Casting Issue with Pictures

[Half Dog]

I wasn't very successful casting today. I started getting the following issue and I turned the temperature up on the warming plate.

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The boolits started looking good but I got the following leading problem:

162057

Any suggestions on how to eliminate both issues?

[slide]

Your mold is too cold. Let it set on the warming plate longer. get a magnifier of some type and look and see if there are any burrs that is causing the lead to snag. The dollar store sells dental picks like the dentist uses. Those work good to remove the lead from the mold but be gentle!

[Hickok]

Don't try to get that lead off while the mold is cold. That looks to be an expensive mold. Heat the mold up to a good hot casting temp, then wipe the lead off with cotton rag, or a lead carpenter pencil, very delicately. Someone here will have a good way to do this.

The mold may not be closing fully, the cause for the lead smears. And yes, your mold and/or alloy need to be hotter to eliminate the wrinkled boolit.

[sigep1764]

The melt and the mold are too cold. Are you using a He-Man grip or firmly holding the mold closed? Did you heat cycle that brass mold? Youre almost there, keep at it!!! Just a couple more things to fall into place.

[Ed_Shot]

Alloy and mold too cold. Listen to Hickok in post #3.

[Big Dangle]

I have that same mold and had problems with the boolets sticking. Make sure you don't tap the mold itself it'll knock them out of whack. Take a dry q-tip loosen up the gotten a little bit run it slowly in the cavity's it'll catch on the burrs sometimes. Make sure the pins and cavity's are clear of debris so the mold will close all the way.
For some reason my hot plate takes forever I just set the mold in my Lee 10# pot , not in the lead but right above it keep checking it and when the bullets come out frosty set it on the bench for a bit to cool off then a few minutes your good to go and as you go on adjust your speed accordingly.

[John Boy]

Half Dog: Cast accordingly:
* Clean mold & pot melt
* Heat the mold and the melt up to a temperature and hold it using a thermometer so...
* With a 5 second pour using a ladle - the sprue puddles frosts in 5 seconds
* Hold the mold handles tight
* Cast with a steady rhythm - no smoke - snack or telephone call breaks! [smilie=s:
That's all there is to it for perfect bullets

[tward]

Brass molds like hot,hot,hot !!! Keep at it, you'll get there. Tim :bigsmyl2:

[243winxb]

Warming plate is for aluminum molds. Others may warp. If mold is fully closed, then the vents may be too large. If pressure casting, bottom pour in contact with the mould, stop. Drop alloy from above. Use maximum pot temperature to warm mold. When bullets get frosted, drop pot temperature. Wipe lead off with soft cloth when mold is hot.

[tazman]

To clean the lead off the mold, get it up to casting heat or a bit hotter. Use a flat, thin piece of wood to rub the lead off the mold. A flat pop sickle stick with a straight end or a small paint stirring stick, works well for this. You can push/rub hard with the wood and cannot hurt your mold with it.
Using the wood stick allows you to keep your fingers away from the hot mold surfaces.

[Big Dangle]

+1 on the wood

[RedHawk357Mag]

I dealt a little with that problem with lead on the mold... A huge pain in... I did not heat cycle my mold enough to prevent that from happening. Anymore I gladly heat cycle four or five times. No more issues with that. I found the pop sickle stick absolutely money. A hot mold with bee's wax also seemed to help. It was a process and if you find yourself getting frustrated, STOP. Attack it another day and I am not sorry to say I am way to ham fisted to take any metal to a mold face.

[Hickok]

To clean the lead off the mold, get it up to casting heat or a bit hotter. Use a flat, thin piece of wood to rub the lead off the mold. A flat pop sickle stick with a straight end or a small paint stirring stick, works well for this. You can push/rub hard with the wood and cannot hurt your mold with it.
Using the wood stick allows you to keep your fingers away from the hot mold surfaces.That's the best. I knew I "dis-remembered" something!:bigsmyl2:

[jcren]

Try "Orange sticks" for mold cleaning. They are in cosmetics at most stores, have something to do with fingernails (I just have the wife get them), fairly soft wood with a point on one end and a chisel tip on the other and dirt cheap. Perfect for picking off lead or small mold burs.

[trixter]

To clean the lead off the mold, get it up to casting heat or a bit hotter. Use a flat, thin piece of wood to rub the lead off the mold. A flat pop sickle stick with a straight end or a small paint stirring stick, works well for this. You can push/rub hard with the wood and cannot hurt your mold with it.
Using the wood stick allows you to keep your fingers away from the hot mold surfaces.

Yes do this, and keep it hot while casting.

[Wayne Smith]

Humm, I use bamboo skewers. I guess there are many ways to skin a cat.

Yes, more heat.

243winxb - I've been using a hot plate (flat top) on all my molds, brass, iron, and aluminium for years and haven't created a problem. How hot does your plate get? Admittedly, it may occur with a hot plate that does not have a flat top. An old 10" saw blade will fix that.

[osteodoc08]

Any metal can warp, including aluminum. Just have to watch your temps.

Do not use a metal dental pick. The risk of harming the mold is too high using metal. I've always used bamboo skewers/popsiclesticks/leather glove/cotton rag. If it is being stubborn, put a dab of beeswax on it and it should come off relatively easy. If this still isnt getting it, get the mold up to temp and rub it with a small lead ingot.

Get the melt temp to 750* and warm up the mold a bit more.

Keep it up.

[44man]

Too cold to start and too hot last. You need to balance time better.
Some molds have too much venting, I only vent one half .002" deep. But that looks like a mold not shut even. That is not just a flow into the lines. You have a space, either pins are not going into the holes all the way or you wimp the handle.

