CLOSED - 4 cavity Ingot molds

[Nueces]

Since these beauties are light alloy and not cast iron, I won't horse them around when full of lead. That little tab looks like a failure point if used to lift a full mould every time. I would use the tab to flip the mould over and lift it off the ingots.

[StuBach]

Since these beauties are light alloy and not cast iron, I won't horse them around when full of lead. That little tab looks like a failure point if used to lift a full mould every time. I would use the tab to flip the mould over and lift it off the ingots.

This seems like the way I’ll use them as well. Plan to pass these on to next generation so anything to prolong their useful life.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

I've not had aluminum ingot molds before. Has anyone had one that failed? I'm curious as to how durable they are. Prefer not to find out the hard way.

[drfroglegs]

I've not had aluminum ingot molds before. Has anyone had one that failed? I'm curious as to how durable they are. Prefer not to find out the hard way.

The Lee ingot molds are aluminum as are the Lyman molds, they work just fine. I prefer aluminum.

[Lakehouse2012]

I've not had aluminum ingot molds before. Has anyone had one that failed? I'm curious as to how durable they are. Prefer not to find out the hard way.

Ive used and abused the Lee aluminum molds for years now and havent had one fail on me yet. Its why i was comfortable designing these in aluminum.

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[2011redrider]

As well, have used lee and Lyman molds for years before switching to mini loaf pan by Wilton .

[Lakehouse2012]

For those reading this thread, molds are in route to me right now, I havent received the tracking info yet, but soon.

There are 7 of you that didnt give me a shipping address (or I can't find among the 100's of PM's) and I have sent you each another PM asking for this detail, please reply to me so I have this detail-stuff finished before Spring hits for me...

Lakehouse2012

[pretzelxx]

I'm super excited. I'll probably actually melt down my scrap from like 5 years ago. Thank you!

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[osteodoc08]

Looking forward to getting this.

[RogerDat]

I have sat in the garage, sort of eyeing the lead stash and considering what will end up melted into new ingots in these new molds and what will stay in it's current form. In the end anything I have already melted that is an ingredient is fair game, the printers stuff or plumbers ingots are safe because their form verifies the type of alloy.

First up is slabs and big block bread loaf pan ingots. Efficient for storage but too large to use except in big batches. Those are almost all at least 10# Good time to think about mixing some of those ingredients into big batch or two of usable alloy. For the "Other" label of the new ingots.

My aluminum molds have held up fine. I do use loaf pans and muffin tins for small stuff and steel angle iron molds for much of the rest but used to use aluminum molds, and many of the bread pans are aluminum.

I think gloved hand to flip would be less likely to break than putting a wrench or vice grips on the tab. But if the tab is heavy enough it should work for a long time. Permanent handles are annoying when storing bullet molds unless boxed they don't stack well so I would imagine the same would be true of ingot molds. Since I work with gloves that is probably what I will do as a starting point with these grab and flip. Expect they will be way less weight than my angle iron steel homemade molds.

Did someone figure these as holding 3# ingots per cavity based on dimensions?

[kevin c]

I think 2 and 1/2 pounds was the goal.

The current Lyman 1# X 4 mold is aluminum, isn't it? Except for handles loosening as the wood dries/chars, they show no damage in the couple years I've had them. The Lymans look to have a bit more draft than what we've got coming, and mine occasionally need a bit of encouragement (single light rap with a wooden shot filled mallet) to drop the ingots. My impression was that the ingots were binding on the raised lettering of the mold. Part of the handle loosening may have come from my previously getting impatient and rapping the inverted filled mold on the table opposite the handle side: maybe too much stress where the wood and tang fit together.

Just a guess here, but the tab on the new mold might be prone to scarring or breakage if grasped by vice grips and swung by them to knock loose the ingots like I used to do. I'm thinking I might just flip them on the pouring table with a gloved hand using the tab, then tapping the base with a wood mallet if needed.

[JSnover]

I'm thinking I might just flip them on the pouring table with a gloved hand using the tab, then tapping the base with a wood mallet if needed.

That's how I've been doing it for years, with or without handles.

[RogerDat]

I would worry that clamping pliers would leave lines from the teeth and those might provide a fault line for breaking over time. I can imagine from the drawings that adding a wood handle shouldn't be too challenging. Attachment might offer some sort of fault from pins, or handle having leverage etc. but I would think the weaker part of the joint should be the wood of the handle so that breaks instead of the mold tab.

