Aluminum ingot modes

[sw Idaho]

I have seen a few talk about angle iron ingot molds. I have two sticks 2 25 foot sticks of aluminum angle 1/8 inch by 1.5 x 1.5 angle. Will this work for i got molds?

[VHoward]

It should. Lee's ingot molds are pot metal aluminum. NOE makes some premium ingot molds that are cnc milled billet aluminum.

[RogerDat]

Generally angle iron molds have something welded across the ends to cap them. If you have the equipment/ability to weld aluminum no reason you can't make the molds out of that. Often the multiple angle iron pieces are capped and joined by pieces of angle iron on each end. This not only caps the ends but provides a lip as a handle. So three or four angle iron "molds" are laid between two angle iron "ends".

Don't forget to provide a slight outward angle to the ends so that ingots will drop out easily.

[runfiverun]

it would be worth a try.
angle in at the bottom and use a chunk of the aluminum for the sides.

there is a fair bit of welding to do and the aluminum rod is pricey.

[country gent]

Another tip is cut the ends of the angle at a 10* angle to provide some release angle to the ends really helps the ingots drop out easy. I made mine from Angle iron and weled them with a wire welder seam welding the ends on the outside surfaces. this left the inside smooth and clean.

[lightman]

If you have the material and the means to weld it, they should work fine. I have 1 Lee aluminum ingot mold in my "stable" of cast iron molds and can't tell any difference in the way that they work. Except that the Lee mold has 2 cavities that are 1/2 size.

[sw Idaho]

Guys in the weld shop are gearing up for something different. Digging in my pile of scrap, found a stick of 2 inch channel.

[too many things]

only thing will add make sure you don't have any zinc, as it will stick to the AL . it don't to cast AL

[lightman]

I never thought about zinc sticking to aluminum. Learned something new. Personally I think I would like the channel better than the angle. The size of your ingots is a personal preference. You want them big enough so that you are not forever in making them but small enough to fit in your casting pot. Many suggest making them a length that will fit in a small flat rate box.

[sw Idaho]

Lighman, I think I'm going to go with the channel. A lot less welding and fewer ingots at a time.

The lead I have is clean, not zinc to deal with.

[RogerDat]

There is a common length that will fit in both a small and medium flat rate box from the post office. It is a touch under 8 inches but measure for yourself. And it doesn't hurt to allow a little room for inserting a second box inside the first when doing a medium box so the wall is double.

If you end up with any gaps on the inside that seem to be making ingot hang up because the lead flowed into the crack you can seal the seam with JB Weld, at least the iron ones you can. And I think they make JB weld that works on Aluminum too but don't know how well it handles the heat.

[dikman]

When I made my angle iron molds I only tackwelded the ends to the angle iron, on the outside. Never had any stick or hang up.

[NavyVet1959]

When I made mine, I used channel iron and welded pieces of angle iron on the ends to close them up and to act as handles. I welded the angle iron from the inside since I was concerned that if I selded from the outside, the lead would get into the crack and make it difficult to extract. Of course, the rough surface of the weld probably also made the ingots more difficult to extract. I also didn't put a conscious effort into putting an grinding an angle on the ends of the channel iron, so on a couple of the molds, the sides are either pretty close to vertical or maybe even sloping inwards a bit. That means that for those molds, I have to slam them down on the concrete a few times to deform the lead enough to make it release from the mold.

One thing to consider though is the end size of the ingots. I found that if I fill my channel iron ingots up all the way, they just barely fit in my Lee 20-lb casting pot due to the bottom pour rod getting in the way. Also, they are large enough that I have to wait until the pot gets about half empty before adding one to the pot to keep the pot from overflowing. As such, they end up reducing the temperature of the pot quite a bit -- enough that the rest of the lead in the pot will turn solid if you put an ingot in there that has not been significantly preheated. This *can* be an advantage *sometimes* -- like when you are wanting to quit for the day, but don't want to drain the lead from your pot, but you also don't want to leave liquid lead in there to possibly drip and make a massive mess (did that *once*). In that sort of situation, remove the power from the casting put, drain whatever lead that you have in there down to about the 1/2 pot level, and then toss one of the large cold ingots into it. It shouldn't take long before the liquid lead has solidified. Assuming 10 lbs of 700F liquid lead in the pot and a 10 lb ingot at 80F, you would end up with 20 lbs of 390F solid lead in / sticking out of the pot.

