I goofed big time

[Stanger73]

I have been trying to learn to cast and it looks like I got too impatient.

All of the bullets I cast from my lee 44 cal dies were wrinkled so I tried to "post pour reheat" them. I obviously did not wait long enough for cooling and when I opened the mould the lead splattered in chunks all over the mating surfaces of the blocks. And it stuck hard. The splatters are stuck hard enough that I marred the surface of the block before a chunk came off.

So here is the question: are these blocks wasted or is there a means to safely remove the lead from the mating surfaces? If there is, what is it? I have done enough damage for now.

thanks

[Buckshot]

.............You can use a propane torch to melt the lead off. Yup, gotta watch for the sprue change to take place first :-)

Welcome to the board!

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

[Bret4207]

Torch and a wooden stick to clean it.

When you cast there's a learning curve. That mould has to come up to temp before you get good boolits. There's no "post pour reheat". Just doesn't work. Start casting and as the mould comes up to heat the good ones will start to appear after a few casts, might be 25-30 for a new mould, maybe more, maybe less. Watch the sprue puddle on top, it'll be shiny and liquid looking when it's still too hot to open the mould. As it cools you'll see it turn greyish and then it'll take a few seconds to harden after that. Better to wait a few seconds too much than not long enough for it to cool.

[DLCTEX]

I just dunk the mold in the melt to heat it and wipe with a gloved hand, then use a wooden toothpick or match to get the small areas. Use Bullplate lube on all the surfaces but the cavities and lead will not stick to it.

[docone31]

As you have seen, remelting in a mold is not a reality.
I have gotten the mold so hot, the casting did not freeze, at all.
I had to literally dump the melt into the pot, then cool the mold down.
It takes a while to dial it in with casting. Then when you do, you will have versatility in your casting. It takes casting enough to read the mold, melt, and sprue.
Ideally, to me, I like it when the casting/sprue takes a few seconds to freeze. I like watching the contraction pull the center of the sprue puddle into the mold as it turns grey from the wobbly silver puddle. At that point, I cut the sprue, dump the casting into my water pot, and recast. Make sure you do not get water into or on the mold!
I get my melt up to heat, I like it hot! I then set the mold into the melt untill the lead does not stick to the bottom of the mold. From that point, I adjust my casting speed to keep my castings just as I like it.
The boolitt in the cavity transmits heat to the mold, not a lot, but it helps. When I want to rest my hand, I leave the cavity filled, then dump it when I am ready. I can do this several times during casting sometimes.
Molds are pretty durable. I do not worry about scratches on the top, bottom, sides. I do worry about any scratches in the cavity.
With most of my molds, I have cast through 1/4-20 nuts, let them freeze in the mold, dabbed a little bit of Clover lapping compound on them and polish the inside of the cavities. I get really shiney castings that way. I like the extra size I get. It is not much, I almost cannot measure it. Makes things a little tighter and they drop out faster. Sharp corners, smooth ogive, very few wrinkles compared to first casting.
I have really messed up a few molds in the beginning. Kinda heavy handed handling of them.
Just keep at it and you will be there.
I cast maybe 500 at a time. That way, I can really develop a rythym. Two days ago I cast 500. I got three culls out of the batch.
It was not like that in the beginning.

[Sprue]

