Hot Plate Temp

[Pirate69]

For those using a Hot Plate to preheat molds; how hot do you preheat ?

[HeavyMetal]

I have a steel plate with ribs welded on to hold my molds on thier side, an effort to keep sprue plates hot during casting, and I set it up a "hair" under medium.

That's on a Wal Gren's 9 buck hot plate. Once the metal is up to speed I turn the dial down to the 1/3rd mark and continue using the plate to rest a mold on while emting the other!

[RobS]

Can't really give you a mark or specific setting as it seems everyones hot plates are a bit different. The only constant that I've seen is that a hot plate helps in casting "keepers" sooner. I would try right in the middle and adjust one direction or the other depending on what works for your mold/molds and alloy temp you cast at.

[Edubya]

I shoot for 400 degrees. I'll turn up my old hotplate to about 3/4 full and will let the mould sit flat on it with a roof of aluminum foil over it for about 20 minutes while the casting pot is coming up to temperature. With some of my moulds, this is just right and with a couple of others I have to cast five or six loads to get it hot enough. If the mould is not not giving you frosted boolits in the first couple of loads, the hotplate is not too hot.

EW

[Doc Highwall]

I bought a RCBS thermometer and have it attached to a piece of 1/2" aluminum plate that I rest on the hot plate with the moulds on top and I shoot for 350-400 degrees.