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I have several hundred lbs of unknown lead to put into mold form. I already have a few small muffin tins but it will take forever with them. I was thinking of making the angle iron ingot mold and was wondering the right size for a 20 lb pot. What Angle size and length is your favorite? Thanks
You might want to jump in on this group buy.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...ty-Ingot-molds
I made mine out of 2" angle, just long enough to fit lengthwise in a PO sfrb About 4.5# each and still work in my Lee 4-20 pot. I tapered the ends a few degrees and only welded on the outside. I have a smaller mold for linotype. I made a mold out of lengths of 3" channel, it isn't as easy to use when mixing coww and soww.
I believe that the muffin mold is the best as a dimension.
certainly the rectangular shape does waste less storage space, however .... America is a great country and has no space problems!
The round shape then enters better into the Lee furnace or the Lyman pot.
I have two Lee molds (4 cavities) + 2 muffin molds with 12 cavities each. As soon as I have finished pouring the lead into the molds, already the lead is solidified on the surface: then I cover the molds with an old wet blanket and WELL-STRICTED (but MUST NOT DROP WATER !!!) I cover the molds, so the lead becomes solid also deep, and then towards everything in a tin full of water. In this way I never had a single splash of molten lead!
Muffin tins cheapest to buy -- don't stack very tight
group buy mold -- classy
angle iron mold -- fast effective ( I made 8 5-cavity molds the width of an SFRB) they stack nice and fit into casting pots
castiron corncob molds aren't to bed but don't stack so well
mini loaf pans are nice but don't load well
The GB sounds great but As soon as I get some weather I need to convert this to ingots and send in a sample to see what it is as I am out of coww .I finally figured out what sfrb meant now I have to find what size it is. Its heck not being up with the times ! Thanks Divedigger
I bought this 6 lb ingot mold https://pmcsupplies.com/100-t-oz-cas...th-handle.html
A 20lb pot with take three 6.85 lb ingots
I just finished taking 1315 lbs of various alloy 1/2 - 1 and 2 lb muffin ingots and melted them to 6.85 pounders. Cleaned up the scattered storage mess of the muffins and all 6 pounders by alloy ratio are stacked nicely now in the basement
The Wilton baking pan co. not only makes aluminum mini muffin pans but they also have a mini loaf pan.
The Mega Mini Loaf Pan makes 18 rectangular bricks/loaves that are 2 3/8 " wide x 3 3/4 " x 1 1/2 " deep.
Should be perfect stacking little rectangular bricks . $16.50 from Amazon .
I wish I had seen these years ago before I bought the mini muffin pans I have now....
Gary
The bottom line on an ingot moulds is...
> are they stackable in an efficient manner? Turn them all the same direction and stack them in 1/2 the space..do they drain the ingot pot quick?
https://i.imgur.com/97GyJHW.jpg
> do they fill the pot on the first load?
https://i.imgur.com/sbyscNw.jpg?1
> are they easy to make?
https://i.imgur.com/EO5CU3q.jpg?1
I like the Lyman style molds. If I had not found several at a gun show really cheap I would build some. Angle iron works well. Something about 1-1/2 X 1-1/2 works well. A length that fits in a small flat rate box is a favorite length. You don't want them to be so big that they won't fit in your pot.
Mine are sections of two inch channel iron 4 inches long cut at 5 degree angle and welded two side by side. Ingots weigh 1.8 pounds and are easily stackable.
I have a few of those pans but with only eight of the same sized cavities. The ingots weigh a bit more than three pounds if the cavity is filled to the top.Quote:
Originally Posted by gwpercle
The twenty four odd pounds in my pans will make the thin steel bend if I don't pick the pan up carefully. With easily over fifty pounds in the 18 cavity pan, you'd need to reinforce the pan and you'd need a stronger back than mine.
After a day over the fire and the Trophy stacked high it does seem to give one a Rockefeller feeling even though its just LEAD!
I like 2" angle iron 1/8" thick 7 inches long. About 5 lb ingots .
Weld from the back side. Don't need to be water tight.
I like your handles. I might just have to get out the welder.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mal Paso
Too much of a good thing ? .... Thanks , I didn't think about the weight . 50 pounds would be too much weight to handle easily even if the pan was reinforced .Quote:
Originally Posted by kevin c
Forget the 18 loaf size , that's a bad idea ...they still make the 8 loaf pan .
I like those too! I was just thinking about making them a little longer and putting a coil spring type handle on them, like you see on chipping hammers.Quote:
Originally Posted by fast ronnie
I use the Wilton mini loaf pans. They don’t waste any space. You just stack them one up, one down and so on. They may not stack as tightly as an angle iron mold but there’s little wasted space. Each ingot weighs right around 3.5#.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4396/...bd05f2da_b.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4420/...b2436eda_b.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4438/...047d24be_b.jpg
Even when not stacked one up, one down you can get a lot stacked in an organized fashion.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4332/...8b497785_b.jpg
Found a better pic of them stacked one up, one down. The top row isn’t this way and I did that way be able to grab ingots quickly.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4693/...2de06a68_b.jpg
Thats the way I stack my Lyman style ingots, one up and on down. If I didn't have a bunch of those molds I would make some from angle or channel.