tin can shot maker?

[ovendoctor]

the shot dropper I made for my lee ''drip o matic'' was made out of a 1.5'' black iron cap with a 1/4-28 hole angled 45 degrees off the bottom corner with a.023 mig welder tip inserted into the hole

had to heat the unit with a propane torch to keep the tip flowing and ressivore hot
got the best results aiming the torch directly at the end of the tip and letting the shot
roll threw the fire down a welder soap stone into glycoll coolant[100%]
lotsa shot in a short order of time

Doc.

[crashguy]

Ovendoctor - Could you post some pics of your setup?

[DODGEM250]

This is the first I've heard about a tin can shot maker, but, man it does intriguing. You've got my attention...

[ciphery]

I plan on welding a couple bolts to the bottom of an old pot the bots will hold on a salvaged burner from an old electric stove, the thermostat will also be salvaged and mounted in a lectronic project box.
I'm still in the design phase............

[shorthair]

With a tin can shot maker you need to very careful as the soldered bottom of the can can & will give way with little or no notice do not ask how I know but I can jump farther than the lead splattered.

[mtgrs737]

When making drip shot the problem is that you need to keep an eye on several things at once. Temperture of the lead, height of the molten lead in the vessel which is pressure at the drippers, & coolant temperture and viscosity. The abiltiy of the coolant to absorb the heat of the cooling lead pellet at a rate that is not too fast or it will explode like popcorn is also important and that is why water doesn't work too well unless it is heated. I have tried many coolants and have found that for me liquid Sun laundry soap from the Dollar General stores works the best for me and it washes off much easier than any oil type of coolant. Your lead needs to be about 550 degrees and constant in temp. The lead level at the drippers needs to be consistant or you will get more variation in pellet size.

How shot dripping works is that the hole is so tiny that the lead comes out at a slow rate and the drip builds in size until it is too heavy to hang on, so it falls off and rolls down a short ramp and into the coolant. The temp of the lead, size of the hole, and pressure of the lead at the dripper determines the size of the pellet. You need the coolant as close to the bottom of the ramp as you can get it without touching the ramp or it will cool the ramp off and the lead will deform when you want it to dance on the ramp without cooling off like a drop of water in a hot skillet. When you get it just right, you will have good shot, if the drop to the shot if too long will allow the shot to flatten when it hits the coolant, so keep it short. The depth of the coolant tank is also important if you want shot that is hard enough to stand up to the weight of the shot falling on top of it and not deform. To date I have made shot that is within .002" of being round but my normal run of shot averages .004" out of round which is hard to tell with the naked eye. Minding the temps and pressure is key to making decent shot. It is a trial and error learning experiance but if I can do it, you can do it, Good luck!