New ingot molds

[RustyFN]

I made some new ingot molds. Can't wait to get some lead and try them out.
Rusty

[docone31]

You run a good bead Rusty.
They look like they will WORK.

[jawjaboy]

Look great Rusty.

[copdills]

Those are some good looking molds RUSTYFN

[Southern Son]

Rusty,
If you don't mind me asking, what size angle steel did you use and how long did you cut them? How heavy an ingot do they drop? I was thinking of doing the same thing and then on the side of the ingot mold, weld on 1 side "Pb", "20/1" and "WW". When the ingot comes out of the mould, it will have that molded in the side and I can just scratch out which ever engraving is not correct, leaving engraved on the side of the ingot whatever it is made of. Has anyone else already done something like this?

[Down South]

Hmmm, The pics won't come up for me. All I see are the image codes/addresses. I tried one of the addresses and it doesn't work either.

[RustyFN]

That was strange, I reloaded the pictures. I made them out of 2" angle. The three center pieces are 10" long. I'm not sure how heavy the ingot's will be I don't have enough lead to smelt yet. I cleaned up three buckets the other day and only have one bucket right now.
Rusty

[TexasJeff]

Damn, I'm gonna HAVE to teach myself how to weld. . .

Rusty, nice job. Very nice.

Jeff

[454PB]

I'm not being critical, you did a very neat job, but....

Having made the same mistake myself, I'll pass this along for others that may copy this design. The ends of each piece of angle iron need to be cut on an angle. If they aren't, you have to dig the ingots out.

[Southern Son]

454PB, thanks for that tip. being a little anal about my cutting and joining, I would have been aiming for dead on square, and then I would have been throwing them out with a bunch of lead stuck in them.

[Southern Son]

P.S. TexasJeff, If I can teach myself to weld, any idiot can. I am not a great welder by any measure, but when I weld it, it stays welded.

[copdills]

great job Rusty, 454PB thanks for the heads up on the angle I would have squared it up also

[hunter64]

I did the same thing, kind of a "been there done that" type idea. I eventually cut the pieces of angle iron on a mounted grinding wheel so they were perfectly flat and square and then I welded them on the back side of the mold. I did each angle separately and then put the next one beside it and away I went. Once both sides were complete then I turned them over and welded along the seam on top. It takes allot longer to do it this way but with the mold facing up all you see is the weld along the top and that is it. When I pour the lead it drops right out every time.

With the first attempt (exactly as the pictures show) I eventually ended up grinding most of the welds on the inside to help the lead fall out freely, I guess you learn as you go huh.

[RustyFN]

I cut the ends at a slight angle when I made these.

I was hoping the ends of these were small enough that I wouldn't need to cut them on an angle. I'll cross my fingers.
Rusty

[pumpguy]

Very nice job Rusty. I made some that are nearly identical to yours. I made four to begin with. I am down to three. I had to throw out the fourth because I had welded on the inside of the cavities. My welds were nowhere near as neat as yours so maybe the lead will not stick to your beads like it did in mine. Let us know how it goes.

As a side note, let them get kind of rusty. They drop the ingots much more easily.