Flame heating my mold. Center? One end? 1482 results on "wrinkles " search. Whew

[Tallbald]

Folks I'm tickled to say that this morning I took the plunge. I fired up my Coleman liquid gas stove, heated my pure lead ingots (made them myself from roofing flashing) and smoked my new 6 cavity Lee 125 grain .358 RNFP with a candle. Laid out everything well in reach, filled a steel bucket with ice water and a rag in the bottom. Donned my safety glasses and gloves, did a sawdust flux for good measure on the 10 pounds of shiny goodness. Took a deep breath (away from the pot of course) and dipped my Lyman ladle in the pot to heat well up. Then I stood there looking. And stood there a little longer wondering.
Now. Here's where I became a little confused. I've researched a LOT of threads here, and know I need to pre-heat my mold. I hated to stand there holding a tip of the mold in the lead, so I pondered and laid it in the flame that was licking up the side of the iron pot. WHen I poured my first round, it seemed to take forever for the lead to begin hardening. Puddles on the sprue plate stayed liquid longer than I thought they should have. I surmised that I had heated my mold too much. I hope I didn't damage it, but I see no injury.After that I didn't let the flame touch the mold, but rather laid the mold on the expanded steel mesh on top of the factory grid (learned that reading several threads early on) about 3/4 inch away from the flame. That seemed to do the trick. I proceeded to cast about 150 slugs, the first of which were gnarly and ugly and went into the pot to try again. After about 7 casts the bullets began to look nice. I did learn there's a bit of a trick with my mold to getting it completely closed . My mold wants to open up a little if I squeeze the levered sprue cutter too tight. Also ( and I could use some suggestions here---maybe this is specific to Lee gang molds, but I don't know), the pivot bolt for the sprue plate and the stop bolt had to be loosened a quarter turn because the plate became tight on the mold and there wasn't any scrap I could see causing it.
All went pretty well to be trying this for the first time by myself. A good friend once helped me cast a few round balls for my RUger Old Army's, but we used his Lee electric furnace. He's being a good help with advise and I do so appreciate him and you folks here for all the kindness you have shown a beginner like me.
I did examine my bullets more closely this evening, after returning from helping Miss Penny (my wife) throw a baby shower for one of our daughters in a neighboring county ( so excited folks---this will be only our second grand child but that's another story). I was sad to see that maybe two out of ten of my boolits have a few wrinkles, but only small ones and always at the nose. Am I wrong to heat my mold at the center of its length, with an expectation that the heat will transfer equally to each end? Should I lay my mold on its side with the bottom toward the flame to more fully heat the nose area? I hate to buy a hot plate and have to run a drop cord out to the yard table where I cast. I should think I can correctly heat my mold with the licking flames. And a drop cord is for me a trip hazard. I fall often enough as it is, what with my spinal injuries and artificial knee (as an aside, it's a spectacular site when a man of my proportions falls....6 feet 5 inches and 290 pounds flopping over makes for quite the Youtube moment).
I did experiment with several holding angles of the mold (almost level with just a bit of tilt toward the pot to run excess back in the pot, to more of a tilt with a faster runoff). I finally settled on the almost level position, but from researching old threads, I see that many folks prefer different angles according to the length of the boolit being cast. I believe it was related to the change in speed of cavity fill. I hope to do more casting tomorrow after church. Supposed to be clear and 64 degrees. I hope also to try several different things I've read here to see if I can eliminate the nose wrinkles in 20 percent of my boolits. I like that word "boolits".
Hey. I'm sorry if I've rambled too much. I've been told I have diarrhea of the mouth. I just wanted to share my first experience casting. I'm excited, feel rewarded and am eager to get at it again. And I have those 1482 results to search through for hints about nose wrinkles. Later everyone! Thanks again. Don.

[RED333]

The mold will come to you as you get some casting sessions under your belt.
Take your time, good things come with experience.
Experience is some thing you get just after you need it.

