Not a bullet but a big casting- fillout?

[jonk]

Having just gotten a downrigger, facing the option of buying a downrigger ball for $20+ or having the fun of making my own, I went with the latter option. I ordered a mold for $50 for an 8lb finned downrigger ball. I figured it would be a good use for my zinc toss pot, though I might need to use some lead as well.

Now.... my initial thought is just to crank up the Lee 10 pounder, fill it up to the brim, and if the mold will clear the spout, start pouring. If not, will melt up a pot on the coleman stove and go from there.

However... I can just picture huge wrinkles in my future. Aluminum mold, no handle, just tw clamp together halves.

I'm kind of thinking of heating it directly on the other burner of the coleman to get it toasty hot. What do you think?

[StarMetal]

Having just gotten a downrigger, facing the option of buying a downrigger ball for $20+ or having the fun of making my own, I went with the latter option. I ordered a mold for $50 for an 8lb finned downrigger ball. I figured it would be a good use for my zinc toss pot, though I might need to use some lead as well.

Now.... my initial thought is just to crank up the Lee 10 pounder, fill it up to the brim, and if the mold will clear the spout, start pouring. If not, will melt up a pot on the coleman stove and go from there.

However... I can just picture huge wrinkles in my future. Aluminum mold, no handle, just tw clamp together halves.

I'm kind of thinking of heating it directly on the other burner of the coleman to get it toasty hot. What do you think?

I think there is no doubt heating your mold will lessen the chance of wrinkles. Just be careful with what you do.

[ghh3rd]

Remember that zinc is somewhat lighter than lead, so your 10lb sinker may not be quite 10lbs.

[Johnch]

I pre heated my mould on a old gas stove burner when I used to case Down Rigger weights ( fish in my case )

I had to have the mould super hot and I filled from a 8 quart stainless pot with a 12 oz soup ladle

Also I left the mould over a burner on low while I filled it
That way I got almost no wrinkles

John

[docone31]

With a casting that large, and a little preheating, you should have no wrinkles.
It will take time to "Freeze", and you will need a little more sprue to make it "Perfect".
Like fish care, but who knows.
Have fun.

[Mk42gunner]

With a mold that big, I wouldn't even try to use a 10 pound Lee pot.I would go with the coleman stove option and use a soup ladle to fill the mold.

Robert

[HammerMTB]

This is kinda ironically funny. I quit fishing in the bay, so had this 8 lb downrigger ball laying around. It was from Cabela's, and had a coating of liquid plastic all over it.
I carved that off and lo and behold, there's 8 lb of pure Pb under there!
I'm gonna melt 'er down and have some boolit stock!
And here you are making one! [smilie=l:
I'd trade ya but where's the fun in that?
I suggest you coat your downrigger ball with that liquid plastic stuff, and not worry about wrinkles. Really, how much does it matter if it has some wrinkles?

[jonk]

Well I have about 20 pounds of zinc... what I'm figuring on doing is cutting it with 20 pounds of wheelweights and making 4 balls. 1 for the downrigger, 1 extra, and maybe sell the other 2 to pay for the difference between the mold and what I'd pay for a store bought ball.

[sagacious]

I've poured a bunch of downrigger weights. Lead may be better, as you'll likely want all 8lbs of that weight working for you. For a variety of reasons, I suspect that you'll be a lot happier if you don't pinch the penny and instead use straight ww alloy. You'll make enough from selling a few weights to buy more lead.

Preheating a mold over a gas flame brings a hazard with it. The combustion products include a lot of water vapor, and that will condense inside the mold. Be sure to preheat to at least 250*F, and be sure to double-check for water droplets before pouring. Get your lead good and hot. Good luck.

[Buckshot]

..............Be carefull preheating that aluminum ball mould in a flame. Aluminum has no real visible 'transition state' between being solid and being all over the burner dish and bottom of your Coleman stove! :-)

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

[44man]

OH MY, do you REALLY want to use all them boolits in the water for FISHING???? :bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2:
Fill some little cans with cement. [smilie=w:

[crabo]

Use your smelting pot and pour out of it.

[jonk]

So update: I tried melting the lead over a good wood fire (trying to be cheap and save propane) but it wouldn't get hot enough to fill out the mold to my satisfaction. Solution? I blasted the mold with lead inside it with the weed burner....after about 3 minutes of that the sprue suddenly sucked in and I knew it had filled out.

Probalby just go that route next time......melt in the smelt pot with the weed burner and use said burner to heat the mold too.

[Lloyd Smale]

I once was given 300 lbs of linotype. the guy had about twice that much and had been using it to make down rigger balls. I could have cried! Almost worth going swimming to get the snagged ones back. I talked him into trading me for a 100lbs of range lead. He said he had casted so many that none of his freinds would probably ever need more and didnt need that much lead laying around. But to your question. Ive casted quite a few myself. Run your pot wide open and Get the mold real hot. Use a torch if you need to. Personaly i dont worry about a few wrinkles and defects. they dont effect the way the ball works so who cares.