pit falls of sitting down to cast

[emmie]

after 45yrs of standing and casting,my knees are telling me to sit. what are -if any- the changes I'll need to make for casting while sitting?????
how will my set upe different?????

thank you for your time
emmie

[Wally]

after 45yrs of standing and casting,my knees are telling me to sit. what are -if any- the changes I'll need to make for casting while sitting?????
how will my set upe different?????

thank you for your time
emmie

Have a drip pan under your casting pot and heavy towel/cloth draped on your lap just in case you drop a bullet or the sprue...

[fcvan]

My current setup is working very well with little fatigue during long casting sessions. I cast outdoors on the back porch using a 'workmate' type workbench that is 30" tall. I made a top for it, 20"d x 24"w, which locks in when you open the 'jaws' of the workbench. I set my Lee 110v 10lb bottom pour on a cookie sheet on top of the workbench. I have a stainless sierra camping style coffee cup under the spout in case it starts to drip.

I place a wooden folding TV tray in front of the workbench. The TV tray is 25" tall, 14"d X 19"w. The legs of the TV tray nestle between the legs of the workbench so that the tops overlap a little. I place a folded towel on top of the TV tray for dropping boolits onto.

I usually use two molds at a time and set the hot molds in the cookie sheet after pouring. I use two metal bread pans for the boolits. I drop, fill, set the mold down, Then I use a metal spoon to drop the sprue back in the pot and sort/inspect/place the boolit in the bread pan. I place 1lb ingots on top of the pot to pre-heat and have more ingots within reach on top of the workbench. I get a rhythm going and listen to sports or talk radio.

The height of everything keeps me from lifting the molds too high. The bottom pour spout is about shoulder level and when opening the mold my arms are about chest level. I have cast standing, I have cast sitting, and have had the equipment at varying heights. This setup is very portable and very ergonomic for me. Cleanup is a snap once things cool down.

I wear long sleeves, gloves, and safety glasses. The TV tray covers my lap and I wear pants and shoes. I don't care how hot it is I'm not wearing a tank top, shorts and flip flops! I can comfortably cast for many hours on end and frequently do. I try to gauge the amount of progress I make by the number of ingots consumed but take breaks hourly to stretch, hydrate, etc. This works for me, I'm sure hope other casters chime in with great ideas so I too can learn from them. Frank

[dragonrider]

Having your lead pot high enough that you can easily see the spout.

[aarolar]

At work I do alot of precision tig welding, I have a stool that allows me to get my weight off my feet/knees but not sit 100% per say this may be a possibility it allows you to get out of the way of hot objects falling in your lap quicker.

[Tatume]

I have no choice but to sit, and wear a heavy apron when casting. The apron should drape over the legs, as any molten metal that falls on the chair seat will roll towards you.

[clintsfolly]

I bottom pour and set summer I use a denim apron and winter just jeans I also have burned my leg not bad but burnt!! Clint

[runfiverun]

deniatly a lap apron getting a misplaced sprue in your shoe hurts.

[ipijohn]

+1 on getting the pot high enough to see the spout and also wearing a full length machinists apron made of heavy denim.

[geargnasher]

how will my set up different?


Having your lead pot high enough that you can easily see the spout.

Yup. You'll need a very low work table and an elevated pot to be comfortable.

I recently made the switch to doing almost everything sitting down before my knees/back/feet forced me to, figured I might as well get used to it now. I ended up making my casting bench 28" high and raising the pot base up about 8-10" so the spout was just below eye level.

Gear

[Hardcast416taylor]

As I do my casting in the workshop area of my barn I have a concrete floor. I have office chair casters on the chair I use when casting so I can shove away from the bench if I have to. I keep a drip catcher under my RCBS pot even if it doesn`t drip. The welders apron is used on the legs as are safety glasses on the face, a hat and easily shook off gloves. A welders canvas jacket with sleeves finishes off my casting personal gear. I may be overly cautious, but I still haven`t gotten a lead burn in over 40+ years from an accidental "OOPS".Robert

[Kraschenbirn]

At work I do alot of precision tig welding, I have a stool that allows me to get my weight off my feet/knees but not sit 100% per say this may be a possibility it allows you to get out of the way of hot objects falling in your lap quicker.