Will have to see but a saw kerf from the middle of the handle with clamp around handle to close up the kerf and have it clamp on the tab. Maybe with a pin through handle and tab for positive attachment but I know my Lee molds are just a press fit tang and a metal band around the handle for extra support. Those are aluminum 3# molds so... seems doable just on clamp grip alone if someone wanted to go the route of a handle.

Any suggestions from folks on how they plan to stamp alloy mix for "other" I'll use Harbor Freight metal stamps but still mulling over exactly how and what I'm going to stamp. Could do #-# of tin-antimony or should that be antimony-tin? Rotometals does lead/tin/antimony but I'm going to leave the lead as a calculated value for "other" alloys. I considered Sb # and Sn # but decided that was waaay too much work. Times 20 for 50# batch or times 40 for 100# batch. Too lazy. Heck I'm often ok with sharpie and just write Sn # and Sb # but stamping all that is a little much.

Gave some thought to doing sharpie of the Sn - Sb above or below the #-# and follow a consistent ordering. The sharpie is faster than stamping. Heck for less than $10 one can get a rubber stamp of Sn-Sb. Hmmm. Interesting.

Debated just an X just above the other labels when they apply. Or could use a small bar to flatten those that don't apply. So flatten PB, Lino, Other and leave WW raised for a WW ingot. May have to play with that idea a bit. More work to hit three that don't apply than X over one that does but leave no doubt about which is marked.

[Nueces]

What about using an arch punch (wadcutter) to 'circle' the desired marking?

[kevin c]

Well, the Lino is staying as type or factory ingots, and lead wheel weights are not be found out here in California, so those two markings won't get used by me. I have a fair amount of pure but don't cast it straight, so that will stay raw too. So will all my ingots be marked other?

Since I indulge myself and have BNE analyze each lot of ten pound storage ingots (all stamped with content or at least that's the plan), I'll leave the stock as is and use the new ingots for my casting alloy, which I try to get very close to 95-3-2 or 96-3-1 Pb-Sb-Sn, and make up 250# each lot. I can just stamp the four numbers, which shouldn't be too bad.

I stack mini loaf ingots alternating up and down, making a fairly compact and stable pile. I expect to do the same with the new ingots. I'm thinking to stamp the bottom of the ingot. I'll see every other one on a clear, uncluttered surface. I can mark "other" on the top if I want, maybe the content numbers too if there's room.

[Nueces]

Hey, fellers, who/what is BNE?

[jmort]

A member here
Very helpful
Properly, "Who is BNE?"

[RogerDat]

Member BNE will do an XRF test of a pea sized sample of your lead in exchange for a pound of any lead. Many of us that use scrap as one of our main sources of lead will send him a sample of either our ingredients we have scrounged or the large batch of final alloy we make.

You just need to send a PM to BNE to get specifics and an address to send him the sample at.

One of the reasons some of us focus on making large batches for casting or large ingots for storage is we want to test what it is so it becomes "known" alloy. Easier to send a single sample from 100 or 250 pound batch than it is to send a bunch of samples from 20 or 40 pound batches.

As one person mentioned, if the form the lead is in identifies it, such as linotype in the form of strips with line of type along the edge then one wouldn't want to melt it down and put it into an ingot. However if one was mixing their own linotype alloy using COWW or plain using as a sweetener monotype or pewter and antimonial lead (30% antimony lead from foundry) then one would use the "lino" label on the ingots. Otherwise leaving linotype, or mono type (individual letter blocks) in original form verifies what alloy the lead is. Like a silver dollar is a known amount of silver a strip of linotype is a known alloy of lead.

[Nueces]

Got it, guys, thanks.

[kevin c]

Another thought occurred to me, RogerDat. A close look at the mold seems to show a raised lip all around, which means it'd be possible to flood the mold to get four linked ingots totaling something over ten pounds. Stamping one provides content info on all four. For casting they could be broken apart like plumber's lead.

You couldn't get thirty pounds of these ingots into a SFRB as originally intended, but it'd save three quarters of the time and effort needed in content labeling on alloy for personal use. They should still stack well if flooded evenly on a level surface, taking up just a bit more space than individual ingots stacked snug in alternating up and down ranks/rows.