Tried my hand at casting for the first time today

[bruner1981]

Hey everyone. I've been around here a few times before and finally got to try out my new casting equipment today after getting it delivered. Things didn't quite go as I had hoped. I had a 5 gallon bucket of scrap wheel weights I intended to use, but it turns out that the majority of those were actually iron alloys. After spending a good chunk of time trying to sort through all that, I had my 10 pound melting pot about a third of the way full once it was melted. Needless to say it made it pretty challenging to fill my ladle. After prepping my molds for their first use, I started pouring. I was switching back and forth between two Lee molds for 357 magnum. I couldn't make anything that looked remotely like a boolit except once, after attempting roughly 15-20 pours with each mold. The majority of the castings ranged in appearance from little beads at the bottom of the cavity to partial noses, even though the sprue cups filled completely and ran off.

The one somewhat decent boolit I cast had characteristics that were indicative of a mold that was too cold. I'm guessing that the lead was rapidly cooling off on the sprue plate before it had the chance to enter the mold. I've found some good info here on methods to preheat the mold to get better results, so I'll be trying those on my next go around. I think this time I'll just order some lead online so I'm not trying to sort through a bunch of wheel weights again. It was definitely frustrating today but I'm excited to keep trying again. Hopefully next time will give some better results. Can't wait to start seeing some good ones drop from the molds!

[pjames32]

Whoa! First you need to smelt your lead into ingots. Don't do this in your casting pot! Get your lead smelted into ingots first. Add to your ingots whatever you need to make a bullet, probably some tin, THEN get your pot to temp and your molds to temp and try cast a few.
You can't push the cart with the horse.
PJ

[bruner1981]

Whoa! First you need to smelt your lead into ingots. Don't do this in your casting pot! Get your lead smelted into ingots first. Add to your ingots whatever you need to make a bullet, probably some tin, THEN get your pot to temp and your molds to temp and try cast a few.
You can't push the cart with the horse.
PJ

I had thought it was common to get lead wheel weights, melt them down, skim and flux the material, pour them into ingots, and then use those ingots to start the casting? I guess I skipped the ingots step in my write up of what I did today. So would it be fine if I buy premade ingots and just not deal with the wheel weights?

[Hawks Feather]

As Forest Gump would say, "Frustration Happens!" Keep after it and it will start to come together for you. That comes from someone who knows the frustration and also a little bit of satisfaction when it comes to casting - me.

[popper]

I was switching back and forth between two Lee molds for 357 magnum. Why? Just work with one till you get it right, then do the other. You can smelt & cast from the same pot, just have to make sure the alloy is clean. One foot in front of the other.

[Mal Paso]

I used a 3/16 thick 4' x4' scrap of steel on the kitchen stove to preheat molds before I got a hotplate. Medium to low flame. The sprue should stay liquid a few seconds.

[GhostHawk]

First off don't be afraid to start with something like range lead sold here for a touch over a dollar a pound. Add some of that wheel weight to it and it will be a touch better.

Second, I don't smelt in my casting pot, but you can if you clean things out between. Smelting pot can be any good cast iron pan/pot of 6" and up, higher sides are easier. A muffin tin makes a decent cheap ingot mold, an older steel one from the second hand store might last you ages. Or invest in a nice small ingot mold.

I would not even consider trying to run 2 different molds at first. Pick one, put it on a separate hot plate, on your pot, dip the corner into the pot, pour lead on the sprue, whatever it takes to get it warmed up. By the time you have 3-5 pours into it, it should be producing good bullets. If it isn't, warm it up more, or lead in pot is not hot enough.

You can see as the lead is first melting that it has a bit of crystal form to it, like ice cubes in water, but very fine, just see able with the naked eye. Wait till your lead is fully liquid, then warm up your ladle if using one, then the mold. A cold ladle into the melt for 3 seconds and pulled out will bring out a mass of lead stuck to it near the size of a tennis ball. A warm ladle will come out clean with only the thinest film of liquid sliding off it. ALL has to be at the right temp, at the same time, then cast.

You have learned very well what happens when it isn't.

In some respects the easiest way is to plug in your pot, put ladle on the cold melt, put mold where it will warm. Then go do something else for 10-15 minutes. Personally I keep my casting table close to my computer so I can listen to Hickok45 ramble as I cast. Or watch a Iraqvet888 video until all is warm and ready.

You will soon figure it out, rocket science it is not. Hang in there!

[lobowolf761]

It is better to melt down the wheel weights in a big cast iron pot over a burner first. Scim off the scrap and Flux it to help clean it up then pour the melted lead into some kind of ingot mould of your choice. Make sure the ingots will fit into your melter. This way you will be able to fill your melter and cast your bullets easier. I use a large cast iron pot over a propane burner to melt down wheel weights a little at a time cleaning out what doesn't melt and add more to the pot till its almost full of lead. Then I start pouring it into my ingot moulds. I end up with over 50lbs per pot. It's best to clean up the lead first in big batches. It makes casting so much easier.