[.22-10-45]

can't help you with the mould..never used a gang mould..however, you mentioned your ingots were pure lead..what may I ask are you using these bullets for? Pure lead will work fine with black powder..but only with very light loads of smokeless if leading is to be avoided. You also mentioned bullet noses were wrinkled..this too is from using pure lead..your alloy needs tin to help flow bettter and will add moderate hardness. Also mentioned was a bucket of ice water..water dropping a pure lead bullet will only serve to cool it faster..will do nothing for hardness..you need antimony for that. Though for all my revolver shooting from the .32WCF. thru .45 long-colt..all my loads are cast from plain o'l range scrap or an alloy close to 20-1 tin.lead.

[Tallbald]

Hi. Yes I look forward to gaining experience. Pure lead is all I have. I will be using Trail Boss to load light slow .357 Magnum and .38 special for my revolvers and Ruger 77/357. I know to stay under 1000 feet per second. I have no source yet for tin or antimony. Local scrap dealer can't help me. I am on a waiting list for range membership at the local outdoor range too. I get to go to the range as a guest a couple times a month, but feel it would be rude to spend my time there mining for slugs. The scrap yard says they can't help me with my need for lead wheel weights. Local tire shops say it's hazardous material they have to sell to licensed scrap places. Kinda out of luck for right now. But I can and do get pure lead roof flashing for 60-65 cents a pound. I have maybe (this is a guess) 30 to 50 pounds of beautiful double fluxed pure lead ingots I did by myself with help from threads here.
I'm really hoping that since my Ruger Old Army's don't lead up using stout Triple Seven loads (which clock a pure round ball at about 900 feet per second), I'm not silly hoping that pure lead SWC at 900 FPS with Trail Bos won't lead up my barrel either. I'm also hoping that Trail Boss doesn't burn much hotter than Triple Seven. I have read that hot burning powders are a big source of barrel leading too. Am I way off base? Don

[dragonrider]

Presumably you have cleaned and deburred your mold. If not do it now. And then find some valve lapping compound 500 grit if you can get some, and cast few boolits first then between to steel plates roll the boolits in the grit to embed it into the boolits then using a drywall screw, screw it into the base of the boolit and then spin the boolit slowly. in the mold while squeezing the handles lightly do this two or three times per cavity and then clean well with dish detergent and hot water or straight simple green will work well too. Once clean and lapped warm up the mold to drive out the water and DO NOT SMOKE THE MOLD. Yes I know you read the Lee directions to smoke the mold. No No a thousand times NO. Smoking a mold only hides problems, it may help boolits drop for a bit but it will build up in your mold and when that happens boolits start getting smaller and an ugly surface. In short smoking does nothing good for your mold. Does ugly things to your boolits. Just my experience but it works so very well for me, boolits do not wrinkle, they drop easily and are well filled out.

[mozeppa]

i took a dremel and a bullet shaped buffer nose to my molds.

for polishing i used a half teaspoon carnuba car wax with a quarter teaspoon of jewelers rouge and polished till they shined
like mirrors...literally ...i could see my reflection in the bullet wall halves.

then i smoked ...my kitchen up cuz i burnt the bacon.
but i don't smoke my molds.
takes me about an hour to polish, clean and de-burr...it sure makes purdy boolits!
...also some people will say that polishing each cavity like i do changes the drop size to a larger diameter,
i'm okay with that, i re-size after powder coating anyway.

[myg30]

Don welcome to the forum and to the casting world. If I missed it you did not mention if you first cleaned your molds in some hot soapy water and scrubbed the cavities with a soft tooth brush. Oils from machining them will be into the aluminum and should be really cleaned first.
I do not use a Seperate heater fer my molds. When I plug in the pot, I set the mold on top of it and flip it over as the lead melts with the spruce plate being the last side down before I cast. I might have 1 or 2 casts till they come out perfect as the temp in the mold evens up.
Several members on here sell tin and ww lead for you to mix with your pure for your pistols.
Good luck, enjoy and be safe.

Mike

[theperfessor]

My comments in red.


