OK, here I am

[armoredman]

I have, courtesy of the wonderful people here, a furnace, lead, mold, etc. What do I use for flux - any crayon? I need a slatted sppon, right? Safeway/Wal Mart right around the corner, (that is SO nice!), and I think I can score a scrap piece of plywood to cast on. I have leather gloves, will find some goggles, and then I just plug the furnace in, let it warm up, (or do I put an ingot in whenI turn it on), and wait? When it's molten, I drop a small peice of wax in, avoid the flames, scrape out around the sides with the slatted spoon, and drop the dross on the plywood. When the melt is a uniform silver color, then I dip the Lee mold corner in for a minute, (30 seconds?), to warm up. Then, move it underneath, lift the handle and pour in at a slight angle to "swirl" the lead into the mold. Wait about 5-10 seconds, use the sprue thumper to swivel the sprue plate, and dump the boolits onto a piece of old towel.
Do I have this right? I hate screwing up.
I wish people would realize reloaders are recyclers, before anyone else was!

[Wayne Smith]

Pretty close, enough to work, anyway. Do all that and you will have a bullet or two, and then practice makes perfect. Flux is almost anything with carbon in it, cat litter, wax, candles, sawdust, dry sticks, etc. Stir that in so it gets to the molten metal. That's before it all flares off! Don't hold your face over the pot to see the wax melt when you put it in! It can flare.

[scrapcan]

If all else fails you can use some of the bullet lube I sent you for flux. just pull off a small piece about the size of a pea and drop it in and do as Wayne suggested stir it in before it burns or flares away.

You should als put the ingots in the melter when you plug it in, it will all come to temperature and drive off moisture as it gets to a melting point. After you are casting and need to add more ingots, you can add them slowly or you can set them on the lip of the pot to come up in temp before adding them.

You will also need to lube the sprue plate screw and the alignment pins form time to time. Be careful not to get too much lube, if it runs intot he cavities you will have a devil of a time. You can use crayon/bullet lube/bull plate lube, etc to lube the sprue plate and the alignment pins.

Don't be shy, ask any question you want to. Glad you are getting set up.

[VTDW]

You will not be sorry if you drop your dross into a coffee tin or some such thing. Have fun bro

Dave

[armoredman]

Ah, that's what to use that old coffee can for! Thanks. Very much looking forward to this, and thanks again to the wonderful people here making it easier by FAR.

[R.M.]

One thing that I will stir the alloy in my casting pot, is a chop-stick. Whenever I go to a Japanese restaurant, I scoop the packages off my table. The carbon in the wood seems to act as a flux, just as the act of stirring will get the crud to float to the top. Some chop-sticks will sizzle and pop a tiny bit, and I'm assuming that there is a small bit of moisture in the wood.

Good luck
R.M.

[45nut]

paint stir sticks do very well for the job also, they are wide enough to really scrape the sides and bottom of the pot. You can usually get a few free ones anywhere they mix paint to order.

[Pepe Ray]

One tip I havn't noticed.
Don't put TOO much faith in the leather gloves. The cloth lined ones are better but even these will shrink up and let you burn if you hold a hot iron for too long.
When handling the pot or full ingot molds, use aids. Old fashioned kitchen pot holders work good. I also find valuable a couple of visegrip pliars of a size to allow good gripping. Remove when done lifting. They'll get hot too.
A good burn can screw up your whole week end.
Pepe Ray

[armoredman]

Good, thanks. I have some pliers and such I can use for the ingot mold when I get to that one. The pot I was planning on leaving in place until the lead in it cools solid, then moving it carefully.
I am looking forward to this!

[Goatlips]

Howdy Armoredman,

Here's my take on it that you might find useful, got pictures anyhow:

http://goatlipstips.cas-town.com/casting.html

Goatlips

[RSOJim]

When loading I always give my boolits a final inspection. They are already lubed. The ones that don't make final inspection for some reason are laid aside. I use these in the next pot for my fluxing. Why waste anything ? Jim

[armoredman]

Absolutely, RSOJim.

Goatlips, I looked at that setup, very nice! Good info, especially how you were frustrated at the beginning. With all the help here, I hope to cut the frustration to a minimum. Thank you!

[1Shirt]

Think I have tried just about any and all for fluxing. However once I started using wood only in the form of dowels, chopsticks, paint mixers,-----whatever, will never use anything else. Like others have said, there is more than enough carbon in the wood to flux, and it brings the crud to the top very well. Don't know who first came up with the wood factor but sure do thank him. Like the smell of the wood smoke that comes off when you stir much better than the waxes, marvelex and all the rest of the stuff that has been used over the years.
1Shirt!