Base not filling out

[JJC]

I have boiled with dawn soap and scrubbed the mold (aluminum) with a tooth brush. Sprayed with carb cleaner a few times. Tightened and loosened the sprue plate. Cast with #2 and WW +3%. Cast from 600 to 800 degrees. Boiling again right now. This is my seventh or so time casting with the mold, no keepers. What else can I do? Thanks, John

[Maven]

Are you using a bottom pour furnace or are you casting with a [full] ladel? The latter can make a difference.

[Larry Gibson]

If using a bottom pour furnace open the adjustment to allow the molten alloy to get into the mould quicker. Also don't hesitate to let the alloy run over a bit leaving a large sprue.

If using a ladle like the Lyman or RCBS drill the hole larger, hold the spout against the sprue hole with both mould and ladle horizontal and then turn together to pour the alloy into the cavity. whenthe cavity is full lift up the ladle spout and let the alloy run into the hole and also leave a large sprue.

Lastly, make sure any vents near the base are clear and "venting".

Larry Gibson

[JJC]

I tried the pressure pouring too. I am using a Lyman ladle how much larger should the hole be? Can it be made to big?

[Hickory]

Your sprue plate maybe too tight and is not allowing it to vent properly.

[JJC]

Casting with a ladle it's a pain with too loose a plate. I have tried holding the plate with my thumb as I poured. Same problem and the plate is HOT.

[JJC]

You's think a 1/4 inch hole in the ladle is to big? The next step down is about the size of the ladle spout. But 1/4" is way larger than the pour hole in the sprue. Does that matter?

[BABore]

About a 0.160 to 0.175 diameter hole is adequate in the RCBS/Lyman ladle. You are correct that too loose of a sprue plate will cause you grief and base flashing when ladle casting. Assuming your mold is clean like you said, and your pouring a healthy sprue, then your looking at venting at the base. Check the vent lines and scrape them out with a razor knife if your mold is of that type. If not, then you can hone a very small chamfer on the inside, top edges of the blocks. I use a diamond hone, stone, or very fine file to do this. Don't go nutz here. A couple thousandths chamfer will usually work. Just enough so you can see a fine line when the blocks are tightly together. If it doesn't work immediately, try just a bit more. Beware! Too much and you can get finning. Also, make sure your running your mold and the sprue plate hot enough. 3-4 seconds for the sprue to go from liquid to solid is about right.

[Maven]

JJC, A 1/4" hole will only succeed in spilling molten alloy everywhere besides the mold cavities. Try cleaning the mold again with denatured alcohol, 90% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, or mineral spirits/paint thinner (the clear, envronmentally unfriendly type) if you can get it. Dry the mold and bring it up to operating temperature and then smoke the offending areas with a butane lighter or wooden match. If none of the offered suggestions work, you may need to improve the mold's venting.

[JJC]

Breaking the edges scares me. Just sprayed it down with carb cleaner and put back together. Vent lines look fine. I never had such a hard time, then again i never had an aluminum mold. I appreciate all the help everyone

[swheeler]

Breaking the edges scares me. Just sprayed it down with carb cleaner and put back together. Vent lines look fine. I never had such a hard time, then again i never had an aluminum mold. I appreciate all the help everyone

Don't let it scare you, it is SOP now for all my Lee molds. I use a diamond hone and it does make a difference.

[Larry Gibson]

You's think a 1/4 inch hole in the ladle is to big? The next step down is about the size of the ladle spout. But 1/4" is way larger than the pour hole in the sprue. Does that matter?

That is what I opened mine up to. As long as the outside of the spout is still contoured so it fits inside the countersick of the sprue pour hole I've had no problems with alloy spillage. The trick is to keep the spout against the sprue plate for the "pressure" fill and then rotate it sideways while keeping the mould top side up to fill in and create a good sprue. I also hold the mould and dipper over the pot so any run off goes into the pot. I wear long sleave shirts, eye protection and work leather gloves as I also open the sprue plate by hand instead of beating on it. Sometimes with large bullets I allow all the remainder of the alloy in the dipper to run into and over the sprue plate and then back into the furnace. This always has given me filled out bullets with problematic moulds or alloys.

I will note that I am using the ladel on bullets of 300+ gr only. On smaller weight bullets I have no problems with the Lyman Mag 20 and the spout adjustment opened. You might try opening the spout in increments as a smaller hole may very well work for whatever mould you are using.

Larry Gibson

[JJC]

Well after cleaning, not altering the mold or ladle, started casting. I got exactly three perfect boolits. Cast up alot of "seconds". I'll keep working on it, maybe touch the edges with a stone? Thanks again Gentleman

[LongPoint]

Maybe its the carb cleaner. I believe some leave a residue after drying to protect the parts from corrosion. Good luck.

LongPoint

[onondaga]

Is your mold a Lee? They are not designed for pressure casting, IE. pressing a ladle spout or pot nozzle to the sprue funnel gate. Using that method could also be the cause of your problem. Checking Lee literature or a call to Lee technical will verify that. I agree the carb cleaner may be part of the problem too. Detergent and a brush is fine.

A good swirling pour works well with molds that even have no vents. Pouring dead center or pressure casting with Lee molds is detrimental to casting quality as turbulence will cut off the tiny vents on Lee molds. Lyman has different instructions for their molds and very different vents.

