Mold will not fill out

[Unsub]

I have a Lee 2 cavity 310g mold for 44 mag and the cavity nearest to the handles regularly fails to fill out. I have tried loosening the sprue, running the melt hotter, the mold hotter but to no avail. I can see light between the sprue and mold block so the air should be able to escape. When I fill it the melt stays liquid on top of the sprue for quite a while. The lead mix is 8 to 5 of range scrap and lino.


What am I doing wrong?:sad:

[groovy mike]

Is the hole to pour through smaller than the other? Have you tried switching which hole to fill first?

[captaint]

If your melt is too hot, strange things will happen with mis shapen boolits. Try running the melt at no hotter than 725 and keep a regular steady pace going. After a while, you can probably reduce the melt temp to around 700 and all should be well. Mike I should have said, also, if your mold gets too hot, trouble follows.

[375RUGER]

You say only one cav fails to fill. Switch the order in which you pour. If that doesn't help then lee-ment that cavity. I've had 6 bangers that had trouble with 1 or 2 of the cavities, no matter what order I poured, until I leemented them.

[Iron Mike Golf]

Have you tried a pressure cast on that cavity?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I would try breaking the top edges of the mold face with a diamond hone or super fine sand paper (400 or higher).

[MtGun44]

Add a bit of tin to the alloy.

Bill

[Janoosh]

Leementing works. Make sure vent lines are open.

[Unsub]

Could you explain leementing, not sure what it means.

[Unsub]

Have you tried a pressure cast on that cavity?
No as I only have a dipper.

[buckwheatpaul]

You might need 2% tin to help it flow better.....

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Could you explain leementing, not sure what it means.
There is a sticky on this page, here is a link.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?654-Sure-Fire-Lee-Menting-Technique-(Aimoo-Post-Revisited)

[GP100man]

If it`s stayin liquid for longer than a 3-4 count it`s too hot (mold) & a slower pace or touch the closed mold to a damp rag .

Too hot a mold will cook the tin & voids could be from lookin like bad fill out to right out missing parts of boolits!

That`s alot of alloy for a small mold & it takes time to disapate the heat, I can get my 310 2 holer to temp & at my leisurely pace run it hot in 10 cycles, I just have to slow down or cool the mold.

Here`s a pic of a 314299 , both were cast seconds of each other in a 2 holer lyman mold , I was going at a good pace ,even alternating which was filled first but I think the handles were retaining enuff heat to affect it since it was the hole nearest the handles.

http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx110/GP100man/102_0417.jpg (http://s746.photobucket.com/user/GP100man/media/102_0417.jpg.html)

[Unsub]

I realize now I should of explained the "not filling out" part better. It is the base that is not filling out and leaving the boolit with a rounded base.
I have done some of the lee menting and it seems to have improved the fill out.

[375RUGER]

Have you tried a pressure cast on that cavity?


No as I only have a dipper.

You can pressure cast with a dipper. Turn your mould sideways, engage a full dipper to the sprue plate and tip both upright at the same time. Then tip the dipper away and allow a sprue to form. Then do the same for the second cavity.

[MtGun44]

If the base is the only problem, loosen the sprue plate until it just swings
freely. If this doesn't do it, add tin to alloy.

Bill

[TES]

Waaaaay to hot! work backwards.

[M99SavNut]

Glad to stumble across this one.. Was trying out a couple of new molds (one new, the other new to me), both 4-cavity, one for a .358 rifle boolit, the other a .452 pistol boolit. The .452 mold had a "trough" for the lead, but a small (.125") sprue hole into each cavity. The .359 mold had no trough, but fairly small (.140" as compared to other, similar, 4-cavity molds with a .159") holes in the sprue plate.

I have a bottom-pour pot, but was using a dipper pot and Lyman dipper this time around to try these molds out.

Could not get the boolits to consistently fill out with either mold, even allowing for knowing when I wasn't holding the dipper correctly.

Should I deepen the countersinks/enlarge the sprue holes to match some of my other molds, just resign myself to using the bottom-pour pot (which I didn't try, so have no actual basis of comparison at this instant), or?????

Looking for your input.

Thanks,

Jess

[GP100man]

A cold plate will cause rounded bases , try pouring a generous sprue to heat up the plate .

Also , sometimes I find myself inspecting my wares & the plate/mold will vary in fill out.