+1 on this method. A few years back, I picked up a couple of old-fashioned draftsman's stools from a used furniture shop...very stable and adjustable for height. One sits in my garage workshop...where I do my casting...and the other at my reloading bench in the basement. Leaning the bottom of my butt on the edge of the seat takes a lot of weight off my knees/feet but still allows me to reach everything on the bench without a lot of stretching.

Whether you cast standing, sitting, or somewhere in between, a heavy shop apron and workshoes/boots are never a bad idea.

Bill

[lwknight]

Old man rule No. 2 : Never stand when you can sit. Just make everything fit you comfortably.

What was rule No 1 ? oh yeah, never pass a bathroom.

[Elkins45]

I sit on a tall stool so I can use my workbench. I have the bottom pour on a stack of lumber so I can see the spout, but I think I need to elevate it more because casting more than about an hour starts to make my neck hurt because I stoop to see the spout.

I only started casting primarily by bottom pour a couple of years ago. Once I get the ideal hight figured out I'll fasten my lumber pile together permanantly and clamp the pot to it for safety.

[jblee10]

If your knee bothers you standing, make sure your stool is tall enough not to hurt your knee from being too bent. And get the pot up higher to see what you a doing. I usually water drop, and have the top of my bucket around knee high. And my sprue box also. In other words, I try to set things up so I don't have to bend over to far. An advantage is the water bucket with a slit towel in the water is enough lower than the pot that I've never had water splash into the pot.
By the way, I'm pretty primitive. I use firewood cut to various lengths for my set up.

[beagle]

I built a 3 sided casting table. My legs go under the open side and a towel on the lap protects against ah sh_ts!

Experiment and get the right heigth./beagle

[williamwaco]

Having your lead pot high enough that you can easily see the spout.




I think this is the main point.

I accomplish this by using a normal table height with a lower than normal stool.

.

[TCLouis]

I have some scars on my legs, but they are ALL my fault.

Getting the pot at just the right height and a perfected method/location to dump boolits/sprues is paramount to making it work.

ALL of my casting is sitting.

I usually sit down and cast 20 lbs in a sitting.

[GP100man]

I`m with the school of being able to see the spout well , if that`s accoplished less spills/spurts will occur.

I have a built in shelter over my lap , but have had a wild sprue jump in the shoe .

I suggest a comfortable sitting heigth then experiment with the pot heigth.

[shadowcaster]

It's funny that you started this post, as just yesterday I went to the shop to do some casting. Sitting for me is just more comfortable than standing, but it does put your lap right in front of your casting pot. I thought .. Man its hot out, but I suppose I should put on my cotton coveralls and leather apron. I'm really glad I did because while casting, on one particular pour I didn't let the sprue cool enough before I tipped the mold and a blob of molten lead rolled off the mold and onto my lap. I did the OH it's hot - stand up really quick panic dance followed by I am so glad I had put on my coveralls and apron. Make sure you safety gear up!

Shad

[1Shirt]

Yep, LWKnight got it right! Now ain't that poetical!
1Shirt!

[popper]

a misplaced sprue in your shoe hurts Yup. Long sleeves covered by glove sleeve - don't want that bugger rolling down the sleeve. Use a light weight stool or chair - so you can move fast. And use cotton, not poly protection.

[Ole]

I have always cast seated.

[Frank46]

OK, I'm a lot like some of the other older casters here. Legs, joints, back and feet are giving us all sorts of problems. My new casting table is going to be a coffee table made from wood suitably modified so I can see the open top of the pot. I'll most likely get a used one made from real wood so that the legs can be lengthened to suit me. Next will most likely be some sort of stool that is adjustable for height and will have a back on it. The table probably won't be pretty but sometimes creature comforts take first place. And a fan to keep me somewhat cool. Frank

[Bret4207]

I'm a standing caster. In fact i do all most all my stuff standing- gun work, repairs to machinery, etc. To me it's a lot easier to raise up what I want to work on than to have to invent a way to do things sitting. It's awkward. Plus the constant up and down would drive my knees wild. I would find a stool that worked and use it. All you need is something to rest your legs, even partially, for my kind of pain.

And I have to say, while I'm no big safety nazi, casting while sitting brings to me pictures of all sorts of unpleasant accidents.