For the Lee molds keep the stream length from spout or ladle short-- from 1/8 to 1/4 inch long at most and position your mold so that it is not level but tilted about 5 degrees and don't pour dead center to the sprue hole. Pour half the diameter of the stream off center to the sprue hole. This asymmetry and tilt sets the metal to swirl into the mold and gives the Lee molds their best fill when all else is ok with alloy and mold temp. The swirl method will work well with other brands of molds too, but the Lee molds definitely don't like pressure casting unless the vents are enlarged to the size of Lyman vents and the sprue plate tension loosened to vent also. So, if you are working with Lee molds, use them as they were designed and you will be happier.

Gary

[BABore]

Is your mold a Lee? They are not designed for pressure casting, IE. pressing a ladle spout or pot nozzle to the sprue funnel gate. Using that method could also be the cause of your problem. Checking Lee literature or a call to Lee technical will verify that. I agree the carb cleaner may be part of the problem too. Detergent and a brush is fine.

A good swirling pour works well with molds that even have no vents. Pouring dead center or pressure casting with Lee molds is detrimental to casting quality as turbulence will cut off the tiny vents on Lee molds. Lyman has different instructions for their molds and very different vents.

For the Lee molds keep the stream length from spout or ladle short-- from 1/8 to 1/4 inch long at most and position your mold so that it is not level but tilted about 5 degrees and don't pour dead center to the sprue hole. Pour half the diameter of the stream off center to the sprue hole. This asymmetry and tilt sets the metal to swirl into the mold and gives the Lee molds their best fill when all else is ok with alloy and mold temp. The swirl method will work well with other brands of molds too, but the Lee molds definitely don't like pressure casting unless the vents are enlarged to the size of Lyman vents and the sprue plate tension loosened to vent also. So, if you are working with Lee molds, use them as they were designed and you will be happier.

Gary

No offense, but I consider that hogwash. I have no problem pressure casting with a Lee mold as do many others. Lee may advise the trickle method because all they sell is that little ***, "tits on a boar hog", half a teaspoon. What else can they advise without cutting their own throat. You'd be better off dunking the whole mold in the pot and wait til the bubbles quit coming up.

[Larry Gibson]

I've not had any problems "pressure casting" with Lee moulds or my Rapine moulds which are aluminum also. Come to think of it my TC .50 cal Maxiball mould is aluminum also and "pressure casting" is a must to get complete base fill out with it.

Larry Gibson

[onondaga]

Lee instruction for pouring is based on their design and materials as is Lyman, RCBS and all. Customers can be very loyal and think that instructions are transferable to other brands. Some molds of Lee will respond to pressure casting some won't at all. This is why their instructions reflect the method that works the best with their molds.

Lyman isn't perfect either. I just got their new Cast Bullet fourth manual. I have read 48 of 320 pages so far and there are 4 misspellings, six grammar and syntax errors, eleven sentence structure errors and the author says that pure lead has a BHN of 5 . He also condemns the use of ballistic fillers.

I have Lee, Lyman, RCBS and Shiloh molds. Each of my Lee's have my label on the handle that has the pot temp best for my metal and the corner dip time for best mold warming so that the first bullet comes out good. That information doesn't transfer to other brands or molds. It doesn't make me curse Lyman either.. I have a problem with steel molds in general that I don't have with aluminum. Finding a standard warm method is sensitive and difficult, much more so with steel than aluminum for me. Casting with steel molds generally has more culls for me at the beginning of the session and later I have to slow my casting cadence more frequently with steel also or I get over heating of the molds much more frequently with steel than with aluminum. The over warming causes more culls again in the same session.

I have many round ball molds too. The steel round ball are all coarse with very visible cutting lines, but the Lee round ball molds are all mirror smooth in their cavities because they are pressed or cherried on a mandrel. This doesn't make me curse Lyman and RCBS. It gives me a preference in round ball molds.

Lee doesn't say that pressure casting only works on *** molds, nor do I. I believe that consistent pressure casting is a particular skill as is consistent bottom pour or ladle casting. Design and engineering can be optimized for each method. Lee has chosen differently than Lyman and RCBS . They all work well with their associated techniques.

Gary

[old turtle]

I have no Lee molds but on my others I find that if the plate is to tight the base will not round out. Hickory may be correct. But you must play with the tension some times even as the mold gets hotter

[Sensai]

JJC, any chance of pictures of the "base not filling out" bullets? How long are you waiting before cutting the sprue. What are you using to lube the sprue plate? I have no doubt in your casting skills, it's just that both of those things have bitten me in the butt.

I normally cast 357 and below diameter boolits. When I started casting heavier 45 cal, I didn't wait long enough for the sprue to cool. I wound up ripping the center out of most of the bases. I've read that you can "sharpen" the sprue plate opening, but I never have.

Another time, casting for 30-06, I couldn't get the corners of the bases to fill out. I tried for several sessions, with the same results. Then I remembered that I had "preserved" the mould for storage with oil. When I cleaned it for casting I hadn't removed all of the oil from the sprue plate pivot. The body filled fine, but the corners of the bases were all rounded. A little electrical contact cleaner and some bee's wax and I was back in business.