As you have seen, remelting in a mold is not a reality.
I have gotten the mold so hot, the casting did not freeze, at all.
I had to literally dump the melt into the pot, then cool the mold down.
It takes a while to dial it in with casting. Then when you do, you will have versatility in your casting. It takes casting enough to read the mold, melt, and sprue.
Ideally, to me, I like it when the casting/sprue takes a few seconds to freeze. I like watching the contraction pull the center of the sprue puddle into the mold as it turns grey from the wobbly silver puddle. At that point, I cut the sprue, dump the casting into my water pot, and recast. Make sure you do not get water into or on the mold!
I get my melt up to heat, I like it hot! I then set the mold into the melt untill the lead does not stick to the bottom of the mold. From that point, I adjust my casting speed to keep my castings just as I like it.
The boolitt in the cavity transmits heat to the mold, not a lot, but it helps. When I want to rest my hand, I leave the cavity filled, then dump it when I am ready. I can do this several times during casting sometimes.
Molds are pretty durable. I do not worry about scratches on the top, bottom, sides. I do worry about any scratches in the cavity.
With most of my molds, I have cast through 1/4-20 nuts, let them freeze in the mold, dabbed a little bit of Clover lapping compound on them and polish the inside of the cavities. I get really shiney castings that way. I like the extra size I get. It is not much, I almost cannot measure it. Makes things a little tighter and they drop out faster. Sharp corners, smooth ogive, very few wrinkles compared to first casting.
I have really messed up a few molds in the beginning. Kinda heavy handed handling of them.
Just keep at it and you will be there.
I cast maybe 500 at a time. That way, I can really develop a rythym. Two days ago I cast 500. I got three culls out of the batch.
It was not like that in the beginning.

FYI... here is a pic of what docone31 is taking about.

You do this by removing the sprue plate/cutter, then place a nut over the cavity and fill with alloy, carefully. (In multi cav molds I number them, and keep them in their respective cavity)


http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh266/spilihp_2007/MoldLapBoolit.jpg

[docone31]

Excellent photo!
That has made some of my wrinkly molds shine.
I am not so picky on keeping my mold cavies seperate. I had one snap off once. Too brittle an alloy. I ended up finishing with one and useing it for all the cavities. They basically came out the same size.
When I put the Clover on the casting, I spread it around, then gently close the mold untill it closes on the casting. I am real tender with this step. I do not want to take a lot of meat out of the cavity, just polish it.
Great photo. Better than I could have done.

[Cloudpeak]

Neat idea decone. I think I like that a lot better than the drill/insert cut off head screw/chuck in drill method.

One question, though. How do you prevent damage from the steel nut to the top of aluminum mold blocks?

Cloudpeak

[leftiye]

A lot of this polishing effect can be getting Lee's favorite grease goo poo off of the cavities. Not discounting polishing. It does work just as stated, but the oil that Lee puts on at manufacturing is a real pizzer in terms of wrinkled boolits, and takes forever to "season" off of the molds by casting (it's muy hard to clean off too).

[docone31]

I have done most of my molds this way. I have not yet seen scarring on top of the cavity.
Don't forget, it only turns, does not go deeper into the cavity. I really only use a few revs., so perhpas it is cleaning that ever persistant lube that cleaning by their directions does not get completely.
I do know though, it does really make a difference. I had a mold, that several hundreds of castings later still wrinkled no matter what I did. Did a couple of turns with grit, and the wrinkles went away.
One of my favourite molds now.

[Blammer]

that's one heck of a drive band on them boolits!

lol

[corvette8n]

What is and where do you get Clover lapping compound?

[Gunfixer]

clover is valve lapping compound available at most auto parts stores

[runfiverun]

toothpaste is a mild abrasive also.
i have used it on a few steel molds to put a shine on them.

[qajaq59]

Clever idea. I filed that away for later use.

[Bret4207]

Works on iron mould too. I had a Lyman that came to me rusted. Even with the rust in the cavity I was able to cast good enough boolits to use as laps. Cleaned up nice. I've also used the little wire wheels from my Dremel kit to clean them up, but you have to know when to stop doing that. Those things spin fast enough to burnish the sharp edges. Don't ask how I found this out!

[mooman76]

I always keep a soft wire brush like brass handy when I mould bullets. If you splash a little lead on the mould you can brush it off easy while it is still hot. Do this lightly, don't scrub it, just light.

[jdgabbard]

:hijack:

[Silicon Wolverine]

:hijack:

:killingpc

SW

[kamikaze1a]

As for preheating molds, rather than pouring, cut, dump and then pour again...I've had better results by doing; pour, cut and then letting it sit in the mold for several minutes. I even let the excess sit on the sprue plate to heat the sprue plate. Less work, less remelting and the same results. A couple of pours and I'm up to required mold temp...