Update on "wrinkled" boolits & using sawdust!

[oldracer]

In an earlier post I noted my first two cast sessions showed most of the 148gr DEWC boolits had what I found out were wrinkles. Several folks said the Lee 6 cavity mold was not hot enough and to get a cheap hot plate so I did. Today I got the chance to try it out and as they all said.....the mold needed to be real hot! The aluminum must really loose the heat quickly so I set the hot plate to max (400 degrees) and let the mold sit on it while the lead melted in the pot. The first couple of casts were not full enough but by the 3rd time it was going great and the casts were perfect! That was an easy fix.

I also tried using sawdust to flux the melting pot and that worked great also as those that have used it noted. I have the bench setup outdoors but there was not a huge amount of smoke and the crud stayed away from the pour hole very well.

These casts were made from a 50# ingot I was given in exchange for some of the wadcutters I have been doing so I consider that a good trade. I did find out that a long ingot does NOT fit well in my Walmart dutch pot so I'll have to break the next ones in to at least two pieces. I read the posts about that so I think I'll try the chisel and sledge hammer idea?

The question I have now is what to lube the sprue plate with as the ALOX burns away quickly when the Lee mold gets that hot so I was thinking some left other synthetic grease from my vintage race car years as it is good up to 2000 degrees before it runs or is it best to just lube the plate periodically?

Thanks a million for the help everyone and this is turning out to be a bunch of fun

[dragonrider]

Whatever you use to lube the sprue plate, use very sparingly and don't get any in the cavities. I would give the synthetic grease a shot. A lot of us use Bullplate and it does very well, available from Bullshop. See their link at the bottom of this page.

[Edubya]

As Dragonrider said, "Whatever you use to lube the sprue plate, use very sparingly ..." Use a Q-tip and barely touch the tip of it into the lube, let the heat work the spreading of it. You'll be amazed at how little it takes.

EW

[DLCTEX]

Bullplate Lube!

[mdi]

Bullplate here too. If the ingots will balance in your pot, not tip over by themselves, just put one end in the pot and melt it down (you know, like putting one end of a log in a fire and push it in as it burns).

[mmorris]

Get some Bullplate:
http://bullshop.gunloads.com/tbs_lube.htm


Bullplate Sprue Lube
This is a mold prep lube
2oz Bottle
$4.00
A small amount of this lube applied sparingly to the top of your mold and bottom of the sprue plate will prevent lead smearing across the mold and lead buildup on the underside of the sprue plate. Production rates will increase not having to wait for the mold to cool between bullet casts. Bullplate lube also prevents galling on aluminum molds. We also use this lube for all our swaging operations.

Open the sprue plate and put it on before opening the mold to drop the bullets. This will keep it out of the cavities.

The Bullshop is a little unconventional in that you have to send payment (no credit cards or PayPal), but well worth any hassle. I went ahead and bought 3 bottles so there would be some in the estate sale :kidding:

Mike

[Blammer]

if you have a bunch of it, you can make speed green, just add beeswax