Lyman 287346 wrinkles, but beautiful bases!

[ohland]

The bases are beautiful, filled out and sharp. The front end is where the wrinkles are. I was also casting across the table from my Dad, so that was probably another issue - no casting rhythm. I was ladling these.

106769

There is a barely visible line where the mold halves meet. No whiskers. What appears to be a sprue flash at the base of the lower left boolit is actually some sprue cut-off on the table. Again, the bases are sharp.

" 3. Shiny, wrinkled bullets indicate a cold mould. Keep casting bullets until the mould is up to temperature and/or turn up the pot temperature 50o to 100o."

When I am the only one casting, this will be easier to do.

[s mac]

A couple of my moulds have given me fits with wrinkles, I finally learned to put the spout very near the sprue hole while pouring, much better. I guess that is whats known a pressure casting.

[ohland]

A couple of my moulds have given me fits with wrinkles, I finally learned to put the spout very near the sprue hole while pouring, much better. I guess that is whats known a pressure casting.

Hmm, I could use the bottom pour for the head pressure...

[DeanWinchester]

Some people really hate the idea of it, but smoking the thing with a match will likely take care of it. I have had them that refuse to fill out. Scrub and scrub all you like, clean out vent lines, different temps....a little smoke from a couple matches, they full out perfect.
As I said, some people here will get down right fussy over doing it, but at the end of the day if you're casting good consistent boolits with no extra wear to your equipment and you're doing it safely, it cannot be wrong.

[ohland]

Some people really hate the idea of it, but smoking the thing with a match will likely take care of it.

Son of a gun, when I cast with the RCBS 357-180-SIL last week I smoked it good with a butane grill starter. This time I just started to cast with the 287346, I didn't smoke it at all. I usually smoke 'em.

[Old Caster]

If you want to pressure pour with a ladle, you must turn the mold to put it on the ladle before you turn it over and then depart just right in order to leave a puddle. A little practice is necessary. A bottom pour pot is not necessarily easier to pressure pour with because you will pretty consistently get holes in the backs of your bullets unless you get the pour to go in fairly slowly which makes the nozzle clog up faster. The reason the nozzle clogs up faster is because the minute amounts of dirt that go into your bullet when you go fast are no longer going into the mold but either going into the sprue or catching on the nozzle.

With this said, I don't think your problem is from not pressure pouring but rather from oil in the mold. If it is Aluminum, it is hard to get clean and it might even be possible that the only thing that will work is time molding since the oil can be in the pores and impossible to get out. The best you can do is boil the mold, clean it with brake cleaner, clean it with something like mineral oil or lacquer thinner, or possibly just keep molding until it quits doing that.

Higher temperature might help because your bullets look rather shiny and if your amount of tin is low, more of that could help also. It is hard to tell by pictures but it seems that you have poor fill out all along the edges and by increasing the temperature and adding tin, you may over come the wrinkles but I would clean the mold as well as possible and increase the temperature and speed of casting first to see if it does the job. Just don't go so fast that eventually you get lead to smear under the sprue plate.

[R.M.]

Heat is your friend.I doubt you mold is up to temp. I have also found that pouring too slow can be problematic.

[ohland]

With this said, I don't think your problem is from not pressure pouring but rather from oil in the mold.
Higher temperature might help because your bullets look rather shiny and if your amount of tin is low, more of that could help also. It is hard to tell by pictures but it seems that you have poor fill out all along the edges and by increasing the temperature and adding tin, you may over come the wrinkles but I would clean the mold as well as possible and increase the temperature and speed of casting first to see if it does the job. Just don't go so fast that eventually you get lead to smear under the sprue plate.

Lyman mould, iron. This is a boolit with rounded grooves, not angular. It did catch my attention when I dropped the first ones, momma never told me about that... Could give the mould some Brakleen lovin, nothing like a little flaming mold to set things right. Then some smoke, like Colorado, but without the special additive.

[Jailer]

Your mold is too cold. Increase your casting pace and you'll see improvement.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Assuming that the metal alloy is clean, the usual cause of wrinkled bullets is either oil or some other hydrocarbon based something in the cavities or alloy being too cold. You can raise the heat and try and burn whatever it is-out....which is a time consuming exercise or you can engage in several rituals like boiling the blocks in Oakite, putting the blocks in a dishwasher, scrubbing with toothbrush loaded with Dawn or toothpaste or some other concoction, etc. I have found the best (for me) way is to give the blocks a bath in a solvent like acetone (in a well ventilated place) using a toothbrush to scrub the cavities...then wiping dry and/or drying with a hair dryer and then pre-heating the blocks before attempting to cast. Run your pot heat up to the point where you start to get frosty bullets and then back it down (if you don't like frosty bullets). Make sure that your sprue plate/cutter is able to swing free on its own weight when the blocks are tilted. If it is too tight it will not let air get out of the cavity freely and that causes fill-out problems, wrinkles, bubbles, goofy bases, and round edges in places. Adjust your flow stream if you are using a bottom pour pot so that the stream is smaller in diameter than the sprue hole...if it is too thick it will drown the pouring hole and prevent the escape of air and contribute to poor fill-out. Some users of aluminum blocks subscribe to smoking the mold and report success with that. I use iron molds so have never done that. I use straight WW metal and ad 1-2%tin which makes sharper bullets. Tin improves the "flowability" of the alloy. Pour a good puddle so that when the bullet and sprue cool/shrink- the bullet base can draw what is needed to produce a good base and avoid any internal shrinkage bubbles. I trick I learned and used is to slightly drop the full mold (before sprue sets up) usually an inch in general to create a little "jolt" that (in theory) contributes to better fill-out. You have to play around with some of these things and see what works best for you. Every mold seems to have its own personality and you have to go with that to derive the max in terms of speed and quality. Best of luck. LLS

[John Boy]

When your sprue puddle frosts in 5 seconds after a 5 second pour with ladle spout stuffed in sprue hole - that's when the pot/mold temperature is correct and your bullets will fill out.
Yours with wrinkles are because you are casting incorrectly!

[Gun_nut83]

Dean is right, I never cast without smoking my moulds. I will even re-smoke after several successful casts, about every 15-20 fills. I always keep a couple of dollar candle sticks next to me on the bench burning.

[Old Caster]

Been casting since 1965 and I nor any of my acquaintances have ever smoked a mold. It isn't necessary, so why do it.

[mikeym1a]

As soon as I looked at the pics I said 'Mold's too cool'. Until my molds get up to proper temps, that's what they look like. What I do is put the mold on the hotplate, sprue plate down, and let it heat while the electric pot is getting up to temps. In the meantime, I generally amuse myself on the computer. When both are ready, then i start casting. Even then, the first 15 or so casts are imperfect, and go back into the pot. It's all a matter of heat. Cheers!