Bottom pour blues

[semtav]

so far, except for the smelting, all my casting has been done with a 10 lb lee bottom pour. I've had real good results with the little bullets (32-20) and down.

when I cast some larger bullets (350-400 grn), it seems more of the impurities get into the bullet.

for some reason, I get a lot of "sand" in the bottom of my pot that I can't get out and when casting the bigger bullets, it seems the stuff comes out the spout.

the pot is just too little to get something in there to dig it all out.

any ideas on how to eliminate it? (maybe hope its magnetic and try a magnet?) I flux quite often but it won't pick this stuff up. I seem to wind up with about a teaspoon of it after each casting.

I am going to a ladle & bigger pot for my bigger bullets, but would still like to eliminate this stuff so it doesn't get in the little bullets.

thanks

[mpmarty]

get the pot good and hot like 800* or so and then shut it off and before it cools drain it into ingot molds. Drain it dry. Then take a wooden flat stick like a paint stir stick and scrape out the junk. Remove the pour control rod and top hardware so you can get to all the bottom of the pot. Knock it all loose and use a vacuum cleaner with a small nozzle to suck out all the ****.

After it is totally clean use a pick or undersize drill bit to pick out any debris in the pour hole. Don't drill the hole bigger, just clean it up. Use steel wool and clean the plug rod that closes off the pour spout.

Reassemble the pot.

Do not ever again smelt your scrap wheel weights or range lead in that pot. Get a turkey broiler or a coleman stove for smelting and put only clean ingots in the pot.:lovebooli

[docone31]

I agree with isolating the rending into ingots seperate from the casting pot. Definately.
If you take a long handled screw driver, the thinner the better, you can get a lot of that crud from the sides and bottom of pot.
When I first did casting, I had a Lee 10lb pot. I rendered my wheel weights, back then they did not have zinc wheel weights, in it. I never did any casting, my exwife became an ex during that period, but I did find what you are talking about on the sides and bottom.
Cast seperate from rendering. That one thing will make for good alloy. I use Kitty litter on top of my melt. I do not know if the 10lb pot will have room for Kitty Litter, but the 20s I use definately do.
Keep a paper clip to open up the spout. Pour it into ingots, clean the pot, and have at it!

[chris in va]

so far, except for the smelting, all my casting has been done with a 10 lb lee bottom pour

He never indicated the pot was used for smelting. Just sayin'.

[HeavyMetal]

What are you using for a Flux?

Many times I see "spots" on my boolits and think trash in the pot but in the end I realized it was actually cooled lead "specks" from the spout. When I put the mold up to it I knocked the specks of the spout and into the cavity through the sprue plate hole.

As these specks are colder than the alloy pouring in they form deposits in the boolit! Will suggest you check that out. My cure for this problem was a quick "blip" on the pouring handle just before I put the mold under the spout.

This clears the spout and I use the sprue plate to dislodge debris from the outside of the spout before I pour.

Nither of these may be your problem but they are something to think about.

[lwknight]

If I get crud in my pot I just ladel off what I can into ingots after fluxing and skimming. Then pour out the pot into a ingot mold. The junk will come lastly. The last bit of whatever will be discarded.
This leaves the pot pretty clean. I have not recently had to clean/clear the spout.

[semtav]

Yea, I wasn't very clear on that. I don't use the 10 lb pot for smelting, I do my smelting outside with a turkey cooker and cast iron pot.
but obviously I'm getting to much sand or something in my ingots from letting it cool outside.

I do clean my pot out after I'm done by shutting it off and then getting rid of the extra lead. this is when I notice how much crud I still have in the bottom.
Thinking this stuff should be lighter than lead, I thought I'd get it stirred to the top when I use a wood dowel, etc.
I've tried Beaver flux, sawdust and candle wax, but still have a lot when I'm done.

I'll probably try to resmelt some of my ingots to get them cleaner and see if that will eliminate a lot of the sand.

Like Heavy Metal said, the specks I'm seeing on the larger bullets may not even be this stuff. In fact some of it looks like charcoal embers from my stirring stick.

thanks

[Edubya]

I've had similar problems with my RCBS pot. I've learned to first put a pocket torch lighter flame to the nozzle. It may simply be a drop of lead that has cooled down. If heating the nozzle for a couple of minutes doesn't open it up, then you might have to do the cleaning out as described above.
EW

[WHITETAIL]

Yes, clean is the way to go!:redneck:
I do a cleaning job about twice a year
on my 20 pounder.
I also try to clean my smelting twice
before making boolets.:holysheep

[Gee_Wizz01]

I had this problem with my Lee 10lb pot, and I emptied it out and gave it good cleaning. I took out the pour valve and then chucked an 1 1/2" wire wheel in my drill and cleaned the sides. I used a small cupped wheel to clean the bottom and small drill to clean the spout. Then I assembled the valve with a little valve grinding compound on the spout area and used a screwdriver to work it back and forth to clean up the valve mating areas. I then cleaned out the valve compound and wiped the inside of the pot with naptha. After this I heated a normal pot of my cleaned ingots and the problems went away. This also cured the dripping spout for 5 or 6 sessions.

G

[anachronism]

Take a couple of the defective bullets & melt them in a clean ladle or spoon floating on the molten lead in the pot & see if you can isolate some of the debris. If the bullets melt clean, with no debris, then you either have air trapped in your bullets, aerating the lead, or as mentioned earlier, lead specs from the nozzle. The debris would have to be heavy in order to sink to the bottom in molten lead. I suspect you are seeing air bubbles, which usually show up as black specs (for me), or specs of oxidized lead that was still in the nozzle from the previous bullet.