Home made Ingot molds

[birddog1148]

Thanks to whoever I stole this idea from. Had some free time today so I went down to my shop and made some ingot molds. Thought I had some old bed frames left but I guess I used em all up. The one on the left is made from what little pieces of bed frame I could find and some new angle for the ends. The one on the right is made from new angle. I am afraid the rebar handle will get hot after I pour the ingots. Time will tell.
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll124/birddog1148/NCM_0039_zps1ccbadfb.jpg (http://s287.photobucket.com/user/birddog1148/media/NCM_0039_zps1ccbadfb.jpg.html)

Did get a over a coffee can of coww sorted and ready to try out the new molds too.

[D Crockett]

let us know how they worked for you if you have any problems like the ingot hanging up on you or the handle getting to hot give me a pm and I will help you out D Crockett

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Those ingot molds are well done and will last a long time. Triangle shaped ingots when alternately inverted stack well. After a few pours the heat will be right up the rebar handle and your hands won't like it. Suggest making some wooden handles for them out of ordinary 1x1 stock, or some moulding scraps-glued together and/or end bored with a drill size that will take the rebar diameter; if it is a bit loose then some epoxy or some of that mix-together metal-weld stuff that is kind of an epoxy too and it works pretty well. LLS

[Bigslug]

Hmmmm. . .may have to make up a set of those in a length that works sideways in a .50 cal ammo can. . .

[runfiverun]

I didn't bother putting handles on mine, I just let the alloy harden and flip the mold over to tip the ingots out.
the triangle ingots do stack nice and tight.

[SciFiJim]

Dang, I wish I could weld. I have the pieces of angle iron already cut for two 4 cavity molds. I just don't have the capability to join it all together.

I've priced having it done by a few different local welders. Prices range from too much to WAY too much. They don't want to be bothered by such a small job.

[rondog]

Dang, I wish I could weld. I have the pieces of angle iron already cut for two 4 cavity molds. I just don't have the capability to join it all together.

I've priced having it done by a few different local welders. Prices range from too much to WAY too much. They don't want to be bothered by such a small job.

You need to make friends with somebody that has a welder! Surely there's a farmer, hotrodder, or other kind of mechanical hobbyist nearby with a welder, probably even a neighbor or co-worker. That job shouldn't cost more than a pizza or a 12-pack.

[birddog1148]

You need to make friends with somebody that has a welder! Surely there's a farmer, hotrodder, or other kind of mechanical hobbyist nearby with a welder, probably even a neighbor or co-worker. That job shouldn't cost more than a pizza or a 12-pack.
I would almost bet you could find a car guy that would trade the welding for some boolits or reload him some ammo. Look at offroad forums as well www.shoptalkforum.com or www.thesamba.com are 2 VW forums with lots of guys in Ca.

[runfiverun]

i'd bet someone on here would do the work for you if you mailed the pieces and mold back and forth.

[grumman581]

Dang, I wish I could weld. I have the pieces of angle iron already cut for two 4 cavity molds. I just don't have the capability to join it all together.

I've priced having it done by a few different local welders. Prices range from too much to WAY too much. They don't want to be bothered by such a small job.

Welding is one of those skills that every guy should have picked up in shop class in high school. You might not end up as a "great" welder, but at least you can made two pieces of metal stick together. For whatever reason though, many of the high schools no longer have those types of shop classes.

Back in high school, I learned on a Lincoln AC-225 "tombstone" welder. When I finally got around to buying an AC welder a few years back, I found that exact same model on Craigslist for around $100. It's just a stick welder, but that's what I learned on and I've never been satisfied with welds when I used a wire feed welder. Back on the family ranch though, I had quite a bit of experience with an old Lincoln "Pipeliner" (SA200?) DC welder. I wasn't a "great" welder, but I could get the coral rails to stick to the posts well enough that it would keep the cattle in even when they tried to *climb* the fence.

Here's an AC-225 for sale on Craigslist near you:

http://bakersfield.craigslist.org/tls/4098785804.html

$150 and looks to be in pretty good shape.

Or another one for $125 in Van Nuys:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/tls/4114129400.html

One thing I learned when welding my ingots was to ensure that the sides are slightly angled outward at the top of the ingot mold. Otherwise, the ingots do not drop out that easily.

For a non-professional welder, a 6-pack of good beer will make him more inclined to help you out.

[GLL]

I agree with runfiverun about no long handles. Here is an ingot mold made by jawjaboy (RIP) a few years ago. I have seven of them and they produce great 5 pound ingots that release with a simple flip of the mold.

http://www.fototime.com/5A6777B8FA7EE62/orig.jpg

My welds do not look ANYTHING like his did ! :)

Jerry

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

I was about to post this when I saw the above pic. I put these together today, they make a nice 2x6" ingot that weighs about 3.5-4 lbs.

