Prepping ingot molds?

[Evoken]

I just ordered a pig of lead from rotometals. I will need to turn this into smaller ingots to use for alloying or simply to fit in my 20lb lee.
I have a lee ingot mold that has not been used. It is aluminum. Do I need to smoke it like bullet molds?
I did not see anything regarding ingot molds in lyman #4, maybe I missed it.
After my 1st casting I poured my excess 20:1 in a clean aluminum beer bottle and that worked ok, just had to razor the bottle.once the metal inside was cool. I figured if I'm going to get into this I should get an ingot mold. Lee was the cheapest I could find.

[farmbif]

just pour the melted alloy in mold, let it solidify, flip mold upside down and ingots fall out. don't have to smoke it or anything like that. if you have something like an old grate from bar b due grill that's clean or something like that to dump them onto might help them cool off a bit quicker.

[Sam Sackett]

I have a couple of old aluminum corn bread pans I use for ingots when melting down lead. I have never had to do anything to keep lead from sticking. If you are concerned, you might wipe them down with synthetic 2 cycle oil the first time you use them. Lead won't stick then, but you might have wrinkles on the ingots. Good insurance against sticking and wrinkles don't matter on ingots. I they stick after that, oil them again. Just like seasoning spruce cutters on your mold.

[Evoken]

Thanks gents, sounds like I should not have to do anything to it.

[44magLeo]

You might want to get a Lyman ingot mold as well. They cost a bit more but you make 4 ingots at 1 lb. each. The Lee makes two 1 lb. and two 1/2 lb. ingots.
Using the Lee to make just two 1lb. ingots is slow. Making 4 at a time is much quicker.
Even having two or three Lyman ingot molds works well. You can fill them all. By the time you get the third one full the firstone is cooled enough to dump out. With three you have two cooling while you fill the third.
Leo

[ryanmattes]

I've actually already grown tired of the bar molds, because my pot is too small to put more than about a couple in at a time until the first couple have melted.

I picked up a $2 mini muffin pan at Walmart and started pouring into that for ingots. They're about 1/3rd pound each, and I can fit a lot more into the pot and the melt goes faster. 10lbs of lead doesn't fill all the cups.

The only downside is the first time you fill each cup, you smell the coating burning off. After that it's fine. Handle the pan with gloves, it stays pretty hot, which also means it's a good heat sink for the lead.

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[kevin c]

A propane torch or, better yet, a weed burner will make very short work of the coating. Do wear a respirator (the fumes are bad for you), and use a wire brush or a metal scouring pad on the cooled pan to get out the ashy residue.

[Winger Ed.]

Lee molds are fine. Just use it & go.
Lead doesn't want to stick to Aluminum, plus the Lead shrinks when it cools, and they drop right out.

Those little ear of corn shaped cast Iron cornbread molds ya see in thrift stores work well too.

[oldhenry]

I find that it's a good idea to slightly preheat the ingot mold (be it cast iron muffin type or alum. ingot type). Sometimes on the 1st. pour if not preheated the sudden difference in temp. creates slight condensation which is not a good thing.

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[Ozark mike]

If i ever make ingots again ill use my muffin pan if i can find it dont know how much they weigh and it dosent matter to me as long as they fit in my pot

[lightman]

I run 8 of the cast iron Lyman style molds and I've never done anything to them before using them. I do spray them down with oil after using them and putting them in storage. When a certain friend comes over he brings his Lee mold and we don't do anything with it either.

[gwpercle]

A company called Wilton makes some mini-muffin and mini-loaf pans from aluminum ...
There is no coating and the all aluminum pans turn the ingots out easily .
Buy direct from Wilton at their web site . They also make coated pans so pay attention to what pan you are ordering and what the material is .
Gary

[Minerat]

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[mdi]

I've never felt the need for purchasing a commercial ingot mold. I use muffin pans (one of my better ones is steel that has rusted, never stuck any lead on the rusted interiors of the pans). I also use "mini loaf" pans. I fill them about 1/3 of the way, about 10 lbs and they fit in my Lee pot. For me the Lee and Lyman molds seem too small and the smallest I use is a "corn cob baking pan" ( an aluminum pan with 6 cavities shaped like corn on the cob) giving me 1 1/2-2 lb ingots...