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Thread: home made lead ingot molds

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub flagman1776's Avatar
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    home made lead ingot molds

    I had several made up to make 4# bars to feed my Magma Auto cast machine. My welder (thanks Johnny!) suggested cutting channel iron in his chop saw at an angle. The sides of the channel iron already have "draft" for releasing. He welded 1/4" plate a couple of inches extra long on each end... only on the outside. The cuts were at an angle so the end plates had draft too. The extra long tends gave tabs to pick them up with tongs and somewhere to rap the mold on the floor to drop the ingot free. I was making Lyman#2 alloy in 50# batches and could keep my 6 ingot molds in action.

    PS I was initially worried that the end plates weren't welded on the inside but it was nevr a problem.
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  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    I use 3" channel and angel welded outside. The channel provides a handle and extends below the web of the channel to allow air flow under the mold. 12" long holds about 15 lbs of pure.
    QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES?

  3. #3
    Boolit Bub flagman1776's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jdfoxinc View Post
    I use 3" channel and angel welded outside. The channel provides a handle and extends below the web of the channel to allow air flow under the mold. 12" long holds about 15 lbs of pure.
    My channel is 3" also. I like the spacer idea.
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  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master

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    when I made mine i used 1/4" X 2" flat stock on one end and 2X2 angle on the other. the tops of the angle iron molds were 1/4" below the endsI then welded a piece of 1/8" key stock on outside side to side. This gave a nice handle on the molds and when filled the ingots were tied together in a 5 bar block just a 1/8" strip holding them easy to bend and break. I cut the ends of the angle at 10* and the with the angle ingots just fell out.

    A little draft in a mould goes a long ways to releasing parts and ingots. I did his batch with a tig welder so a very fine even weld. I have made them with stivk weld a little rough and higher build up, but weld on the inside and clean up with a 1/4" rotary file and a very nice ingot. Mif is good and about as fast as stick or a little faster , bead can be controlled a little better , can also be cleaned up to a nice radius for easy relief. Tig is slower and much finer bead the radius can be formed when welding and is a more controlled localized heat. It is slower

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    I admire you folks with welding skills. City boy here has to buy his molds from DIY guys or from Lakehouse.
    Last edited by kevin c; 02-09-2020 at 12:49 PM.

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master

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    One of the best welders I worked with in the tool room was a very nice lady. I saw her weld a bolt to broken 10 24 machine screws and back them out. Her welds always were very good. SO dont tell us you can tell us you haven't learned yet. There is a difference

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    I also don't work on my own cars...;^]

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by kevin c View Post
    I also don't work on my own cars...;^]
    I don't either which stinks! Spent decades learning how to do that sort of thing well and then the requirements for testing equipment got out of reach and now even R&R has a high cost in terms of what is going to ache or stiffen up if I do __________. Fill in the blank. Not willing to pay that "extra" physical price for a brake job.

    Last job I did was wire trailer brake switch and run wires to 7 pin trailer plug. Took 3x as long as it should, and I should not scoot around under a vehicle any more because I'm not all that good at recovering from it. but I could NOT make myself pay what the local shop was going to charge to pull and connect some wires.

    Channel with angle iron ends provide built in handle on each side. I made my 3 cavity angle iron molds like that. Which is the other stinky thing. I used to weld, mostly production but some fabrication. Then I moved, no 220 volt for the welder and not working on those "kinds" of projects as much. Went to a neighbor to use his welder to make those angle iron ingot molds and they came out looking like a slightly drunk 5 year old had squeezed the welds out of a ragged hole in the side of a toothpaste tube.

    I used to be able to sign my initials to my work using a welder. Legible and a good looking weld. Now... eh not so much. got rusty from disuse. Made me realize how long ago we moved. Must get a 220 line to the garage. First need to ship wife off to family while I do the work... ask for forgiveness when she returns because permission ain't happening.