Folks I'm tickled to say that this morning I took the plunge. I fired up my Coleman liquid gas stove, heated my pure lead ingots you really need to get some tin and/or antimony in there, you can probably get away with using pure lead but there are a lot of differences between a smokeless powder cartridge gun and a black powder gun. (made them myself from roofing flashing) and smoked my new 6 cavity Lee 125 grain .358 RNFP with a candle shouldn't have to smoke a clean mold to make it work, using a candle will deposit oil and carbon and just gets a clean mold greasy again. Laid out everything well in reach, filled a steel bucket with ice water and a rag in the bottom faster cooling but won't change the properties of pure lead, another reason to get a little tin and antimony in your alloy. Donned my safety glasses and gloves, did a sawdust flux for good measure on the 10 pounds of shiny goodness. Took a deep breath (away from the pot of course) and dipped my Lyman ladle in the pot to heat well up. Then I stood there looking. And stood there a little longer wondering.
Now. Here's where I became a little confused. I've researched a LOT of threads here, and know I need to pre-heat my mold. I hated to stand there holding a tip of the mold in the lead, so I pondered and laid it in the flame that was licking up the side of the iron pot. WHen I poured my first round, it seemed to take forever for the lead to begin hardening. Puddles on the sprue plate stayed liquid longer than I thought they should have. I surmised that I had heated my mold too much. I hope I didn't damage it, but I see no injury.After that I didn't let the flame touch the mold, but rather laid the mold on the expanded steel mesh on top of the factory grid (learned that reading several threads early on) about 3/4 inch away from the flame. That seemed to do the trick. I proceeded to cast about 150 slugs, the first of which were gnarly and ugly and went into the pot to try again. After about 7 casts the bullets began to look nice. I did learn there's a bit of a trick with my mold to getting it completely closed . My mold wants to open up a little if I squeeze the levered sprue cutter too tight once closed you shouldn't even touch the sprue cutter handle, it just wedges the mold back open . Also ( and I could use some suggestions here---maybe this is specific to Lee gang molds, but I don't know), the pivot bolt for the sprue plate and the stop bolt had to be loosened a quarter turn because the plate became tight on the mold and there wasn't any scrap I could see causing it.
All went pretty well to be trying this for the first time by myself. A good friend once helped me cast a few round balls for my RUger Old Army's, but we used his Lee electric furnace. He's being a good help with advise and I do so appreciate him and you folks here for all the kindness you have shown a beginner like me.
I did examine my bullets more closely this evening, after returning from helping Miss Penny (my wife) throw a baby shower for one of our daughters in a neighboring county ( so excited folks---this will be only our second grand child but that's another story). I was sad to see that maybe two out of ten of my boolits have a few wrinkles, but only small ones and always at the nose. Am I wrong to heat my mold at the center of its length, with an expectation that the heat will transfer equally to each end? Should I lay my mold on its side with the bottom toward the flame to more fully heat the nose area? I hate to buy a hot plate and have to run a drop cord out to the yard table where I cast. I should think I can correctly heat my mold with the licking flames. And a drop cord is for me a trip hazard. I fall often enough as it is, what with my spinal injuries and artificial knee (as an aside, it's a spectacular site when a man of my proportions falls....6 feet 5 inches and 290 pounds flopping over makes for quite the Youtube moment).
I did experiment with several holding angles of the mold (almost level with just a bit of tilt toward the pot to run excess back in the pot, to more of a tilt with a faster runoff). I finally settled on the almost level position, but from researching old threads, I see that many folks prefer different angles according to the length of the boolit being cast. I believe it was related to the change in speed of cavity fill. I hope to do more casting tomorrow after church. Supposed to be clear and 64 degrees. I hope also to try several different things I've read here to see if I can eliminate the nose wrinkles in 20 percent of my boolits. I like that word "boolits".
Hey. I'm sorry if I've rambled too much. I've been told I have diarrhea of the mouth. I just wanted to share my first experience casting. I'm excited, feel rewarded and am eager to get at it again. And I have those 1482 results to search through for hints about nose wrinkles. Later everyone! Thanks again. Don.

Don, you'e doing a lot of things right, good safety precautions and all that, so don't think I'm giving you a hard time with my red text comments. But in some ways you are making it harder on yourself than it ought to be. A more suitable alloy will cast a lot easier and at a lower temperature, giving a little more latitude in mold temperature. You can (a) buy from a commercial vendor such as Rotometals, (b) get bar solder at the local plumbing supply shop, or (c) buy or swap for more suitable material with a member here. I've done swaps with folks that couldn't get pure lead for black powder gun use and had WW or linotype to trade.