In some ways, long skinny angle iron ingots are better for adding to a casting pot since you could dip them end and just melt the ends, adding *some* lead, but not the entire ingot worth of lead. Also, if you needed to cut the angle iron ingots into shorter ingots, it's going to be easier to do it with a quick blow of an ax than with the larger cross-sectional area of the channel iron ingot. Well, at least it would be for the size channel iron that I ended up using. :)

[sw Idaho]

Good food for thought NavyVet. My plan was to cut both ends at a angle. Think I will look at doing a few angle molds as well.

[OS OK]

I think that I would use the next size larger angle on the ends. Let the bottom side of the mold weld up flush so they sit flat and the 1/4' difference would be at the top so when you slam them over on the concrete the lead has some space to pop loose.

[William Yanda]

When I made my angle iron molds I only tackwelded the ends to the angle iron, on the outside. Never had any stick or hang up.

Glad to know that works. I had considered using furnace cement as a filler, but it seems I won't need it.

[RogerDat]

I think that I would use the next size larger angle on the ends. Let the bottom side of the mold weld up flush so they sit flat and the 1/4' difference would be at the top so when you slam them over on the concrete the lead has some space to pop loose.

This is a good call on giving them a bit of space. Lead contracts as it cools so when mine start getting hard to dump I know I'm probably going too fast or pot is too hot and if I attempt to continue at that pace I end up with bent ingots. I have slight angle outward (very slight) and welds on outside I had one or two that had pulled away a bit while welding ( I know 3rd commandment - clamp your work - next time!) so I used a little JB Weld in the seam when I was getting occasional hang ups on that end.

Channel stack easier, angle stack decent and make smaller bars for adding to pot or mixing later. Find it simpler to mix some plain with some lino or COWW if my ingots are around 1.5 lbs. rather than 5 or 10 lbs. But to be fair I do both sizes. Inch or so in a bread loaf pan makes a nice ingot for storage, and if I could find right size bread loaf pan they would be good for shipping. Mine are a touch over 8 inches long which don't fit in SFRB and don't stack snug in MFRB

[Norske]

Your Al channel should work. I've used aluminum mini biscuit tins for ingot molds for years.

[LenH]

I work for a steel fabricator and had a guy in the shop cut some 4" channel about 4 inches long. The ingots are about 4.5# when filled to the top. He cut the channel
at an angle for easy release but when he welded those up the slight angle disappeared and have to be flipped pretty hard to get them to release.
The ends are capped with angle iron and he welded a 3/4 X 4 Nelson Stud on one end to make a handle. Each ingot mold has 2 channels and it makes short work
of making ingots. They fit nicely in a ProMelt.

[Naporter]

Tried it with 7075 aluminum (it's what I had handy). Worked quite well. You want to make sure the sides are angled otherwise it will be difficult to remove from the mold. Mine had 10* angles from top to bottom and worked well. I had initially a short straight section (about 1/4") in the wall and it made it a nightmare to extract. Put back on the lathe and cut the angle all the way to bottom and now they just fall out.

[gwpercle]

A company named Wilton makes aluminum , uncoated , muffin pans that work great as moulds. I use the mini muffin. They also make little mini-loaf pans that would be ideal . Check thier web site , you can order from them . I have found the mini-muffin pans in Wally Mart in the special Birthday Baking section....not the regular bake ware section, for some reason they like to hide them.
Gary

[William Yanda]

If you end up with any gaps on the inside that seem to be making ingot hang up because the lead flowed into the crack you can seal the seam with JB Weld,

Would furnace cement work or would it crack and fall out?