Amazing! 19 replies so far and about 3 of them said something pertaining to the original post.
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Amazing! 19 replies so far and about 3 of them said something pertaining to the original post.
Yes, it does. You can't see it but there is a box fan on the floor on the other side of the casting bench blowing across the garage towards the double door opening...it makes a draft that pulls the fresh air from behind me across the hot plate and lead pots, pulling any vapors or smoke out of the shop so I don't inhale it.
Without the oven (tin can), there's a draft there on top of the moulds they don't heat evenly top to bottom...having them inside the tin can the draft can't affect them. I know it looks awkward but it works well...it beats the hell out of casting mould after mould full untill the mould cast properly. To me that approach is a waste of time.
You’ve been on the board since 2008 and you are amazed? [smilie=l:
That's right, some folks also "smelt" on here.
Sorry I can't help, but do agree with Porthos as I cast the same as he does. good luck with the project.
Well, if you schmelt it, what did it smell like? Everyone knows that schmelt is the past tense of smell.
I pre-heat mold blocks on a Proctor-Silex hot plate having a 6" square of ceramic tile placed over the Calrod to distribute the heat evenly. I use a 400°F Tempilstik crayon to mark the sprueplate and once up to temp I alternate between a pair of 4-cavity gang molds to.establish a cadence. I use two 10kg Ohio Thermal bottom-pour pots, casting from one while the other comes up to casting temp, checking with a Keithley digital thermocouple thermometer. I run a pot down to about an inch from the bottom before adding sprue and culled bullets back to the pot. After the scrap has remelted I top off the pot with fresh alloy, flux with Vitaflux, skim and pour crushed clay over the melt and change off to the other pot which is up to temp and waiting.
Molds preheated on a $4 electric hotplate from a yard sale and temp measured with my trusty(?) HF Infrared Thermometer. Works for me.
Bill
I can' take it anymore...
...put your Index finger in your mouth. Get it wet. Stick it on the mold body.
If you hear it go "tsss..." remove your finger PRONTO. It's hot enough.
I stick the end of the thermocouple through the sprue hole into the cavity to check the temp while on the hot plate. I start casting when the temp is between 375-400. The sprue cut tells me when the temp is right during the casting run.