[Iron Whittler]

Congrats on getting into a rewarding venture. I would recommend purchasing some lead alloy ready to cast from one of the members on the site. Being new to boolit casting, using lead of known mix will make things easier for you in the beginning. As your experience grows, y'll be able to hustle your own. From the sound of your session, it sounds like a combo of cold mold and lead temp too low. Alum mold blocks need to be preheated and kept warm during rest periods. Lead temp runs a little on the hot side with alum molds. I hope this is of help and does not confuse you. Be sure to wear eye protection, leather gloves, and long pants and shirt. Hot lead splatter burns are painful, and to the eye, result in permanent injury or blindness. I am not trying to scare you away, as I have been casting for 50 yrs. It is a safe thing to do as long as you do not forget the safety issues. Best wishes Iron Whittler:swagemine::castmine:

[lobowolf761]

It is always a good idea to preheat your bullet before casting .

[RobS]

Your mold is too cold and the sprue plate as well. If you don't have a hot plate to preheat your mold simply follow the directions and dip the bottom edge of the mold into the melted alloy of the pot and do this as long as it takes for the alloy to not solidify around the mold or stick on the mold then try to start your casting. I also agree, work with one mold at a time until you get things going the way you like.

[bruner1981]

Thanks for all the advice guys! It's really reassuring to hear. Hopefully at some point I can have as much experience as the rest of you. This should make a good hobby during my down time at school

[rancher1913]

sounds like you are using a ladle to pour, if its not to late, get a bottom pour pot. all the dung will tend to go to the surface and a bottom pour helps beginners get good alloy to work with. tried both and you'd have to shoot me to get my bottom pour pot away now.

[bangerjim]

This is a pretty easy process.

Start with CLEAN PURE ingots made in another pot. Never ever put dirty lead and alloy in your casting pot.

Preheat your molds to FULL CASTING TEMPERATURE. You will then get darn near perfect bollits from the 1st drop. Do not waste your time trying to heat your mold with pouring boolits and throwing them back in!

Your sprue lead should turn frosty in 3-4 seconds.

And yes, a bottom pour pot is the ONLY kind I use (2x) and recommend to anyone starting out. And 5-6 cav molds. Lots of quality boolits in a very short time.

Good luck and have fun!

bangerjim

[RogerDat]

I know some people routinely cast using two bullet molds. I have a couple of times but that was with molds and an alloy I had used individually with success before. I knew what those two molds needed in terms of speed and temp. Otherwise I use one mold at a time.

Sounds like you were saying you had pre smelted the WW's into cleaned ingots and were casting from a melt of those. If not that is a good place to start. Much easier to make boolets from ingots that you have fluxed and cleaned first.

Thermometer will be your friend in this endeavor. Tel-True makes one for a reasonable price if you don't have one. Knowing the lead is at a good casting temp. helps your process. Liquid lead does not mean at a good casting temp just means at the temp required to melt it. Some alloys of lead and some molds will work great at a temperature only 50 degrees from a temp where it won't cast well for love or money.

One trick that may help (assuming your lead alloy is hot enough) after you pour enough to fill the mold continue and pour the rest of the ladle slowly into the mold opening, holding the mold at a slight angle so that the lead runs off. Tipping it back up so the mold ends up with a sprue puddle. This will help heat the mold and sprue plate if you do it for a few fills until things start to cast well.

[bruner1981]

Sounds like I should have checked in here before I bought my equipment. I had my eye on a Lee bottom pour pot before I bought the Lyman starters kit from Midway. I may still be able to justify the bottom pour though. And it sounds like a hot plate is definitely necessary too, as well as a thermometer. Looks like I know what my next paycheck is going towards. Thank you all for the advice!

[RogerDat]

Bottom pour is good investment for casting boolits. It just isn't that great for making ingots. People use those bottom pour lead pots for years if not decades. Salvation Army or thrift store can provide a good starter pot. Or garage sales. Get stainless steel or cast iron. Might even find a hot plate at one of these places. Check the wattage on any hot plate, higher is better. Plain lead is hard to melt on typical hot plate of about 800 watts. Will probably work in warm weather, but in cool weather it gets a little dicey.

For real production capacity to smelt WW's and scrap you start needing to consider one of the pots made from 20 lb. propane tank with top cut off, sold in S&S forum or a cast iron Dutch Oven, Harbor Freight has one that is a decent deal. Using a propane turkey or fish fryer as a heat source. See those from time to time in garage sales for around $10. Propane camp stoves also work and show up in garage sales too. These are all options if your trying to turn 5 gal. buckets of WW's into ingots.