    Angle iron ingot shape stacks so-so. Snug stacker but has to be in a container (such as SFRB) or the stack has to taper in each layer. I'm now nearly 100% in ingots from Lakehouse molds. Those are closer to the channel style. Those stack really well. And are sized to fill a USPS small flat rate box.
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

    Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat

  9. #9
    Boolit Master

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    All right you welders. Not my original work. Author unknown. Good though. Enjoy:




    forgetting the words above, I read where a Contractor was hiring welders. At the time, the pay range was $15 to $25 per hr. The applicant handed the Contractor two pieces. The first had had welds like the lower picture. The 2nd had beautiful welds like the upper pictures. The Contractor looked at the welder in bewilderment. The welder said, $15 / hr. for the first and $25 / hr. for the 2nd. He was hired at $25/hr. Interesting "business card" I think.
    Last edited by Land Owner; 02-16-2020 at 10:48 AM.
    If it was easy, anybody could do it.

  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Roger, I know what you mean. I learned to weld as a kid and was a pretty fair mechanic. That was the days before you used a computer to troubleshoot a problem. I still have a timing light and a dwell meter on the wall behind my workbench. And a pair of brake spring pliers and feeler gauges in my tool box. A couple of distributor wrenches, spark plug gauges, ect.

    I have to burn 2 or 3 rods on some scrap before I weld anything now days. You do get out of practice. To make it worse, for 20 years or so I did the electrical work at a place with a nicely furnished shop and made friends with both the mechanic and the welder. A little swapping would get minor projects done after hours. More lost practice!

  11. #11
    Boolit Grand Master


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    I use angle steel to make mine. They are short a little over two pounds. I like way the triangles stack in the casting pot for the first heating. To each their own. I was wondering if anyone has made a series of these smaller size molds and cut a notch between them, so the molten lead can flow from one to the other. That way you could pour in the middle and all would be filled, more or less the same. The small connection could easily be broken later.

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy
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    I weld (poorly but I do weld). I also work on cars, in the middle of rebuilding any air cooled vw engine for a sand rail. I also bought molds from lakehouse. I could make my own but the fancy ones make me happy.

  13. #13
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    I think it would take some major heat to get lead to flow along a mold with dividers. I also think weight would become a factor. One has to dump the mold. Which often involves lifting it up and dropping it to knock the ingot loose.

    3 cavity angle iron at 7 inches long would typically run 5# or so. Lead will try to cool off rather than flow 2 feet down a mold and picking up that 2 foot mold to drop it would be more awkward I think. I think some members have done it with a home built propane tank bottom pour that has a lot of heat directed at it. The flow is continuous rather than ladled.
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

    Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat

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  15. #15
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by GregLaROCHE View Post
    I use angle steel to make mine. They are short a little over two pounds. I like way the triangles stack in the casting pot for the first heating. To each their own. I was wondering if anyone has made a series of these smaller size molds and cut a notch between them, so the molten lead can flow from one to the other. That way you could pour in the middle and all would be filled, more or less the same. The small connection could easily be broken later.
    I'm trying to imagine how to make this work best.

    To pour just into one cavity and have the others filled from it, I'd think the notches would have to be fairly large, allowing at least the same total flow rate as what you are pouring. If slower, unless the melt is really hot, the cooling alloy might freeze on top, impeding flow and flooding the cavity you're pouring into. Or maybe partially fill each first and then go back to gang fill from the middle?

  16. #16
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    You make the angle iron molds the same as the channel iron molds pictured above. With the "point" down. Making sure the ends of the angle iron are slightly wider at the opening so the ingot drops out easily.

    You pour to fill each cavity on it's own. Here is why. I have a #5 Rowell bottom pour ladle (5 inch diameter bowl) it has a 9 pound capacity plus 5 pounds for ladle. Since full it would slop I can at best pour 4 ingots at 2 pounds each AND since you want a bottom pour to skim the lead you can't pour it to empty so really only get 3 ingots out of one pour. For that one has to deal with the weight of over a 13 pound load each pour.

    My biggest non-bottom pour ladle is 4# full and steel not cast so ladle weight is less but at 4# capacity one could only pour a couple of ingots, what gain is dividers so one can pour more cavities?

    I would guess that pour, move (an inch) to next cavity, pour, move next, pour is probably going to be easier than dealing with dividers and lead solidifying too fast etc. However if one has a really large bottom pour pot set up where you open a valve to a 3/4 inch spout to let the lead pour out it might work better. Some members have made pots like that. Maybe one will chime in with what they use for molds.

