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have a small lee ladle with a small V on each side to pour lead in to the mold.
lead or tin sticks to it making it hard to pour
Ive tried polishing it smooth , letting it rust
cant sop the lead sticking ??
what to try ????????????
would like 1 with the spout lyman? but iam left handed
more heat is the answer.......a much better one is use the Lee for birdseed ..and buy a little Lyman dipper. Its at least 1 million percent better .
I've found when lead sticks to my ladle that my alloy is too hot. I keep a thermometer handy and it proves that in my case the alloy is too hot. I know that contradics john.k's reply, but for me it's true. This just happen a week ago as I was casting along fine and then lead started sticking to the ladle. I like to run my alloy at about 720 degrees. Sure enough I stuck the thermometer in and it read way over 850. Turn the heat down and the problem went away.
Two suggestions: (1) A heavy coating of soot helps prevent alloy from adhering to the ladle. (2) Some of Lyman's newer ladles come with 2 places to screw the handle into and 2 pouring spouts to accommodate both left- and right-handed casters.
Let the ladle site in the pot longer. A cool ladle in a hot pot will get sticky until the ladle warms up.
when I use a ladle and don't have it in my hand I keep in the lead or by the bottom of the pot where the fire can heat it D Crockett
This is the only use I have found for the mold spray lube. It helps stop the beard that hangs off the ladle, drop at the most inopportune time.
The RCBS is a little bigger than the lyman with the same spout. Both of mine have a boss opposite the handle so it could be drilled and tapped for left handed use. Simply spot through the existing hole with the tap drill and drill through. Then tap with correct threads for the handle. plug old hole with a set screw and your good to go. The lyman can be done the same way but threads will be thinner section.
Put the ladle in the pot when you are fluxing the melt. There will always be a small amount f lead adhering to the ladle - just click it against the side of the pot and it falls off if the ladle has been fluxed and the same temperature as the meltQuote:
what to try ????????????
If lead is sticking likely the lead and/or ladle are too cool... that is if the lead is freezing on.
If you are getting a dangly bit of "skin" then dross your pot. Put some flux in and stir vigorously. You can use flux (commercially available), paraffin wax, boolit lube, sawdust, stir with a DRY hardwood stick, used engine oil (or not used for that matter).
Fluxing/drossing will mix things back into the melt and you should wind up with dry dusty dross on top of your melt. When it gets a "skin" on it, it is time to flux. Regular fluxing will help with pouring and fill out.
If you use wax or oil, use small amounts and light the fume on fire then stir the melt. What you are doing is reducing some oxides and remixing some alloying components. Basically is cleans the lead. It is the carbon that does the trick.
I have been a ladle caster for about 45 years and never have any problems.
Longbow
I use a commerical soup ladle with a 3/32" hole drilled in the center. Poor man's bottom pour.
Saw this on Youtube and have been using it this way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZQQ159QJCo
like mold maker use the graphite mold release agent.
I just skim the pot as the strings build up then at the end I return it all back and flux the mess back into good alloy for the next time.
The new Lyman Ladles are reversible ! I just bought a new one. There are bosses on each side you can screw the handle into , can be used lefty or righty.Quote:
Originally Posted by turtlezx
Any ladle will clog if it is not kept hot. I keep the ladle bowl in the melting pot. If not hot the lead hardens and clings. Doesn't matter if Lyman or Lee. You can't take them out or they will cool.
Advice...I keep the Lyman ladle head submerged in the alloy while casting. Fill the bowl and press the nozzel to the sprue opening , turn the ladle and mould upright to fill, this is called pressure casting and will get you sharp cornered completely fill out boolits.
I've tried the open Lee ladle, bottom pour and the Lyman pressure casting get me the best boolits with the highest rate of keepers. If you ladle cast , try the Lyman ladle and the Lee Magnum Melter Pot...they do the job best for use ladlers .
The lead will collect on any ladle so you have to tap it on the bench or wipe the nozzle clean or spray the clean ladle with any graphite mould release , inside and out, let dry. I had a can from Midway that I no longer use on moulds....it works great on the ladle
P.S. The Lyman is already drilled and tapped on both sides for a handle , there is a screw in blank for the side you are not using . Pretty neat !
Gary
I modify my ladle handles by putting a stop collar on them and locking it so the head is heavy end. This gives me a "hook" for the edge of the pot, keeps the ladle from sliding in on my big pot if its bumped.
Back in the day before I bought a bottom pour pot and still used a ladle I had this problem,
my solution was brutal but effective I removed the screw-on handle from my ladle and put it into a
hot fire inside my Wood stove over night when seen last before going to bed it was glowing
Yellow-Orange.
In the morning tending the fire in the stove it had cooled and the ladle had oxidized "blue" and removed it shook off the patina of wood ash
I dropped it into a plastic cup filled with Hydrochloric acid
by lunch time I was ready to cast some more So I pulled it out and toothbrushed the
rust off of it and set it on top of the (hot again) stove to dry.
I had stripped the lead off by boiling, evaporation, and the remainder by the HCl.
In a perfect world I'd put the piece in a retort and boil it in Mercury, but I lack any
Mercury I'm willing to contaminate... or go through the process of redistilling, which is tedious work at best
Quote:
Originally Posted by turtlezx
Once a year or so I take my old lyman ladle to the wire wheel on my bench grinder.
Once clean and shiny all over I give it a coat of Lee Alox and let it dry.
When it gets hot that stuff hardens like enamel. And lead, why it just does not like to stick to it.
How long it lasts depends on how much I use it. But it lasts pretty well.
try putting some bull plate on it
or Miha's sprue lube should take care of it