[Jim]

I cast with a ladle. My bench is just high enough to get my knees under seated on a comfortable chair. I'm not a production caster, so when I get tired or tired of it, I stop. I have developed a technique whereby the sprues go in the pot when I cut them. I wear bib overalls with the legs down and over 'pull on' boots. The bibs and boots stay in the casting shack. I leave the cell phone in the house and there is no radio to distract me. There is a 5 lb. ABC dry chemical fire extinguisher hanging on the wall by the door and a 10 man first aid kit on the shelf.

When I was coming up in industrial construction, an old man told me "Plan your work and work your plan." All that I wrote in the first paragraph is the plan I have put in place from learned experiences, one at a time.

[leadhead]

I use a old 3 burner stove that they used back in the day.
It's about 2 feet high and I use a cast iron pot that holds
at least 100# of molten lead. I can use a swivel office chair
on wheels and is very comfortable. I ladle pour, and both
my knees are also shot.
Denny

[MikeS]

When I cast with a bottom pour pot (which is most of the time), and I do it sitting down. When I use a ladle I cast standing up. Both of these just seem natural, with a bottom pour the spout is in a fixed location, so you have to bring the mould to it, which means you need to be able to see the spout, and it's just easier (for me) to do this sitting down. Using a ladle on the other hand, while to pot isn't moving, where the mould is, and where the ladle is can change from pour to pour, so it's easier to do while standing up.

[GL49]

I have a tall stool, I usually am about half standing, half sitting, staying well away from my bottom pour pot. The stool just takes most of the weight off my feet and still keeps me fairly high in relation to the pot. I can't move fast enough when I sit, and I get really tired of casting if I stand. And don't wear old jeans with holes in the knees, trust me, that can create bad memories.

[Jeff H]

I've never have cast sitting but have recently adopted a new setup on my bench which may help. My own concern would be something hot landing in my lap and maybe this measure could help mitigate the potential for an unintended cauterization.

I use a LEE drip pot. My wife recently ditched a rectangular cake pan that didn't live up to the implied benefits of its high-tech coating. I set it long-ways where my pot goes and set my drip pot inside at one end so I could knock the sprues into the empty half of the pan. It makes it easy to scoop them up and it keeps the occasional errant hot sprue from skittering off under or behind something.

The other advantage I found is that it offers more spill containment than my pot could possibly overflow and the high sides of the cake pan (versus a cookie sheet)deflect most of the splatter as the drip, drip, drip builds an alloy stalagmite.

I have found that once in a great while, I will snag the drip handle with my sprue plate knocker or fluxing spoon or whatever, and when it bounces, it releases sputtering gushes until the handle is back under control or runs out of energy.

These too are contained, as it happened once already since I started using the cake pan. As I reorganize the casting bench, I need to address that bouncing handle issue anyway, but at least the pan was there and no molten lead spilled or splattered outside of the pan.

My bench top is an old "fire door" with a steel skin so the heat of the sprues piled up won't start someting smoldering under the pan either.

[jabilli]

Reviving thread as I have a setup I feel might be useful to OP.

I'll set it up so I kind of make a rotation- I'll sit off-square (at an angle...maybe like 30 degrees off) from the melting pot so I have to reach in front of my left knee to pour... Then I have the pot where I drop my sprues on the floor directly in front in between my knees, then my drop bucket in front of my right knee... I like to have a swivel chair... I reach to my left,pour, bring to center,whack sprue, reach to the right, drop in bucket...all in a kind of circular motion so there's no wasted movement....The swivel chair makes it so you're not twisting your body as you reach, your feet kind of "roll" at the ankles. If that makes sense. I try to have them as close to eachother as comfort allows- extra movement done a couple thousand times is undesirable.

[Leadmelter]

I use an old TV stand holds the pot which is securely clamped to it. The space around the pot is ideal for the sprue and drop box.
For protection: Hat, glasses, welder gloves, leather shoes and a farrier apron I found on line. It covers me me from shoulder level to my ankles and is made of leather. Very comfortable to use for 3-4 hr sessions. I put a personnal fan from W_mart clamped to keep air moving past the pot.
I have everything I need in arms length. Get rid of the fam, crank the tunes and get casting.
When done, proper refreshments.
Enjoy
Leadmelter
MI

[wallenba]

Make sure you have something to rest your elbows on, and a safe place to put a hot mold if you have to move quickly. Put a leather cover over your lap. A chair with wheels will let you kick out in a hurry if need be.

