Almost a catastrophe!

[Freightman]

Had just finished skimming off all the junk from range scrap, looked at the clean lead about 80# + and there it was a crack down the side and up the other side. Called the wife and said you get some water to sit the molds in and I will start molding, well with her dumping the molds and me dipping I got it empty. The ingots are clean but not pretty as they should be but lead is lead.
I am going to build a steel pot out of heavy duty pipe this is the second cheap cast iron pot to crack.

[marshall623]

That was a close one . Cheap cast iron is too much trouble to fix. Steel pot is a good idea. I may build one to have as back up

[fredj338]

China cast iron? Many have used a propane tank cut in half, seems a good idea.

[Doby45]

I use half of a propane tank and it works great. Fits real nice on the new Bass Pro fish fryer too..

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b327/Doby45/489fce30.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b327/Doby45/1afe5bb5.jpg

[Freightman]

Hey Doby what are those molds , they look like aluminum glasses and where did you get them?

[Doby45]

Those are stainless steel condiment cups. You get them at Wal-Mart or Sams and it is like $2 for 8 of them. I had to use them as my "Castboolits" mold would get hot and I was having to wait to pour another set. I should got 3 of them but at $30 apiece, they ain't cheap. ;)

[selmerfan]

Doby - thanks for the mold tip!!! I poured over 600 lbs. of WWs yesterday with ONE Lyman mold. I cheat, and this may not be for everyone, but it works well for me. I set up where I can reach with the garden hose and turn it on a trickle. I set the mold in the water and pour the lead into it. And drops of lead immediately cool and don't stick to the concrete, I just sweep them up when it dries. I only wait for 5-10 seconds for the ingots to solidify. Dump on dry concrete, repeat. No tinsel fairy visits in over 150 ingot mold pours.

[Doby45]

I think I am gonna do that this weekend. I got 4-5 buckets of WW I need to render and I really like the little CB mold.

[4719dave]

wow better ck my yard looks like mine++++ propain tank
I use half of a propane tank and it works great. Fits real nice on the new Bass Pro fish fryer too..

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b327/Doby45/489fce30.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b327/Doby45/1afe5bb5.jpg

[Hardcast416taylor]

Those round scorch marks on the paneling make a great bullseye to shoot at later.Robert

[MikeS]

Those are stainless steel condiment cups. You get them at Wal-Mart or Sams and it is like $2 for 8 of them. I had to use them as my "Castboolits" mold would get hot and I was having to wait to pour another set. I should got 3 of them but at $30 apiece, they ain't cheap. ;)

How much do the ingots from the condiment cups weigh? I like the idea of using separate cups like that, rather than a muffin pan, and I bought 24 of them. I figure (probably wrongly, but I'll find out) that if I fill all 24 of them, by the time I pour the 24th one the first one should be cool enough to be dumped out, and that by the time I get to the 24th one it too should be ready to be dumped, so when I have the stuff all melted and fluxed, I can pour, pour, pour, etc. then dump, dump, etc. then pour again, etc. till I'm done.

[Doby45]

I will weight one tomorrow but I think they are just over a pound or pound and a half.

[MikeS]

Thanks. Being the impatient type that I am, and not having anything better to do tonight, I fired up my Lyman Big Dipper pot which was fairly full, and I poured out 4 ingots into the condiment cups, and you're right, they weigh just over 1lb! I also found another good feature of using these cups for ingots, being that they're smooth stainless steel, rather than rough cast iron I was able to use the bottom surface of the ingot to test it's hardness using a pencil set. I had about a pound or so of cww's in the pot the other day, and I added 4lbs of sww, and 3lb of linotype, and the resulting alloy tests about the same as cww using the pencil test method.

I just bought a couple of ladles, and once I get them in, I'm going to fire up my turkey fryer and make ingots out of the lead that's in the pot (now that I got it off the bandsaw I can melt it again).

It's funny how shapes can make a big difference in how things look. I looked at the condiment cup, and at a 'lyman' 1lb ingot, and figured the cup couldn't weigh as much, but as you said, and I verified they're actually about the same size! Now I need to get a rifle (or cannon?) with a 2" bore, and I would have a nice boolit to shoot out of it! Oh wait, these are ingots, not boolits, I forgot! But it sure would be something to stick 3 of these into a 2" cannon!

[geargnasher]

wow better ck my yard looks like mine++++ propain tank

....And that looks like my !*&%$#$*&@ lead and the other Castboolits ingot mould I can't seem to find....:guntootsmiley:

Gear

[a.squibload]

Had just finished skimming off all the junk...

Glad you did't get fried.
Propane pot is fine but kinda wide, when they get low it's hard to fill the dipper.
Always have a small disc left over in the bottom.
I looked for a while but never found a stainless pot in the thrift stores, etc.,
and they tend to be expensive when new.

[Doby45]

That little bit in the bottom is my sacrificial pot warmer chunk, don't really care if I ever get it out as it helps disperse the heat so well. If I am changing between actual alloys like clip-on and then start smelting stick-ons I will either allow it to cool and remove the disc from the bottom and set it aside or I will pick the pot up with my welding gloves and pour it out into a larger mold (old saucepan) and then load the main pot up with the new alloy material.

[a.squibload]

Yeah when it cools I turn it over and tap it on the floor.
Then make a mark so I remember what it is.
Not like it's big enough to really make a difference in the next batch, I guess.
Good to know I can stop any time and still get the leftovers out of the pot.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I had to use them as my "Castboolits" mold would get hot and I was having to wait to pour another set.

after the ingots are poured and just solidified,
I move the ingot mold with ingots still inside
to a separate table (I use a stump) where I
have a soaking wet bath towel folded and
I set the hot ingot mold on the towel,
it steams most of the heat away.
then dump out the ingots onto another
table (I use a steel beded trailer).
I use two ingot molds and rotate
No waiting...contant pouring
Jon