    There is also the construction considerations Putting angle iron ends as handles so it makes structural metal into a mold & handle is easy build. Cutting the dividers to shape and correct size and welding them in adds a lot of work and complexity for little if any gain that I can see. At least for ladle poured ingots.

    If you look next to the burner there are two angle iron molds stacked there on the back edge of the casting bench.

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    Side table where I dump the angle iron molds when I'm making ingots that shows what the ingots look like in cross section especially.
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    Left end of 2nd shelf up you can see angle iron ingots stacked. Far right has layer of slab ingots from bread loaf pans. Also slabs on furniture dolly with string under bottom shelf. That dolly had around 400 lbs. on it when I made CB ingots from all of it so they would be pot sized.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    I would point out my molds are same length as those Small Flat Rate USPS boxes so I can store the ingots in the boxes and have them ready to sell and ship. They pack the box solidly so no room to move around and tear through the box. Also no jagged corners exposed to puncture the box the way a box of Lee or RCBS mold ingots would have.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Not sure how well any of them show in the picture of the storage shelf but I pour 12 to 16 pounds into bread loaf pans. This makes about 1 inch slabs similar to the ones being cast from the channel molds pictured in the other post. Too big and flat for feeding to a pot but great for storage of batches of lead purchased from scrap yards. Pour fast and the "molds" cost about a buck each from thrift stores, garage or estate sales.

    This bottom picture shows what I use now. I bought the molds from Lakehouse over in vendor sales. They fit USPS flat rate box. Weigh between 2.5 and 2.25 pounds depending on alloy. Four cavity molds. Consistent enough weight that I can weigh 8 and divide total weight by 8 to get ingot weight. Then count all ingots for total weight. Checked it on a couple of hundred pound plus batches I had weighed the materials on and it came out accurate so now I don't have to weigh a whole pile to know the weight. Just weigh a sample and count.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    That is 6 buckets of sorted COWW's as ingots on a rolling HF furniture dolly about 440 pounds as I recall. I got $2 for the bucket of steel clips from the scrap yard, it went toward the admission to local gun show.
    Last edited by RogerDat; 02-18-2020 at 04:21 PM.
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

    Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Land Owner View Post
    All right you welders. Not my original work. Author unknown. Good though. Enjoy:


    forgetting the words above, I read where a Contractor was hiring welders. At the time, the pay range was $15 to $25 per hr. The applicant handed the Contractor two pieces. The first had had welds like the lower picture. The 2nd had beautiful welds like the upper pictures. The Contractor looked at the welder in bewilderment. The welder said, $15 / hr. for the first and $25 / hr. for the 2nd. He was hired at $25/hr. Interesting "business card" I think.
    I was looking for an open utility trailer. I bought the one I did because walking down the line of trailers at these guys shop I saw welds on every one that showed they knew how to weld well, and consistency that showed they paid attention to do it right each time. Never regretted it, have that trailer now for 15 years still solid as a rock and tows true because it is squared and true.

    I really hate getting some cheap metal items like a shelf and seeing crummy welds. It shows a lack of time and attention to doing it right rather than super fast. I would pay a buck or two more for better than just "good enough". Not sure if I would go $25 an hour for the fancy stuff, figure it might be like some women and cars I have known. All show and no go.
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

    Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat

  18. #18
    Boolit Mold
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    I have a couple of those angle iron double gang molds. Once they get heated up the lead runs into its own side with very little flashing. I think the rust works like a release agent.
    I made them so that they just fit crossways into a 50 cal ammo can. Being triangular they stack really well into the can.
    Another trick I use is to stamp the ingots while still in the mold as to what the alloy is. PB is pure lead, WW wheel weights, etc. Just a cheap hardware store number and stamp set

  19. #19
    Boolit Master
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    for what it is worth........... i made a 4 gang angle iron mold. i did not add draft to the ends. What I do after i pour each time, is allow it to solidify a bit, then strike both ends of the mold and it shortens the ingots just enough to allow them to drop free.

  20. #20
    Boolit Master

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    Every had your attention redirected for just a minute, past the lead's "shortening" period? what happens then?
    If it was easy, anybody could do it.

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