Multi Cavity Casting

[Sprintcardriver]

I just picked up a 6 cavity Lee mold. I got it all cleaned up and went to casting. Stopped after about 50 to check the results. Everyone of the boolits had imperfections, lines, seperations, incomplete fills. Sometime it looked like I tried to fill the cavity twice.

This is my first try at a 6 cavity. Up to now, I have been using a two cavity with great results.

Is there a trick or new techquie(sp) that I need to learn?

Thanks

[sundog]

Poor fill out with a 6-banger is usually caused by lack of heat.

added: That or try a little butane lighter or wood match smoke.

[oneokie]

You may still have contamination in the cavities. Clean the mould again. Boil it with Dawn dish soap. Could also be that the mould is not up to temp. How are you preheating the mould? Did you smoke the mould? If so, with what? If you used a candle, it is possible that there is a wax residue on the mould from the candle.

[Sprintcardriver]

I set the mold on the pot while the lead is heating up. That seems to work fine for the 2 cavity mold.

Not fimliar with the smoking so I will search for that process.

Thanks

[jameslovesjammie]

Sprintcardriver,

To smoke your mould, all you need to do is take a butane lighter or wooden match, open the cavity, and run the flame over the inside of the cavity. The soot that collects on the mould will aid in dropping boolits, and fillout.

Before you do any of that though, I would clean the mould first with disc brake cleaner, then scrub it with a toothbrush under soapy water. Sometimes when you get a new mould, they are still coated with a little bit of cutting fluid from when they were machined. This oil needs to be removed, otherwise you will never get good fillout.

When I start casting with a 6 cavity, I try to warm the mould for a bit as you suggested, but the first couple of castings I try to do rapidly to heat up the mould. I don't usually get good boolits until about the sixth drop.

[chrisx1]

I agree with James....make sure it's clean, smoke it (sometimes not necessary) and then heat it up. You can heat it by casting several rounds quickly and then tossing the "imperfect" boolits back in, or hold a corner of the mold in the molten lead until the boolits cast right.

I have a Lee 6 cav in .40 that will cast with the mold at a moderate temp and the lead just barely molten. I have another Lee 6 cav in .357 that has to be hotter than a firecracker and the lead at 900 deg before the boolits will fill out right.

Just keep experimenting/trying and you will get it, but by all indications, your mold is either dirty or cold or both.

Chris

[Fixxah]

I just picked up a 6 cavity Lee mold. I got it all cleaned up and went to casting. Stopped after about 50 to check the results. Everyone of the boolits had imperfections, lines, seperations, incomplete fills. Sometime it looked like I tried to fill the cavity twice.

This is my first try at a 6 cavity. Up to now, I have been using a two cavity with great results.

Is there a trick or new techquie(sp) that I need to learn?

Thanks

I cast with 6 cav. Lee for .45 ACP-TL 230gr. and had the same problem which was fixed with more heat applied to mold. You may find that you will cast three or four molds worth then have a frosting problem.

To fix this I place my mold on top of my furnace near vacuum and pick up each bullet that just dropped from mold and place it gingerly in a box. Now the mold has cooled enough to cast good bullets.

Look up my public profile and check out my album, these bullets were my first batch. I have only been casting for about 45 lbs. and am happy with results so far.

I think I need to get doubles of my molds to speed up the process in the future. Also, my molds for .45 ACP 230gr. LRN are RCBS 2 cav. and are slow as $hit so I may get Lee 6 cav. for those as well.

Good Luck, John

[lordgroom]

Boil the mold blocks in 50/50 TSP (from Home Depot in the paint aisle) and water. Boil for 10 minutes. Discard the TSP and boil for another ten in plain water. That should remove all of the oil. Then get the mold good and hot and maintain a steady rhythm.

[chrisx1]

I cast with 6 cav. Lee for .45 ACP-TL 230gr. and had the same problem which was fixed with more heat applied to mold. You may find that you will cast three or four molds worth then have a frosting problem.

To fix this I place my mold on top of my furnace near vacuum and pick up each bullet that just dropped from mold and place it gingerly in a box. Now the mold has cooled enough to cast good bullets.



Frosty boolits are not a problem, just the visible result of casting at a higher temp. If you can cast at a lower temp, you can usually work faster, but frosty is just as good (some would argue better).....just takes longer between drops.

If your mold works better hot - run it that way. There are plenty of guys on here who prefer frosty.

Chris

[Sprintcardriver]

I cleaned the mold with brake cleaner. I then did a quick turn with toothpaste. Then did the boiling routine.

Later I heated up the mold and casted about 100 boolits and only recycled about 10 of them.

I used only the first three cavities until I had casted about 50 boolits. Then I started filling all six cavities with now issues.

Thanks again..

Now back to the shop[smilie=1:

[straight-shooter]

I like to use a $10.00 Walmart electric hot plate to warm the mold. So far using this method I get good drops from the first cast.