Cooling an ingot mold

[Mike W1]

Never a problem till I built a propane tank kettle but now I can't cool the molds enough to keep up with a couple hundred pounds of hot lead. Have 4 of the Lyman rigs.

What works to keep them a little cooler?

[Tom W.]

Set them on a wet towel.. not sopping wet, though.

[too many things]

damp sand. on a screen you can move the sand around and when you take a break , wet it the water will run through fast and let the wet cool sand
as note if you use fine sand take old towel and put on screen . if you use pool sand not a problem

[ascast]

I use towels, add more water as needed ( read sopping mess) occasionally dunk in bucket of ice water. just be SURE they are not wet inside before you pour. if they are too hot to pick, they dry quicker. be sure they are dry inside

[Geezer in NH]

I set them on my garage cement floor and you can see them cool visibly FAST.

[frkelly74]

get some more ingot molds.

[osteodoc08]

What size ingots are you casting? I have small loaf pans and they form nice 8# ingots that slide into my lee pot. I can empty a large smelt in short order with them

[Lead Fred]

Concrete garage floor, its always cool

[Mk42gunner]

It has been a while since I cleaned the wild Wheel Weight, but a cold winter day seemed to do remarkably well at cooling ingots.

Failing that, more molds.

Robert

[lightman]

I run 6 or 7 of the Lyman style molds and my landing zone is a 1/2X6 inch steel plate about 60 inches long. It seems to make a pretty good heat sink. In 4 or 5 cycles they will begin to take longer to cool but by then the ole back don't mind the break.

[fecmech]

I realize this may be anathema to some here but I clamp a set of vise grips to my Lyman ingot mold and as soon as the lead solidifies I dunk it in a 5 gal bucket of water for a couple seconds. I then dump the ingots out, watch as the hot ingot mold quickly dries (takes seconds and you can see the damp spots)and refill with hot lead and repeat. I actually pour my ingot mold pretty close to full which makes for a 5 lb. single ingot which I break off individual ingots as needed. Much easier to stack.

[Ranger 7]

As above: Concrete floor works great. No cost, no maintenance, reusable and fast cooling time.

[bangerjim]

Sopping wet towels! I just dunk them in the swimming pool when they start drying out. Watch out for escaping steam. Cools very fast with no problems I have seen in many MANY hundreds of mold cools. I use Lyman, Lee, and RCBS molds.....lots of them.

[silverjay]

Aluminum plates under the ingot molds. Draws the heat out fast.

[Mike W1]

Maybe my problems not that they're too hot. Only 1 of the 4 seems to resist letting go of the ingots. I tried laying that one on a 1/2" aluminum plate that's on legs today and it didn't seem to help. Think I might go out and hit it with a wire brush and see if that makes any difference on the next session.

[osteodoc08]

Maybe my problems not that they're too hot. Only 1 of the 4 seems to resist letting go of the ingots. I tried laying that one on a 1/2" aluminum plate that's on legs today and it didn't seem to help. Think I might go out and hit it with a wire brush and see if that makes any difference on the next session.

If they're sticking, try preheating the mold with a propane torch. I'll have to do that from time to time with a cold mold

if they're resisting letting go, I'll turn over and pass the propane torch over it as well and it will release

this is using my Wally World mini loaf pans

[bangerjim]

Ingots of ANY alloy litterally fall out of my several Lyman, Lee, and RCBS molds. Just a slight tap on the cement if one hangs up frees it up easily. That is why I use dedicated commercial molds rather than surplus kitchen equipment for casting ingots. Threw away all my dozen or so muffin tins many many years ago.

[osteodoc08]

Ingots of ANY alloy litterally fall out of my several Lyman, Lee, and RCBS molds. Just a slight tap on the cement if one hangs up frees it up easily. That is why I use dedicated commercial molds rather than surplus kitchen equipment for casting ingots. Threw away all my dozen or so muffin tins many many years ago.

Sure, just rub it in you ingot stud you.

[bangerjim]

Sure, just rub it in you ingot stud you.

Well............ I do not spend money on:
boats
jet skis
snow skis
camping stuff
sports stuff
golf clubs
race cars
drinks in bars
women of the night

So why not spend it on my hobbies?!?!?!?!

Many use kitchen utencils with great success. I just prefer not to use them.

And "you can't take it with you"! I have yet to see a casket with side pockets. HA....ha

banger

[TXGunNut]

I've found six ingot moulds (four Lyman, two NOE) and a few concrete pavers give the ingots time to cool. I don't try to smelt around here in the summer time, I'd need another dozen moulds, lol.