First set of cast boolits.......questions

[jayhkr]

So I tried my hand last night at casting my first set of 125gr 356 9mm. Of the 6 in the mold, only 1-2 came out ok. All the others had issues. My pot was a Lee 10# pot with the PID set at 700*. I cleaned the cavities of the mold with lighter fluid as described in the instructions and a cotton swab. I set the mold on my hot plate while the lead melted, my "recipe" was 9# COWW with 2oz of Pewter Tin added. Here are a few pictures of the issues I see.




Looks like dirt in this one, small little specks in the lead:


Just a few came out OK, the rest had flaws:




HAD to try my hand at this ASBBT deal, figured I wasn't getting any better at pouring, but it really shows you more in detail the issues I'm having:



But the smash test was a success!!


So......., is it my temperature, mold, lead, technique, all of the above, none of the above? Just curious because I can see why so many people cast now. It's relaxing, fun, and in the long run allows us to shoot so much more!

Thanks guys, sorry for all the pictures, just wanted to be detailed as possible! (Do you prefer the small thumbnail sizes pictures or the full size ones? I can't figure out how to size down the full size ones so they don't take up half a page a picture! LOL)

[dondiego]

Your mold is most likely not up to temp.

[jayhkr]

It was smoking after my first few batch's. I thought that would be plenty hot. I will leave it in the lead longer next time. Thanks for the suggestion!

[jcren]

Great first run, I suspect the mold wasn't hot enough. If you dip the corner in the lead and lead cools under it or sticks, too cool. This clauses the pour to "set" in layers going into the mold. Keep pouring, you will get it!

The mold smoking indicates oil on the mold.

[454PB]

Lighter fluid has oil in it.......use brake cleaner or even alcohol for cleaning. The fact that it was "smoking" after it heated up is an indication of oil contamination. A clean mould does not "smoke".

I suggest you use another method to preheat the mould, dipping a big mould into a small pot of melt is not going to work well. Many casters use a hotplate to preheat, I prefer a propane torch.

If there is dirt in the boolits, either the pot or alloy is dirty......flux, flux, flux!

[fredj338]

Agree, use alcohol or other degreaser, as noted, smoking indicates it's burning something off, then run the mold until you are getting slightly frosted bullets.

[scottfire1957]

Did you use wheel weights or rendered clean wheel weight ingots?

[gloob]

It was smoking after my first few batch's. I thought that would be plenty hot. I will leave it in the lead longer next time. Thanks for the suggestion!

The easiest way to know your mold is up to temp, is the sprue plate will open quite easily. You may notice that your first several casts, you have to tap on the sprue plate a few times with a stick. This might even happen after you take a short break, and the mold cools.

Don't worry too much about fancy preheating methods. Just keep on a pouring that hot lead until the mold is up to temp. Just drop those first several sets of bullets into a separate bin, where you can drop them back in the pot, later. Once the sprue plate opens easily, start dropping those bullets in the good bin. Just check the bases for good fill, cuz if you get too hot and/or open the plate too fast, you can deform the bases.

With experience, you will find the exact tempo that makes good bullets. And whenever you take a break, or even have to stop for a few seconds to fix an issue, just go back to pouring bullets in order to get the mold hot, again. Just wait until the mold is hot and everything feels right again, before you start dropping in the good bin. Especially with aluminum molds, it takes too long to stop and carefully examine the bullets you just dropped, because the mold will cool down while you're doing it. So assume the first drop after any deviation from routine is bad. Only after you get a couple good feeling drops will you know that you're back on track. So it's something you will have to learn over time. Your first few batches of bullets will inevitably have a higher number of defects. Dropping good bullets is very robotic; once you have it going, keep it up as best as possible.

[jayhkr]

Did you use wheel weights or rendered clean wheel weight ingots?

I cleaned the wheel weights and ingotized them prior to putting them in my pot. They were fluxed twice in the main pot before I poured them into the ingots.

[borg]

You might try upping your lead temp also, shiny boolits to me means lead a little cool. It depends on the alloy, of course.
Plus, the base looks like alloy hardened before fill out.
JMHO

[jayhkr]

Thanks guys, I'm going to reclean the mold, relube it with real beeswax (straight from a bee farm!) and have a go at it again! I appreciate all the help and will report back with the results!

[trixter]

Invest in a hot plate (with solid burner) and set the mold on the hot plate set to medium. Start the pot and the hot plate at the same time and when the melt is up to pouring temp the mold will be ready too. Minor adjustments can be made from there.

[Yodogsandman]

Thanks guys, I'm going to reclean the mold, relube it with real beeswax (straight from a bee farm!) and have a go at it again! I appreciate all the help and will report back with the results!

Are you lubing the mold with beeswax?

[country gent]

Multi cavity moulds are great nut can be a real learning experience. Clean the mould with solvent is okay for a pre cleaning, most solvents leave a residue behind that can be an issue. Final clean with toothbrush and dish soap rinsine with clean hot water. Some moulds need a break in of 2-3 casting sessions to settle down and cast the best bullets. Heat cycling the mould on a hot plate can help with this. You might try upping temp to 725-750 degrees. Another trick to casting with multi cavity moulds is to start with 2 cavities filling and dropping doing 3-5 cycles then add 2 more for 3-5 cycles then all 6 for the session. This helps concentrate heat and hold it bringing the blocks up to temp faster. Aluminum blocks disapate heat pretty fast so breezes fans or even ambient temp affects casting pace alot. Keep notes and youll find whats working alot easier. Beeswax is good for lube but can cause issues in cavities. Some use 2 cycle motor oil also to lube hinges and such.

[jayhkr]

Ok, so I casted again and for the most part everything was dropping just fine. Will minor imperfections like the pics below be an issue or are those no good either?

[jayhkr]

Ok, lastly, I turned the pot up to 730* and the hot plate was maxed out. Both sitting there heating while I wrote my last ccomment (on phone , way more difficult than laptop). Did another batch and they came out completely filled out, no lines, BUT are they to frosty? And what will frosty boolits do if they are powder coated and shot? You guys are awesome, thanks for the help. I should have a big ol pile of fun real soon!

[Echo]

Lookin' Good - minor fold that might disqualify, but much better than before.

[Yodogsandman]

Frosty is good! Those are great! I normally try to adjust a hair cooler so my boolits drop without the frosted look. I run my pot at 725*F.

[pworley1]

Get the pot and mold casting good bullets and don't worry about frosty. Once you get good bullets, you can gradually reduce the pot temp to get rid of most of the frost.

[jayhkr]

So are these minor flaws keepable or toss them back in? I don't want to be over OCD, but I kept about 90 of the 150 I casted. I only kept the absolute 100% perfect ones. Pictures soon to come of them!!