Advice needed with ingot mold

[paulsnapp]

Yesterday was my first attempt at boolit casting. I have watched many videos and read a great deal on this forum as well as others. I am glad to say most everything went well. All of my equipment (pot, ingot molds, bullet mold) is RCBS. The alloy I am using is RotoMetals #2 Lyman. I am also using an Auber PID controller to control my pot temperature. The only real problem I have is getting ingots to drop out of the RCBS ingot molds. The first ingots were from a pot temp of 675F and the second ingots were from a pot temp of 725F. Both began with cleaned ingots that had been sitting on a 900watt hot plate with the setting on high. I did not know how long to wait after pouring into the ingots before I tried to drop them. The very first ones did not drop at 10 minutes so I tried every 10 minutes to see if cooling would help. It didn't. I finally had to pry them out with a screwdriver. After that I would let them cool for about 5 minutes and then turned the molds upside down and banged them really hard on the damp towel I had on the table. It took a lot of hard banging to get them to drop out. Maybe this is normal, but if not, I would appreciate some advice.

I also tried to mold a few boolits from my RCBS .44-40 cowboy mold. This went pretty well. I began at 675F but had wrinkled boolits. I walked this temperature up 10F at a time until the wrinkles went away at 725F and boolits are shiny. Just wondering if this is a normal temperature for the RotoMetals Lyman #2 alloy?

[ku4hx]

I've used my Lyman cast iron ingot mold for decades and they just drop right out after they solidify. It's been too long for me to remember what happened when all my stuff was as new as yours.

Is your RCBS ingot mold cast iron? I also use el-cheapo non stick muffin pans from my local X-Mart store. They just drop out of those too. Some muffin pans have the muffin cups crimped in; I've had ingots stick in them. Maybe because they were just too-cheap uncoated Aluminum.

Ingot molds are the only thing I'll use a release agent on since precision is not a goal.

Your temp sounds about right to me. When I started casting, thermometers and electronic gizmos were pretty much unheard of. I learned to judge temps by feel and outcome and that's how I do it still. The artsy-fartsy part of the process to me.

[paulsnapp]

Yes, the RCBS ingot mold is cast iron.

[JSH]

Sounds to me like the alloy was "tinning" to the ingot molds. Yes nice and bright and clean is nice. But not in this case. It will make the lead stick to the mold.
I know what you are thinking. This guy is a nut. Boolits drop out of my boolit mold. Yeah the mold is round too. The ingot mold is square and you have 5 flat areas of contact.
Get a candle or acetylene torch and put a good coating of soot all over your ingot mold. They should drop right out in just a few minutes.
Jeff

[Wal']

I have 1/2 a dozen different brand ingot molds, including the Lee aluminum [use different brands to identify the different leads/alloy's] but always have a large plank or block of wood to thump them on to get the ingots' out.........some stick at times, most just fall out.

[41 mag fan]

Why are you heating up your ingot molds? That don't make sense, unless you are wanting a perfect ingot like you would trying to make a boolit.
Ingot molds don't need heated up. Just pour your lead in, solidify, dump. Repeat

[Smoke4320]

I season my cast iron ingot molds just like cooking with them.. when new wipe cooking oil on them , put in oven and heat at 300 for about 20 minutes .. after that ingots just fall right out .. no banging at all

[alamogunr]

I just let mine rust. Not to the point of flaking but a good coating. No sticking ever.

[Gtek]

I would first confirm that there are no high areas in ingot mold. I polished the inside of my aluminum Lyman's and they fall out. I also have a 1" aluminum plate I pour and flop on, big heat sink. I have small fan set up to blow stink off top of pot and breeze ingot plate on backside. The cast iron will take longer to cool. The 700 temp is what I shoot for. Gtek

[BubbaJon]

I've used cast iron, aluminum - even plain ol aluminum muffin tins without non-stick. They all drop just fine. Granted I usually flip 'em over and bang the mold down on my countertop. ;)
Reason I do that is while the lead is still a little soft it helps to make 'em flat and stack better. When I pour there always seems to be a bit of a rounded profile from the meniscus.

[ku4hx]

I do that is while the lead is still a little soft it helps to make 'em flat and stack better.

I used to do that too. Now days I just dump 'em on the garage concrete floor and when they've cooled pitch 'em into one of several 5 gallon buckets. Buckets that're already in the storage location under the casting bench.

[bangerjim]

I have the RCBS CI molds also. Along with Lee aluminum ones. Never a problem from cast ONE.

If you have this problem, use a release agent. Mica powder is excellent for this. Just dust the inside with a bit before and during the session and all your ingots will drop right out. You can even use the colored mica powders sold at craft stores for painting purposes. The powder goes a long way.

Have not tried graphite which is available everywhere. Pretty messy but should work a;so.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I season my cast iron ingot molds just like cooking with them.. when new wipe cooking oil on them , put in oven and heat at 300 for about 20 minutes .. after that ingots just fall right out .. no banging at all

I bought my cast iron ingots molds (Lyman and Saeco) used. someone seasoned them for me...by letting them get rusty...rust is a great release agent :)

[45-70 Chevroner]

The temp. of the melt when making ingots is not important that is as long as you have sorted out the zinc. Just get it good and hot, when it stirs nicely and there are now lumps and it's not grainy skim the trash off and start pouring in the ingot mold. As soon as the lead solidifies I turn them upside down on my cement drive way and lightly tap with a piece of wood if needed. Most of the time they just fall out. I've got 2 Lyman ingot molds, 1 RCBS, and 1 Saco all cast iron and except for the name imprinted on the bottm of each one they are identical. I am really puzzled that yours are sticking. The sides of the ingot molds are tappered and the ingots should just fall out. I think I would take a file and file out the side walls to remove any imperfections and that should solve your problems.

[runfiverun]

I just let mine rust. Not to the point of flaking but a good coating. No sticking ever.

this.
just sit them outside for a while, maybe get them wet first.
then bring them in and put them away.

[bwgdog]

I know what is wrong-it is not you-it is the RCBS mold. I was given a new one-from Grafs-about a month ago. I have two older RCBS ingot molds. Something looked different-so compared the two. New mold is thinner-lug for holding with pliers is half the thickness of older mold. The raised RCBS logo in bottom of mold is changed so it now will hold the ingot and not release without banging/prying it to death-very bad GC. Couple of hours were spent by a friends son with a Dremel tool-logo gone-ingots now fall out. I will not purchase another RCBS. Hope this helps. barry