[Half Dog]

Wow. Thank you all for your help and advice. I'll try again next week, if I can get the mold clean, and let you know.

This has been educational. I have learned that:
I was not squeezing hard enough to keep the mold completely closed.
The results of lead not being hot enough.
To be patient while things heat up.
And how to clean my molds.

All in one day !!

[osteodoc08]

If you have a propane torch, you can always heat up the specks and knock them off with a popsicle stick or rub them with a small lead ingot as well. A propane torch is handy.

I keep one at the ready and if I notice my mold is acting cold, heat it quickly for a few seconds. Melt lead with it. etc.

[gwpercle]

wooden popsicle sticks work , split them into two or three sections.

cotton Q-tip swab will snag the smallest burr and show it to you.

The moulds are soft, even brass , be very gentle with any object used on them. Wood is good.

Clean all the lead off the mould faces , if one little speck keeps it from fully closing, or keeps the sprue plate from laying flush, you will have problems.

Even though brass likes it hot , you must not open the mould too soon. My rule of thumb is to watch the sprue puddle, after it solidifies and frosts over I will count to seven, 1001 , 1002, 1003 etc... then open. If I don't, I start smearing lead across the block top and underside of the sprue plate and you have to stop and clean all that off...things just keep getting worse if you don't.

Hang in there , casting has a bit of a learning curve...But you will get the hang of it soon.

Gary

[gwpercle]

Warming plate is for aluminum molds. Others may warp. If mold is fully closed, then the vents may be too large. If pressure casting, bottom pour in contact with the mould, stop. Drop alloy from above. Use maximum pot temperature to warm mold. When bullets get frosted, drop pot temperature. Wipe lead off with soft cloth when mold is hot.

I just got a 4 cavity NOE aluminum , didn't have a hot plate , so just laid the blocks across the top, when the melt was up to casting temperature , I used my Lyman dipper and I made two pours and after that every one was a keeper. Maybe a hot plate is needed for Lee six cavity moulds but with the big block NOE's you can get away with not having a hot plate.
I found it hard to cast a bad boolit with that mould ( NOE 358 124 grain TC ) all but the first few, of two sessions , were all keepers, kinda scary ! After using only Lyman and Lee's it was something. The one thing that surprised me was how heavy it was...glad I didn't go for the brass one. That rascal wore my left hand out... downside to being a ladle caster ....but I like it.
Gary

[hickfu]

I have aluminum molds and use a small brass brush I got from Harbor Freight, Its a not as hard as the Aluminum so it doesnt even make a mark on the mold... I dont know what it would do to a brass mold though.

[jgh4445]

I was having the same issues with my new MiHec brass mold. Wrinkles everywhere. Mold worked great, boolits dropped like magic from the HP pins but they were wrinkled and the bases were poorly filled at times and not sharp. In my efforts to cure this problem, I found a great resource. You guys! I had been casting at 700 degrees with my aluminum molds and the boolits looked good. Not so with brass. Like someone else said, since my hotplate died after the first use, I just dipped the corner of my mold in the melt until it came out clean. Kept adjusting the temp up until it hit 780. Voila! The magic number! Wrinkles went away. As was said, brass likes it hot! Changed my cadence to allow the sprue to frost for 6-8 seconds and then waited a 3 count to open the mold. It worked great. Read it all on here. Thanks guys!

[44man]

I was having the same issues with my new MiHec brass mold. Wrinkles everywhere. Mold worked great, boolits dropped like magic from the HP pins but they were wrinkled and the bases were poorly filled at times and not sharp. In my efforts to cure this problem, I found a great resource. You guys! I had been casting at 700 degrees with my aluminum molds and the boolits looked good. Not so with brass. Like someone else said, since my hotplate died after the first use, I just dipped the corner of my mold in the melt until it came out clean. Kept adjusting the temp up until it hit 780. Voila! The magic number! Wrinkles went away. As was said, brass likes it hot! Changed my cadence to allow the sprue to frost for 6-8 seconds and then waited a 3 count to open the mold. It worked great. Read it all on here. Thanks guys!
That is what I found with a borrowed brass mold, needs hotter and has a narrow range from good to too hot, also heavy.
Now a hot plate has a thermal fuse in the wiring inside. Heating molds does not suck heat away so it will blow out. I jumped my fuse and it never quits. Just need care and don't leave it alone.
I heat molds to 500° and never turn it all the way up. Adjust the dial.

[John Boy]

It is recommended that aluminum molds be 'broken in' ... put them in or on a heating surface and heat them 2 to 4 times at a temperature between 200 - 400 degrees. After each heating, let them cool back down to home temperature. I use a laser thermometer to determine the heated temperature of the new aluminum mold
After I break mine in - I put them in the flame of a gas stove and bring up to temperature so with several test pours, the sprue plate cuts the sprue puddle - then the sprue puddle frosts in 5 - 8 seconds. Normally the pot melt temperature (mold dependent) will be between 680 - 710 degrees. Then start casting the good bullets

[toallmy]

I have never played with brass , but I sometimes get going and cut a little to quickly . So I have got in a lot of practice of cleaning lead off my blocks and plates beeswax and or bull plate really helped . wile I am casting and the mold is hot I have a rag with some beeswax rubbed in it , and at the first sign of a touch of stuck lead , or tin I scrub it off or with a toothpick pick it off . Nice looking mold please don't ruff it up . I think wrinkles are temp / or vent their is a lot of info on venting .

[toallmy]

As John Boy has stated breaking in a new mold with heat stoped all my tin issues.