.
Don

The Granit counter top held up I see!

[mooman76]

Yes but did you get froper fillout on the mold?:mrgreen:

[Swamprat1052]

Look at the bright side, nothing caught fire. That counter sure saved the day.
Stuff happens and when it turns out not real bad, we have to be thankful. Glad yours wasnt worse.

Swamprat

[black44hawk]

No harm no foul. Sometimes a bad situation can have a silver lining (you married guys will understand) when your wife doesn't find out!:drinks:

[44man]

That was funny enough to make into a sticky! :mrgreen:

[S.R.Custom]

Looks to me like you have a new avatar. :mrgreen:

[drinks]

Oooooh!

[TX BOOMER]

Rick,
Being new to casting I want to thank you for the pictures , it shows me what to try and not to do. :oops: No ,I am glad you and your casting stuff made it OK.:Fire:

[Dross]

I'm extremely glad there was no fire and your mold was salvageable!

[1Shirt]

Like the lettering on the pregnant ladies sweatshirt says"Poo Poo Occurs". At least you didn't get burned in the process.
1shirt!:coffee:

[RANGER RICK]

Yes it was a mess for sure .
It took about 15 minutes with a propane hand torch just to get it from under the pot .
There was two other sprue plates in the mess but was easy to get out .
I have the pot sitting on a 11/4 thick marble slab that I got from a friend and has held up for the last three years until this .
If you notice in the first picture the slab is in three chunks . The concentrated heat of the lead split it three ways and migrated under the slab to the wood bench which also got crispy and onto the concrete floor .

I was able to dip the lead encrusted mold into the pot for about 5 minutes and all the lead was removed .
I also did another idiot thing to boot !!!!
After I pulled the mold from the pot I picked up a paper towel to clean out vent line's ETC but it was not a paper towel but a paper towel look a like that came from a packet to clean out my respirator and it was some sort of nylon material or such and melted to the inside of the mold !!!!!!
Again I brought the torch out to get the mold clean but in the process of getting the torch I bumped the Thermometer and knocked it into the pot and whammy glass exploded ....... at this time I just started to laugh out load , what else was I going to do ?????

What a day .............................

RR

[Ken]

I'd like to see a pic of that 90 lb pot and bottom drop also-wow

[fatnhappy]

Yes it was a mess for sure .
It took about 15 minutes with a propane hand torch just to get it from under the pot .
There was two other sprue plates in the mess but was easy to get out .
I have the pot sitting on a 11/4 thick marble slab that I got from a friend and has held up for the last three years until this .
If you notice in the first picture the slab is in three chunks . The concentrated heat of the lead split it three ways and migrated under the slab to the wood bench which also got crispy and onto the concrete floor .

I was able to dip the lead encrusted mold into the pot for about 5 minutes and all the lead was removed .
I also did another idiot thing to boot !!!!
After I pulled the mold from the pot I picked up a paper towel to clean out vent line's ETC but it was not a paper towel but a paper towel look a like that came from a packet to clean out my respirator and it was some sort of nylon material or such and melted to the inside of the mold !!!!!!
Again I brought the torch out to get the mold clean but in the process of getting the torch I bumped the Thermometer and knocked it into the pot and whammy glass exploded ....... at this time I just started to laugh out load , what else was I going to do ?????

What a day .............................

RR


I have days like that, when it would have been cheaper for my company to pay me to stay home.

no fire, no foul.

[Mk42gunner]

....... at this time I just started to laugh out load , what else was I going to do ?????

We have a winner in the Most Impressive Sprue Category. Winners get a chance to now enter the Least Impressive Sprue Category.

Seriously, you have proven that you know one of the most important lessons in life: the need to occasionally laugh at yourself.

Glad no one got hurt.


Robert