Muffin tin ingots

[RegCom7]

Hi everyone, I'm new here. I've been reloading for a few years and have decided to start casting for .45 Colt. Lately I've been reading a lot of great info here on Cast Boolits, and have learned a lot! I have some muffin tins that I plan to use for lead ingots. Some of the muffin tins are aluminum and some are steel. I've read that sometimes the lead welds to the muffin tins and is impossible to get out. What if I use some mold release spray on the muffin tins?

[docone31]

I have not used aluminum ones, but, I have done the steel ones.
If they are used steel stampings, with some rust on them, they will work great. When the ingot cools, it shrinks a tad and falls out.
New ones have that coating on them. That sticks to the ingot. Any galvanizing will weld to the ingot. The two piece ones will have a lip that the ingot will stick to.
Crud em up, cast em, enjoy. They stack real well.

[zxcvbob]

I use 2.5 ounce stainless steel condiment cups. They are cheap and make nice little 20 to 22 ounce ingots. I would *like* to find a cast iron muffin or cornpone pan but no luck. I bought a steel muffin pan at the Dollar Store to use as an ingot mold and that was a disaster. I had to destroy it to get the ingots out.

A beer can makes a pretty good 8.5# ingot mold.

[BT Sniper]

Bought the cheep $3 muffin pans at wall mart. 1st attempt welded the lead to the muffin cups. Next I cleaned the pans first and then placed them over the outside wood fire till they got good and black. Works like a charm now.

[RegCom7]

My muffin tins aren't very old, so they're in pretty good condition. But even if they're not rusty, and have those little lips on the top edge, do you think they'd work ok if I use mould release spray? Thanks.

[Kraschenbirn]

Broke in a new Wilton 12-holer this morning. These drop a 2# ingot and the "non-stick" coating doesn't seem to effect the fill in any way. I ran up 100# of Lyman #2 and ingots dropped cleanly from the first pour without using any mould release.

Bill

[supv26]

I swiped one of my wife's muffin pans from the kitchen and it is aluminum. It worked great until I smelted some mystery metal and I almost distroyed it trying to get that out. It's all bent up now from beating it with a hammer! I'll have to kidnap another one of her muffin pans for the next smelting session!

[high standard 40]

If you are looking for a cast iron muffin pan, it can be found on Amazon.com. Don't know how much you want to pay but you can get one there.

[doghawg]

My first attempt was with some steel muffin pans...and the lead stuck to them...I got one of the cast iron "cornbread" critters at Sportsmans Whse. and it's going to be cast iron from now on.

[zxcvbob]

If you are looking for a cast iron muffin pan, it can be found on Amazon.com. Don't know how much you want to pay but you can get one there.

I wanna pay about $2 or $3.

[RegCom7]

I wanna pay about $2 or $3.

Me too! I plan to look at yard sales this coming summer.

[twopatch]

Thriftstore/garage sale....

[alamogunr]

My muffin tins aren't very old, so they're in pretty good condition. But even if they're not rusty, and have those little lips on the top edge, do you think they'd work ok if I use mould release spray? Thanks.

I think the lack of an answer to your question indicates that we don't know. Try it with just one pan and see what happens.
John
W.TN

[RegCom7]

I think the lack of an answer to your question indicates that we don't know. Try it with just one pan and see what happens.
John
W.TN

I'll try it out! Thanks for all the good info everyone!

[sniper7369]

I have one of the 5 dollar, non-stick, mini muffin pans from Wally Mart. Works great. I've made a few hundred pounds of ingots with it. As soon as the lead cools I just flip the pan over and let it drop on the garage floor upside down. The ingots fall right out. I don't use any spray or grease or anything on the pan.

[Boerrancher]

I have one of those cheap non-stick 12 hole muffin pans from wally world. Before I ever poured lead in to it, I fired up the burner that I smelt on and set the muffin tin on it until all of the non stick stuff got hot enough that it turned a nice brown colour. This is what I use for my WW's. I also have a cast iron corn muffin pan in the shape of ears of corn. This is what I use for my range scrap ingots. My lead muffins weight in right at a pound and my lead corn ears weigh a pound. It makes it nice for my 50/50 alloy. I have a bunch of pure lead to melt down, about 200 lbs of lead pipe, and 20 lbs or so of pure plumbers lead. I need to find another ingot type for the pure stuff, as I will use it in front stuffers, and some BPCR applications.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[snaggdit]

A friend was going to the thrift store a few months back so I asked her to pick me up a muffin tin or small bread pans. She got me a 6 hole muffin pan with a brown non-stick coating. I don't think it is steel, since it does bend some when full while flipping. Then again, it ain't flimsy, either. I have had no trouble with ingots sticking. Guess I just got lucky!

[GLL]

Very old cast iron muffin pans plus rust equals nice 1.5 pound ingots !

The larger six pound ingots are from custom welded steel moulds from jawjaboy!

Slight rust is extremely beneficial !

Jerry

[Wayne Smith]

If they are steel heat them up hot and set them out in the rain and let them rust. Ingots will drop right out. I've never tried mold release, I have no idea how long it might last per application. Sounds like it may quickly become expensive. Rust is free.

[inuhbad]

How long do you leave the lead in your ingot moulds before emptying them? I mean, on the larger ones like the welded steel one two posts above... How can you tell when the center of the ingot has solidified good? I presume they cool from the outside, inward, right?

Just curious since I'll be smelting my first ingots the moment I get a few good sunny days in a row! I'll be smelting my first batch of ingots in an open fire pit, so I have to make sure to do this in good weather & minimize the chance of lead explosion...

I also only have the one welded mould made of 2" angle iron, with six 5" long cavities... I presume the ingots will be around 2.5 lbs each when finished. So, should I try to limit the amount smelted to about 15 pounds at first??? I have a 10" Dutch Oven for the ingot smelting. I have about 140 pounds of pure lead pipe, and another 25 to 30 pounds of wheel weights (I'll make them into separate ingots).