Did I have a day!!!!

[docone31]

I just got done with one of the smoothest casting days I have ever had!!!!!
First of all, I got to meet one of us through private message. Great guy! Second, everything went flawlessly! I mean, four rejects out of about 200 castings.
I bumped the heat on the pot up a notch, let the mold sit in the lead longer than usual, and had a smooth relaxing, except for cramped hands, casting day.
I use the Lee bottom pour 20lb pot, and Lee molds. I just love em.
I let my mold sit in the pot untill the lead rolls off the mold.
I can just push the sprue plate, dump the sprues back in the pot, open the mold, turn it sideways, close the plate and do it again.
Now, I paper patch. I size my .312 castings down to .308 so I am not concerned with rounded lube lands. They are gone after sizing.
I even mixed some zinc in the melt just to see the results.
Great castings! I had the pot cranked up, with kitty litter on top.
No drips, no plugged outlet, no crud in the pour.
It was just a great day!!
Now I got some wrapping to do.
The only critique I have on my molds.
The sprue plate has a provision to open it with a 1" dowel, but no provision to close it with the dowel. That is where the cramps came from.
Just a little hook in the plate opposite the angled cut and it would work like lubed roller bearings.
It could not have gone smoother.
I made some castings with machine screw nuts on the sprue for polishing later. I plan on using 1200 grit lapping compound and my nut driver. I poured through the nuts and let them freeze.
My way of LeeMenting.
A great day of casting.

[Buckshot]

..................Nice to have sessions like that. Every once in awile something is out of alignment and most everything that can, may, might, or could go wrong will.

..............Buckshot

[Bigjohn]

Docone, that's good to hear. Love it when a day of casting goes off without a hitch. :castmine: :drinks:

Happy patching and I hope they work just as good for you.

John.

[copdills]

we all deserve a great casting day , I wish you many more

[docone31]

I cannot tell you how many times Mr. Murphy the lawmaker and philosopher uses our home as his headquarters!
I had one day when I blew two flasks in my silver casting, my boolitt molds just would not mold anything without wrinkles, holes, wings, short bases. Etc....
Yesterday, no wrinkles, no voids, no rounded corners, no jammed molds, no stuck boolitts, it was an amazing day.
I even took two breaks during the casting, with restarts, with no rejects!!!
I bet that doesn't happen again for a while.

[sundog]

docone31, good on you. Just out of curiosity, what were the environmental conditions? Temp, humdidity, etc.

[docone31]

Temps were in the 70s to 80s with low humidity for here, about 60%.
I do all my casting in my casting room in the back of the house. It is a designated room for casting noble metals, and boolitts.
I did however, crank up the pot a tad, and added zinc to the melt. I also added Kitty Litter. That, I believe made the largest difference. It is interesting, the Kitty Litter seems to go away as you cast it.
I use a bottom pour pot.
As I was casting, it just got less apparent.
Other wise, it just went smoothly. A pleasant suprise!!!

[DragoonDrake]

You use kitty liter as your flux? Or is it to stop oxidization? Please let me know as I have ne'er heard this before, albeit I am still relatively new at this stage of the reloading process.

[docone31]

I use it to grab dross.
I cover the top of the melt with it. I toss the ingots into the pot through it, I drop the sprue cut offs into it.
The Kitty Litter floats on top, and the lead melts through it. It also seems to pick up out of alloy metals that seperate and float on top of the melt.
I like it.
I also drop some liquid flux, or if I do not have any, muriatic acid on top of the melt.
Not a lot, but, it seems to work fairly well.
I tried wax, soap, borax. I like the Kitty Litter. No smell, seems to work well.