[prs]

My table is a table saw with extensions. My seat is an armless bar stool. I can push away and turn away, pouring stage not too far below eye level. I prefer standing, but my legs beg me to sit.

prs

[nouseforaname1246]

I cast sitting down. I use a bar stool so I can jump back fairly quickly if need be. I also wear a leather welding apron to deflect hot sprues.

[Pilgrim]

I cast sitting on a standard folding chair. I have two folding stools, one for supporting the bottom pour pot and the second stool supports a cake pan with a folded towel in the bottom of the pan. The pot sits on top of a concrete block (pumic type) which puts the spout roughly at eye level. The open "holes" in the pumic block store various implements like spoons, knives, etc. I face the pot with it located just slightly offset to my right. The second stool is even with the first and a little more offset to my left. I am slightly bent over with my forearms on my knees. I use a support for the moulds under the spout that takes the weight of the mould + handles + lead when I pour. The support also ensures that I get the same lead flow (distance below the spout) and pressure when filling the mould. I believe this greatly helps uniformity in the pours and more consistent boolits. I usually use two double cavity steel moulds. Two "identical" double cavity moulds weigh much less than 1 four (or more) cavity moulds. That helps me with fatigue when casting. I fill one mould, set it on the base plate, then fill the second mould. By this time the sprue has hardened on the first mould and I cut the sprue using a leather mallet, dump the boolits and sprue on the towel in the cake pan, and refill the mould. I then repeat the sprue cut, dump, etc.with the second mould and repeat the process. This keeps the moulds hot without over heating and boolit productio very high. About every 8 casts I scoop up the reject boolits and sprues and put them back in the pot. I generally use a Lyman 20 # pot with the heat full on. When I've cast about 200 boolits or so about 6 pounds has been used out of the pot at which time I replenish the pot. I keep ingots of WW and pieces of 95-5 solder handy so I can maintain nearly identical alloy in the pot as I continue to cast. While the pot melts the ingots I generally busy myself with cleanup, etc. Generally I'll cast roughly 400 to 500 boolits per casting session.

[fredj338]

I won't sit, to easy for something hot & bad to go wrong under a bottom pour pot.

[trixter]

I use a standard height table, and set my bottom pour pot at a comfortable angle, so that 1: I can see the spout for all 6 cavities. Then I slide the mold out from under the pot and watch till it 'dimples', 2: then I cut the sprue, 3: and open the mold and drop the boolits on a towel. The pot is a little left, then the area where I cut and pile the sprues, is at the center, and the 'dropping' towel is a little to the right. I sit comfortably and can reach everything without stretching, so for a full pot (20 lb). Then I put my mold on the hotplate, just left of the pot, get up, feed the pot, and walk a little usually to get more iced tea, or pee and to loosen up, and then when the pot comes back to temp, sit back down and resume activities. The whole session is relaxing and mostly painless.

[BruceB]

Do a search for "lead tsunami".... there was lots of similar discussion on that thread.

[dverna]

We do a great disservice to new casters by not stressing PPE. This is especially true for younger casters who have not been in the work force and had safety drummed into them. I also worry about those who scrimp on everything because funds are tight and they try to do this on the cheap.

There are only two types of casters. Those you have had an accident and those who will have an accident. It is only a matter of time. PPE provides a bit of a safety net when things do bad. It does not provide a "free pass" to do stupid things.

[ddaniel1]

I sit at an angle and dump into a water bucket on the ground, good info here, I will take more precautions.

[MR45]

Look out for that hot one that fall in your boot.

[BubbaJon]

I have a worktable at my back so I can rest my butt on it occasionally to relieve my feet. If you gotta sit then I'd make dang sure everything was at knee level and below - you wouldn't want to reach out or up.

[dverna]

At my age, I do am not standing to cast bullets. Bad knees, bad neck.

I was all set to buy a bottom pour pot but after reading these posts I will stay with ladle pour. I might decide to get a Master Caster for pistol bullets but I am still on the fence on that decision.