83704

[lancem]

SciFiJim,
You pay shipping both ways and I'll weld them up for you no charge.

Here's one of a couple I made a year or so ago, makes it easy when I'm smelting big batches.

[grumman581]

I agree with runfiverun about no long handles. Here is an ingot mold made by jawjaboy (RIP) a few years ago. I have seven of them and they produce great 5 pound ingots that release with a simple flip of the mold.

http://www.fototime.com/5A6777B8FA7EE62/orig.jpg

My welds do not look ANYTHING like his did ! :)


That's the same design I used when I made my ingot molds. My welds don't look as good as those either. :(

One thing that I have noticed with this size ingot though is that although it fits in the Lee 20-lb pot, there is not too much room on the sides and it fills it up pretty much. The problem with that is that you end up cooling down the pot too much and it pretty much solidifies and you have to wait for it to get everything back up to heat. I think that if I was doing it again, I would use longer, but skinnier ingots like you get out of the angle iron ingots.

[graphic914]

These are nice mold, i use cup cake molds

[454PB]

I suggest that the welds be done on the back side.....any roughness or protrusions on the open surfaces will cause the ingots to stick.

[Mk42gunner]

I don't put handles on my angle iron ingot molds, either. That is what the water pump pliers are for.

My molds are between 8 and 10½" long. The reason is that BruceB remarked years ago that they would stack inside a .50 cal ammo can, and rest comfortably across the top of the pot to preheat. I have also found that a ~ten inch long ingot will more or less self feed if you lay it in the pot at an angle, at least it worked that way in my Lee 4-20. That kept the temp from fluctuating wildly when adding alloy.

Like grumman581, my initial try at welding was in shop class with a Lincoln buzzbox. I also have my cousin's pipeliner out behind the barn. I find that I can weld better with a DC unit like the SA200, than I can with an AC unit. A good wire feed works right up until you hit the cycle time, usually about when things are really going good, the machine decides to take a break.

Robert

[grumman581]

Like grumman581, my initial try at welding was in shop class with a Lincoln buzzbox. I also have my cousin's pipeliner out behind the barn. I find that I can weld better with a DC unit like the SA200, than I can with an AC unit.

I figure you can't go wrong with the classics. That old Lincoln AC-225 survived a lot of careless students. Students who thought nothing of turning it up on max, putting a big electrode in it, and using it to cut metal. Students who knew *nothing* about "duty cycle". I figure those welders probably had more use in a year than I'll ever put on it. If I need to do something that requires a finer bead, I break out the oxy-acetylene tanks and gas weld (yeah, gas *weld*, not braze). It's a lot slower, but I can make a smaller and neater bead with it.

[SciFiJim]

I found someone to weld it for me. Thanks for the offers of help.

I was on the college prep track in high school and didn't take any shop classes. I took extra English, math, and science classes that wound up not helping at all. I would have been better off taking VoAg ( the only shop type class offered).

[birddog1148]

Was planning on trying them out tonight after work. And the safety mgr at work asked if I wanted a lead shower liner, had it in the back of his truck, what a great day!

[birddog1148]

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll124/birddog1148/NCM_0044_zpsce403925.jpg (http://s287.photobucket.com/user/birddog1148/media/NCM_0044_zpsce403925.jpg.html)
they dropped just fine, just not pretty

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll124/birddog1148/NCM_0045_zps06161ac5.jpg (http://s287.photobucket.com/user/birddog1148/media/NCM_0045_zps06161ac5.jpg.html)

handle I made because the skillet handle gets to hot
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll124/birddog1148/NCM_0046_zps911c0b2f.jpg (http://s287.photobucket.com/user/birddog1148/media/NCM_0046_zps911c0b2f.jpg.html)
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll124/birddog1148/NCM_0047_zps14aac825.jpg (http://s287.photobucket.com/user/birddog1148/media/NCM_0047_zps14aac825.jpg.html)

evenings work
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll124/birddog1148/NCM_0048_zps459736cd.jpg (http://s287.photobucket.com/user/birddog1148/media/NCM_0048_zps459736cd.jpg.html)

had to get home, just picked this up at the post office, reminds me of my grandpa's old 1903 Colt pocket pistol
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll124/birddog1148/NCM_0043_zps93c3a22c.jpg (http://s287.photobucket.com/user/birddog1148/media/NCM_0043_zps93c3a22c.jpg.html)
:)