[Wayne Smith]

You can cast well with what you have, don't worry. I've been using essentially the same equipment for the 15+ years I've been casting, a ladle and pot on a gas burner. Yes, a thermometer does help those of us who want information! Your Lyman ladle is a bottom pour ladle, don't worry about that. You should flux and clean your melt before casting, anyway. Read here about how melted lead appears and be ready to drop in a pea sized piece of wax and deal with the likely flames resulting while you are casting. This reduces the tin back into the melt, the skim you get on top of the lead is oxidized tin and this needs to be returned to the melt. Wax does this.

Yes, temperature is critical. You have found out what happens when your mold is not up to temperature, the lead solidifies on the sprue plate and does not enter the mold. With mold and sprue plate up to temperature and your melt at temperature it should take the sprue about three to four seconds to solidify.

You didn't say what molds you have, but if four or more cavity it is sometimes helpful to cast two cavities a couple times until the mold gets to temperature. This makes cutting the sprues easier and is about a necessary procedure with the Lee six cavity molds, the pot metal holding the sprue plate won't hold if you try to cut all six sprues cold.

Yes, use one mold at a time until you get to know that mold and what it requires. I have some molds I routinely use with two at a time and some that require full attention one at a time.

[bangerjim]

Keep the pot you now have for re-melting smaller quantities of alloy. That is what I do. I only use 4-20 bottom pour pots for casting......from 1 cav to 6 cav. My quality bottom/side pour CI ladle just hangs on the shop wall gathering dust. May need it someday for something. (And no, it is not for sale. I do not sell anything.)

[Chihuahua Floyd]

You just might want to update your profile with a location, ie city, state. One of us just might be right around the corner to help in person.
CF

[bruner1981]

You just might want to update your profile with a location, ie city, state. One of us just might be right around the corner to help in person.
CF
I hadn't thought of that. I'll update my profile when I get home from work. For now, I'm in San Jose, CA but I'll be moving back to Chico, CA in 3 weeks for school

[gwpercle]

Sounds like I should have checked in here before I bought my equipment. I had my eye on a Lee bottom pour pot before I bought the Lyman starters kit from Midway. I may still be able to justify the bottom pour though. And it sounds like a hot plate is definitely necessary too, as well as a thermometer. Looks like I know what my next paycheck is going towards. Thank you all for the advice!

Not so fast....I started with the same outfit in 1967 and learned how to cast great boolits. I bought a bottom pour pot a few years ago and it's great for 6 cavity moulds, but for double cavity I have gone back to pot and ladle. Learn with what you have. I used that same size pot , dipper and 2 cavity mould for 30 years before upgrading to a Lee Magnum Melter (which is just a 20 lb. pot, nothing else) Follow Lee's directions for pre-heating. Once you learn how to cast, the other "upgrades" allow you to cast more boolits, not necessarily better boolits.
The bottom pour just sits on my bench waiting for me to buy a 6 cavity mould.
For my best work ... it's a 2 or 3 cavity mould, open top pot and Lyman ladle. Most drop nearly perfect. Can't say the same with bottom pour.
Throwing money into equiptment wont teach you you how to cast .
Gary

[bruner1981]

Everyone, thank you all so much for all your advice, and a big thank you to Dusty Bannister for his helping me get a hold of some more ingots to work with quickly. After getting more lead and a hot plate to work with, I had a very successful casting session this evening. I can't wait to get some more lead to keep going! I'm enjoying this as much or more than actual reloading. I'm currently majoring in Manufacturing so both tasks are right up that alley too, so it's really cool to be able to find a way to apply what I learn while still in college! Thank you all again, and hopefully I can help out another new caster when I get the chance just like you helped me!

[TXGunNut]

Good job, OP! You turned on the pot and melted some lead! Just as important and maybe moreso, you learned something. Knowledge (and a good boolit) is precious. It doesn't come easy but lots of folks are willing to help.

[Motor]

These guys have it covered. Just like to also welcome you to the addiction lol. Man am I grateful that I had a mentor. My brother still does most of the work I'm more or less the tech support and inspector but I can do it on my own. I just wouldn't want to have learned by myself. Hang in there it will come.

Motor

[bangerjim]

I hadn't thought of that. I'll update my profile when I get home from work. For now, I'm in San Jose, CA but I'll be moving back to Chico, CA in 3 weeks for school


Your general location is very valuable to other members trying to help you. I feel a location should be mandatory for even joining this forum. There is no "personal" data there, just a general location so we have an idea where you are and mabe lend a hand if needed..

banger