Question on casting lead ingots

[Lunarphase]

When pouring lead into ingots, how long do you wait before knocking them out?
Whats the best method? Foundry, Monotype, Linotype, WW, and Pure lead.
Any advice and methods?

Thanks,
Lunar

[OBIII]

Depends on the mold, melt temp, etc. Usually, I'll take a wooden q-tip and after it cools for a minute or so, see if I can still poke a hole in the middle of the melt. If yes, wait, if no, dump it out where it can cool.

[David2011]

It's easy to tell if you didn't wait long enough. The ingots are weak, crumbly and bend easily of you dump them while they're too hot. It doesn't hurt anything as long as they aren't liquid inside but it also doesn't take long to get a feel for the timing.

Advice? Use more than one mold. You're busy with one while the rest cool. The precise time is dependent on the air temp, air flow, melt and mold temp, pace of casting and so on.

Welcome to the forum!

David

[badbob454]

seconds on david2011's advise .... or wait a few minutes after they look solid from the outside i would wait @ 5 minutes in hot weather or 3-4 on colder days ... plus the more tin in the mix the slower the ingots harden as the tin has to drop down to @ 100 degrees cooler to solidify .. based on my experience

[sqlbullet]

I run too molds. Both sit on a kitchen towel that is soaked and in a cookie sheet to help a reserve of water. By the time I fill the second mold, the first is ready to dump without crumbles, etc. Takes about 45 seconds to fill and dump two lyman mold, total of eight 1 lb ingots.

[FISH4BUGS]

Advice? Use more than one mold. You're busy with one while the rest cool.
David

I have about 20 or more ingot moulds. I smelt a large pot of WW's, fill the ingot moulds, then refill the pot, stir, skim off all the junk, flux, stir again, skim again, flux again, then empty the by now relatively cool ingot moulds. When they are all empty then repeat until you can't stand it any more. It is pretty easy to do 200 lbs of wheel weights in a session that way.
The key to productivity is more ingot moulds....the more the better.

[2wheelDuke]

I wait until they solidify and change color/frost over like I would before I cut a sprue. I use a damp rag to keep cooling my molds so they don't take forever to solidify.

I really hate dumping out ingots that bend or crumble. Better to wait too long than not long enough.

[Texasflyboy]

When pouring lead into ingots, how long do you wait before knocking them out?
Whats the best method? Foundry, Monotype, Linotype, WW, and Pure lead.
Any advice and methods?

Thanks,
Lunar

I use two old cast iron linotype ingot moulds that make a 3.5lb ingot. When I have the ingot mould up to temperature (hot water sizzles and dances off the surface) I move them to rest on a wet terry cloth towel. I then pour the lead into the ingot mould.

The wet towel wicks heat from the ingot mould much faster than air cooling. By the time I have finished filling ingot mould #2, #1 has solidified and is ready to dump.

When the towel dries out, and it will, it will start to scorch. I pick it up with pliers and dunk it into a filled 5 gallon bucket of water and then let the excess water run off. I plop the towel back onto the bench and put the mould back on it.

By keeping up a brisk pace I can keep the ingot mould perfectly hot and the ingots getting solid pretty quick.

Here is a photo of my setup. The towels aren't visible, but the scorched wood where the ingot moulds rest is visible.

http://i47.tinypic.com/2m4vh3p.jpg

[evan price]

I keep a 5 gallon bucket half full of water. I use cast iron french roll pans to make a dozen 2lb ingots at a shot and I have 8 of them. When they are cool enough to fall out of the pan I tip them into the bucket.

[Lunarphase]

Cool thanks.
My first casting of ingots went well. I found I was using way to much sawdust and it was a pain getting all the dust off the surface but worked out. Bit of a learning curve here but going well thanks you all. I'm trying to read as much info as I can find and that helping.

Lunar