I use a bottom pour, lots of folks use ladles, its all a matter of temperature and cadence when casting. Also, ignore anything Lee says about using beeswax or bullet lube as mold lube. Get some Bullplate or good synthetic 2 cycle oil and use it sparingly in the right places. It won't cure the loose screw problem but it will help a whole lot with cutting down on the forces exerted on all the mold parts.

I find with my Lee molds it takes three heating/cooling cycles to get good bullets. Start with a clean mold and either heat it up to about 400F in an oven or cast enough bullets to get it hot. Then let it cool. Do this again, and the third time you will get near 100% perfect bullets from a hot mold.

Tire shops are under contract to resell their WWs back to their vendors. The "federal law against selling WWs" is bunk. They are just blowing you off.

Good luck, I've got that mold and it makes a boolit that works great in .38, .357, and 9mm.

[rsrocket1]

You mentioned smoking the cavities with a candle. First of all, cleaning the mold is the most important step with a new Lee mold. A good thorough cleaning with isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush is usually sufficient. Some go further and wash with Dawn dishwasher detergent followed by boiling it in water to make sure all the cutting oils are gone.

Smoking the cavities might help sometimes, but I've stopped that practice with Lee molds and when I did smoke them, it was with a wooden match or lighter followed by a thorough wiping out of the cavities. A candle is dumping parafin vapors back onto the mold which is another petroleum product (the stuff you were just trying to clean off). That may be the source of your wrinkles. Your bullets don't seem to be suffering from too cool a mold which is another source of wrinkles.

Be sure to lube the sprue pivot and sprue plate with the slightest thinnest film of a synthetic lube to ensure you don't gall the top of the mold as you open and close the sprue plate. Too much lube and the oils work their way into the mold and you get wrinkles bullets again.

If a few of your bullet have tiny "smiles" on just the surface or a little U-shaped wrinkle on the nose, I would use them anyway. For plinking and even 10 yard handgun target shooting, a small imperfection like that won't make a difference. If you are shooting long distance or precise shooting, then go ahead and cull them out.

[wiliamr]

You can get tin solder in rolls from plumbing supply or Lowes/ Home Depot. Then figure the weight of your lead and the alloy you want and go for the percentage of tin. You can also buy linotype at various places, eBay is one source, check your local area for linotype as well. good luck

[geargnasher]

First thread in the FAQ section, follow link. Or read the sticky about 10 posts up from this thread, titles "something I learned today about temperature".

Gear

[whisler]

If you have an old circular saw blade you could put that on the grill of the stove and set your mold on that to heat up. Should give you even heating of the mold.

[gwpercle]

Don't smoke the cavities and don't use spray on mould release.....both just muck up a mould.
Squeaky clean cavities, no burrs ( check edges with a cotton Q-tip, the burr will snag it) , After two or three casting sessions (heat and cool cycles) the Lee mould should start running like a champ.
I pre heat my Lee's by setting them on top of pot and dipping the corner in the melt, be careful, you can damage a mould by getting it too hot.
Just keep casting , it's a learned art.
Gary

[Tallbald]

Folks I believe I got the hang of it last night. I'm very pleased with the results, having only found a half dozen out of maybe 425 slugs I cast. It does take determination to keep the mold tilted a bit to make over pour run back into the small 10 pound pot I use, but once I get into a rhythm, I can cast three or maybe even four sets of 6 (6 cavity mold) before I have to let my arms rest and move my back some. I rest the mold on its side about 3/4 inch from the gas flame as I rest myself. I refuse to sit down to cast because of the danger of lap spills of course. I had smoked the mold when I first started casting three nights ago, but upon advice here I cleaned and degreased the mold thoroughly before starting anew last night. I remain excited with the entire idea of casting, and it has a rather therapeutic quality to the process for me. Thanks again as always. Don

[.22-10-45]

Glad to see your making progress. It is fun isn't it? Once you get casting down pat..then there is the whole other world of home-made lube-making!